Social Impact Un-Pitch Day 2020
On Thursday, October 15th at 5pm the Center for Technology, Society & Policy (CTSP) and the School of Information’s Information Management Student Association (IMSA) are co-hosting the fifth annual Social Impact Un-Pitch Day!
Join CTSP and IMSA to brainstorm ideas for projects that address the challenges of technology, society, and policy. We welcome students, community organizations, local municipal partners, faculty, and campus initiatives to discuss discrete problems that project teams can take on over the course of this academic year. Teams will be encouraged to apply to CTSP to fund their projects.
This event is open to everyone – Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff or affiliates, and anyone in the public.
Location: Register here for Zoom link.
Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtOiHZI4Mak
Agenda
- 5:10 Introductions from CTSP
- 5:20 Example Projects
- 5:30 Sharing Un-Pitches (3 minutes per Un-Pitch)
- 6:00 Open chat – we will leave zoom open to allow participants to connect and chat about projects and collaborations
Un-Pitches
Un-Pitches are meant to be informal and brief introductions of yourself, your idea, or your organization’s problem situation. Un-pitches can include designing technology, research, policy recommendations, and more. Students and social impact representatives will be given 3 minutes to present their Un-Pitch. In order to un-pitch, please share 1-3 slides, as PDF and/or a less than 500-word description—at this email: ctsp@berkeley.edu. You can share slides and/or description of your ideas even if you aren’t able to attend. Deadline to share materials: midnight October 14th, 2020.
Submit your un-pitch idea here.
If you are unable to attend, but have an idea to un-pitch, still submit it and one of the co-directors will present your un-pitch at the event.
Funding Opportunities
The next application round for fellows will open in November. CTSP’s fellowship program will provide small grants to individuals and small teams of fellows for 2019. CTSP also has a recurring offer of small project support.
Prior Projects & Collaborations
Here are several examples of projects that members of the I School community have pursued as MIMS final projects or CTSP Fellow projects (see more projects from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020).
- A team of MIMS students partnered with a local non-profit working with vulnerable populations to build their information and communication capacity: Yakap
- A team of MIMS students and an I School PhD student worked in collaboration with a local organization to conduct a needs assessment and system recommendation around “matching” unhoused people to appropriate services: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
- A team of first and second year MIMS students and an I School PhD student partnered with a local organization to study the workings of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission. This project culminated in a report presented to the commission and multiple tools designed as a resource for cities and citizens: Increasing Transparency into the Capabilities of Surveillance and Policing Technologies
- A team of MIMS students, partnered with the non-profit, Secure Justice, and to build technical tools to help public defenders: Data for Defenders
Skills & Interests of Students
The above projects demonstrate a range of interests and skills of the I School community. Students here and more broadly on the UC Berkeley campus are interested and skilled in all aspects of where information and technology meets people—from design and data science, to user research and information policy.
No Comments