Research Seminar Series: Signs of the Smart City with Dr. Eric Corbett, Google
NYU CUSP is pleased to host our annual Research Seminar Series, featuring leading voices in the growing field of urban informatics. The seminars will examine real-world challenges facing cities and urban environments around the world, with topics ranging from citizen and social sciences to smart infrastructure.
Signs of the Smart City: Exploring the Limits and Opportunities of Transparency
In the face of growing public concerns about privacy and equity in sensor-laden "Smart Cities," transparency is increasingly seen as a critical solution. However, simply providing information about how sensors work or what data is collected often fails to address the root of these concerns. This talk delves into the complexities (and contradictions) of transparency, drawing on insights from a series of public workshops in a collaboration with NYC government where city residents materialized their transparency concerns about several sensors deployed throughout the city. Based on the findings, Dr. Eric Corbett will highlight the limits of information-centric approaches to transparency and the opportunities for a paradigm shift towards "Thinging of Transparency" – treating transparency as an ongoing activity. He end by discussing how this paradigm can help researchers and policy-makers provide meaningful and actionable transparency of smart cities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Eric Corbett (he/him) is a research scientist in Google’s Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology organization. He joined Google after being a postdoctoral researcher at New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. Eric’s background is in computer science and human-computer interaction, with a Ph.D. in Digital Media from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is committed to participatory scholarship: designing technology with people as a mode of social inquiry and analyzing how different approaches to design impact issues of justice and power.
How to Attend
NYU CUSP Research Seminars are only open to faculty, students, and staff at NYU – they are not open to the public at this time. This event will be held in-person, but we are now offering hybrid access to attendees! If you'd like to attend virtually, check the bottom of your confirmation email for the Zoom link.