Samantha Collins

Thirty years have passed since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. In his 2019 open letter on the future of this technology, he opined that whilst the Web has created some wonderful opportunities, giving marginalised groups a voice, and making our daily lives easier, it has also created opportunities for the spreading of misinformation, giving a voice to those who disseminate hatred, and made many types of crime easier to commit. Continue reading →

A group of CDT students took up the opportunity to participate in the 2020 Web Science for Development Workshop. Hosted by the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Bangalore, the three day event brought together professionals from several domains to address issues relevant to the World Wide Web and humanity. You can read all about their thoughts on this trip in the blogs below. Continue reading →

After the 13 hour flight we landed in Singapore. The first day was spent resting and seeing what the city had to offer. In the evening we ate a local dinner with Professor Dame Wendy Hall. The first day of the workshop took place in a vigorously air conditioned room at our hotel. Many interesting talks ensued with topics surrounding fake news, natural language processing and the future of trust on the Web. Continue reading →

Our trip to Singapore excited the senses - from a fantastic cross-cultural workshop with students of NUS and Tsinghua University, to street food which aroused new parts of the palate, to a refreshing evening with Dame Wendy Hall sipping Singapore Slings and discussing the project to which we all devoted years of our lives: Web Science. Continue reading →

When first- and second-year Web Science doctoral researchers Allison and Juljan disembarked the aircraft after a remarkably comfortable 13hr-flight on the A380, the biggest passenger plane in the world, they were immediately treated to another awe-inspiring engineering masterpiece. At 40 metres and surrounded by a four-storeyed terraced rain forest, the Rain Vortex at Changi Airport is the world’s largest indoor waterfall. Continue reading →

The second day of the Next ++ conference was divided into two tracks, one continuing the main conference and the other focused on stu  dent presentations. The format for the latter was a significant break with the norm, but an interesting and rewarding experience, nonetheless. PhD students from Southampton, the National University of Singapore and Tsinghua University in China were divided into four groups, with students from each university in each group. Continue reading →

The Beyond Conference looks at research and development in the creative industries and this year’s focus was AI. I was funded to represent the CDT at this year’s Beyond Conference in the stunning Assembly Rooms in the heart of Edinburgh. This was unlike many AI conferences, with a fairly even balance between examples of how the creative industries are currently using AI to create art, and how important AI issues can be shared with a wider audience through creative works. Continue reading →

I was fortunate enough to be in the lucky group of 8 students who were chosen to attend the Next++ workshop in Singapore on the 11th and 12th November. Aside from the long haul flight, which for many of us was a first, we had to dig out our summer clothes in preparation for the impending hot weather. I was very excited to go on this trip and very curious to attend the workshop. Continue reading →

The NeXt++ Workshop proved to be a wonderful opportunity to connect social issues with technical solutions, and to connect with peers on both the CDT and international level. The first day of presentations collectively worked to position current socio-technical issues within AI and connected society as the central focus of the event. Continue reading →

By Ellena Parsons Today’s WSI Distinguished Lecture was delivered by Professor Phil Howard of the Oxford Internet Institute, based at the University of Oxford. The overarching theme of Prof. Howards lecture was the notion of Artificial Intelligence having an influence – whether positive or negative – on politics, and the wider implications of AI influencing public opinion via social media. Prof. Continue reading →