Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Six reasons Fake News is the end of the world as we know it Date: May 2, 2017 Time: 9:00AM - 5:00PM Location: The Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, fake news became a global issue, spanning popular media, academia, and industry. On May 2nd 2017, Harvard University will host an exploratory discussion on how computer science can address the problem of fake news. Discussion will include both technical and policy-facing perspectives from guests in academia and journalism. Please join us as we Read more about Six Reasons Fake News is the End of the World as we Know It
Abstract: Borders (and walls!) need not be physical. The vision of an open, global, Internet is increasingly threatened by construction of virtual barriers between countries. Mistrust regarding the security of cloud computing and other online services is widespread and the temperature of the global debate has risen dramatically since Snowden and other revelations of systematic, mass surveillance. Restrictions on data flows between the US and EU remain contentious. Extreme examples of forced data localization include a proposal for a German-only 'Internetz', and a recent Read more about Christopher Millard: "Forced Localization of Online Services – Is Privacy the Real Driver?"
On Wednesday, April 19th, CRCS hosted a celebration of computer science at Harvard in honor of Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay professor of computer science and former dean of the College. Friends, family, students, and colleagues gathered to celebrate professor Lewis' 70th birthday and the news that - in his words - he would "someday be retiring." They spoke of the myriad ways professor Lewis has enriched their lives through his personal investment in their success, his emphasis on character over knowledge, and his insistence on integrity over popularity. The day-long celebration Read more about Celebration of Computer Science at Harvard in Honor of Harry Lewis
Uncovering Vote Trading Through Networks and Computation
Abstract:
Vote trading, also commonly known as logrolling, is a cornerstone of the positive analysis of politicians' behavior in collective decision making. However, as the trading of votes is not directly observable, studying vote trading empirically is very challenging. We have developed a general and scalable methodology that facilitates the detection of logrolling on a large scale. In principle, our approach can be applied to a broad variety of voting data (beyond the realm of Read more about CRCS Seminar: "Uncovering Vote Trading Through Networks and Computation"
Utility-Cost of Provable Privacy: A Case Study on US Census Data
Abstract: Privacy is an important constraint that algorithms must satisfy when analyzing sensitive data from individuals. Differential privacy has revolutionized the way we reason about privacy, and has championed the need for data analysis algorithms with provable privacy guarantees. Differential privacy and its variants have arisen as the gold standard for exploring the tradeoff between the privacy ensured to individuals and the utility of the statistical insights mined from the data Read more about Ashwin Machanavajjhala: Utility-Cost of Provable Privacy: A Case Study on US Census Data
Abstract: Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and other luminaries warn that an “intelligence explosion” may lead to the extinction of humanity at the hands of rampant robots. At the same time, many pundits see a prosperous future in which self-driving cars reduce highway fatalities while AI advisors improve medical care and minimize malpractice. Weld argues that the utopian outcome is more likely, but only if we address several key social and technical challenges.
Abstract: Recent studies indicate that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Although this problem has received substantial national attention, very little work has actively involved patients in preventing, detecting, and recovering from these errors. In this presentation, I will detail our efforts to use design thinking to support patients and their caregivers in playing an active role to safeguard their own health in the hospital. Currently, patients receive inadequate information and support to play such a safeguarding role. Using Read more about Wanda Pratt: Using Design Thinking to Improve Patient Safety
Title: Opportunities and Perils in Data Science Speaker: Dr. Alfred Z. Spector (CTO and Head of Engineering, Two Sigma Investments)
Abstract
Over the last few decades, empiricism has become the third leg of computer science, adding to the field’s traditional bases in mathematical analysis and engineering. This shift has occurred due to the sheer growth in the scale of computation, networking and usage as well as progress in machine learning and related technologies. Resulting data-driven approaches have led to extremely Read more about CRCS & IACS Seminar: Opportunities and Perils in Data Science
Speaker: Jorn Boehnke Title: "Amazon’s Price and Sales-Rank Data – What can we learn from the world’s largest online retailer?"
Abstract: This research presents data collected on Amazon's pricing patterns and sales-rank information spanning a nine-year period. Retail data are useful for understanding price-stickiness, demand elasticity, substitution between the online and offline retail channels, and product cycles and the spread of innovation as one model replaces another. Collecting data on online retail transactions is Read more about Jorn Boehnke: "Amazon’s Price and Sales-Rank Data – What can we learn from the world’s largest online retailer?"
