.
There's a new think-tank in town!
They wrote a whole new report that just rips open the awesome size of that Russian meddling! It's probably even BIGGER than the Facebook ads! It must be, because it was on NPR all day today, any time you tuned in.
Watch out, everyone!
NEW KNOWLEDGE"a reliable disinformation solution"https://www.newknowledge.com/our-companyBy 2016 we'd developed the disinformation protection tools to track disinformation operations in real time, and were the first organization outside the US intelligence community to identify Russia's campaign to influence the US presidential election. As the information war escalated, we believed it was our responsibility to provide a reliable disinformation solution to national security agencies and corporations.
We formed New Knowledge to defend public discourse.
Hey, they were the first! The very, very first, right after the US intelligence community spoke, they were there. And they're on the OUTSIDE of that, see?
And it's such a cool name. So much less boring than "Internet Research Agency" or "Integrity Initiative." Yawn, you Old Empires!
Leadership Team
Jonathon Morgan
CEO, CO-FOUNDER
Jonathon has spent the past 12 years building new technologies and digital products. He's also published research with the Brookings Institution, served as a Special Advisor to the State Department, and leads Data for Democracy, a volunteer collective of 3,700 data scientists and technologists.
Ryan Fox
COO, CO-FOUNDER
Ryan spent 15 years at the NSA championing next-generation SIGINT solutions, driven to support national security interests. Prior to his civilian roles as a Counter Terrorism Fellow and NSA Representative European SIGINT partners, he served under U.S. Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC), as a CNO Analyst for the U.S. Army.
Renee DiResta
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
Renee has a decade of experience in technological, marketing, and business capacities in a variety of industries including supply chain logistics, venture capital, and derivatives trading. She has served as an advisor to the State Department, Congress, and other state and federal government institutions concerned with the spread of disinformation and propaganda. She is the Head of Policy at Data for Democracy.
Okay, see? They're all just ADVISORS to the State Department. I mean, except for the guy who's been in the NSA and the military all his life. The rest of these people are ADVISORS, okay?!
What else?
What's this "Data for Democracy"?
Jeez, this is like those proverbial Chinese boxes, or dare I say it... Babuschka dolls!
https://www.datafordemocracy.org/(Follow the links to see the shared web design.)
With good data, we can do great things
Data for Democracy is a worldwide community of passionate volunteers working together to promote trust and understanding in data and technology.
JOIN US
This thing is totally the anarcho disruptive liberation, man, they don't have leaders, they have "Featured volunteers."
Wait, if you keep scrolling, under those profiles they do add some corporate officers, sorry, "Our team."
And here's Jonathan, again!
https://www.datafordemocracy.org/about-usOur team
JONATHON MORGAN
Executive Director
Jonathon is the founder of Data for Democracy, the nonprofit arm of New Knowledge, a technology company that provides disinformation defense to brands and national security customers, where he’s also the founder and CEO. Prior to founding New Knowledge, Jonathon published research about extremist groups manipulating social media with the Brookings Institution, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post, presented at NATO's Center of Excellence for Defense Against Terrorism, the United States Institute for Peace, and the African Union.
Jonathon also served as an adviser to the US State Department, developing strategies for digital counter-terrorism. He regularly provides expert commentary about online disinformation for publications such as NYT, NBC, NPR, and Wired, and has published op-eds about information warfare and computational propaganda for CNN, The Guardian, and VICE.
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Find Jonathon @jonathonmorgan
RENÉE DIRESTA
Head of Policy
Renée has a decade of experience in technological, marketing, and business capacities in a variety of industries including supply chain logistics, venture capital, and derivatives trading. She has served as an advisor to the State Department, Congress, and other state and federal government institutions concerned with the spread of disinformation and propaganda.
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA
Find Renée @noupside
MAUREEN "MO" JOHNSON
Project Lead, Global Data Ethics Project
Mo is a passionate roadtripper, an exuberant mountain biker and an accidental interdisciplinarian. She graduated with with a master’s degree in archaeology, and then found a job ordering biochemistry research supplies at a hospital in her hometown in Texas. One day, she read a book on malaria and became fascinated by modern day culture and disease. This led her to work in infectious disease research where she credits her research mentor with cultivating her global perspective on ethics and social justice. With his encouragement, she moved from her public-health policy and community work in Texas to Lima, Peru, where she worked as in-field coordinator for a pilot research project that sought to understand neurological development of children living in extreme poverty.
If you are interested in disrupting unquestioned cultural norms in lighthearted and fun ways, ask her about her Unpredict project.
Location: El Cerrito, California, USA
Find Mo @moridesamoped
DAVID MORAR
Policy Manager
David is originally from Romania and recently received his PhD from George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government. He is excited to work on issues at the confluence of democracy, ethics, data science, information policy, trust, law, and tech policy. Before coming to D4D, David was a two-time Google Policy Fellow (once with Global Network Initiative and before that with the Internet Education Foundation), and a Research Fellow with the Future of Privacy Forum. Dr. Morar is a (Non-Resident) Research Fellow with the Center for Law Science and Innovation at ASU Law, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Political Science Association’s Information Technology and Politics Section, and a stand-up comedian. David Morar was also a member of the Policy Council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, and a child star in Romania.
Location: Washington, D.C., USA
Find David @morar
Gosh, David does stand up comedy, and @moridesamoped when she isn't curing poverty and malaria, okay, but otherwise they are all so HEAVY.
Can't we add a hippie beard, please?
ASTRID COUNTEE
Head of Community
Astrid is an anthropologist by training, and technologist by choice with a background in research, data analysis, and web development. Astrid likes reading real books, playing with her four dogs, wandering around museums, and making noise with her keyboard and guitar.
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Find Astrid @ianthro
Yay! Community!
By the way, I love the honest prose:
Renée "has served as an advisor to the State Department, Congress, and other state and federal government institutions concerned with the spread of disinformation and propaganda."
That they are. That they are.
By the way, for the moment, "unpredict project" leads back to that page as the sole hit on Google. So you WILL have to ask her, for now.
.