Erhardt Graeff
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About Erhardt
Graeff is an educator, social scientist, public interest technologist, and public official. He works on the design and use of technology for civic engagement, civic learning, and social justice, and on the ethical responsibility of technologists as stewards of democracy. His current research is on articulating the responsibilities of engineers as citizens and developing new forms of civic education within undergraduate engineering.
Contributions
How Silicon Valley Can Support Citizen Empowerment
Publications
Proposes empowerment-based design principles for civic technology and a prototype toolkit for evaluating the impact of civic technology on political efficacy.
Surveys contemporary trends in youth digital activism and makes policy recommendations for supporting the development of digital activists.
Maps the media coverage and social media conversation following Trayvon Martin's death, introducing new methods and theory for understanding the networked nature of contemporary media controversies.
Responds to the emergence of social bots, as a means of entertainment, research, and commercial activity, posing threats to online privacy protection. Argues for legislation that defines a general right to privacy for all U.S. citizens, addressing issues of both access and control of personal information and serving as the foundation for auditable industry design standards that inherently value and honor users' rights to privacy.