We are particularly interested in research that addresses key topics at the intersection of digital technology and democracy and bring together a cohort of researchers addressing these issues at global, regional, and local levels. The Lab creates collaboration and exchange between academia and thought-leaders, technologists, policymakers, activists, civil society organizations, artists, and creative practitioners, taking a broadly transdisciplinary and global approach.
Research
Our Approach
The DTD Lab works to explore how rapidly evolving digital technologies can challenge, but might also fortify, democratic institutions and practices.
Areas of Focus
Subterranean Convergence
Open-Source AI as Democratic Infrastructure
AI Shock
Automated Futures
Data in the Dark
Automation’s Ecologies
Visual Misinformation
AI & the Environment
Student Technology Council
Technology & Disinformation
Social Contagions
Gender & Tech
Co-Opting AI
Urban Digital Twins
Technology & Democracy Exchange
Data Center Policies
Descendant-Led Digital Humanities Lab & Network
Cryptocurrency & Democracy
Featured Resources
Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice and Creativity
This collection of essays emerged from a Fall 2024 workshop and is designed to become a resource for a broad audience with various backgrounds, skills, and interests. The ideas featured help reflect upon the challenges ahead when building, using and evaluating AI in different contexts. Learn more and download a free copy.
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Insights from the Visual Generative AI and Propaganda Convening
This report provides a summary of Visual Generative AI and Propaganda Convening held in September 2024. The event brought together experts to examine the challenges posed by increasingly sophisticated AI-generated visual content on public trust and democratic processes. Learn more and download a free copy.
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Video Library
FLiNG Report Launch: How Finfluencers, Fin-Tech, and FOMO Shape Young Adults’ Financial Well-being
Cryptocurrency & Democracy
Faculty & Postdoc Publications
Environmental Impacts of AI
Lauren Bridges, DTD Lab faculty co-lead,'s latest reference article, is a comprehensive take on AI’s often contradictory environmental footprint. While AI is frequently touted as a panacea for climate change—optimizing smart grids, managing resources, and accelerating materials discovery—it is fundamentally extractive and consumptive.
Self-Authorization Amid Transculturation and Appropriation: Chinese K-Pop Fans Negotiating Identity in the “Cultural Stealing” Dispute
A recent article, co-authored by Wendy Weile Zhou, DTD Lab postdoc, examines how Chinese K-pop fans negotiate identity, cultural ownership, and transnational media consumption through the case of idol group NCT and Chinese K-pop fandom.
Algorithms as Institutions of Online Gender Violence
In a recent article, Yasmin Curzi, DTD Lab postdoc, discusses how algorithmic systems can amplify and monetize online gender-based violence, and analyze what due diligence obligations arise from international human rights law for companies and the Brazilian state.
Join our vibrant lab and help us explore the intersection of democracy and digital technology.
Current Opportunities