Nicol Turner Lee - Mentions and Appearances
Dr. Nicol Turner Lee is a senior fellow in Governance Studies, the director of the Center for Technology Innovation, and serves as Co-Editor-In-Chief of TechTank. Dr. Turner Lee researches public policy designed to enable equitable access to technology across the U.S. and to harness its power to create change in communities across the world.
On digital vaccine passports: "'We need to be gathering data on what this means for people who lack access to digital resources,' Turner Lee says. At the same time, we can’t necessarily eliminate this technology altogether: 'We’re stuck. We need to do it because of the health consequences.'"
What we're seeing in the vaccination rollout is similar to what we saw with the breakdowns of providing remote learning to school-aged students [...] where we as a country are just not fully prepared to migrate our government services to an all-digital platform.
We have become so dependent on technology — we use it for our groceries, we tap into it for our health care. And these companies have created a new stream of jobs, as we’ve seen other industries disrupted over the course of not just the pandemic, but the last few years. [...] We’re missing opportunities when we dismiss the potential of technology, not just from a consumption standpoint, but from a production and development standpoint.
There's been more scrutiny on the part of the Senate to go very far back in their pasts to find what they believe to be unscrupulous or inappropriate behavior [...] The real concern with some of the digging into people's personal lives, prior to when they had formative opinions about issues, has a lot to do with whether or not the Senate is fully willing to embrace (the agenda) Biden has put forth.
"The pandemic has highlighted just how intricately related lack of broadband access is to systemic inequality."
On Jan. 14, 2021, Nicol Turner Lee participated in a panel hosted by The Hill on AI, bias, and equity issues.
Clearly we do not want technological glitches to get in the way to fully implement a national vaccination plan. I think [the] government needs to really think about how to overhaul systems so it can accommodate what has essentially become the new normal, which is online. The tech issues around booking vaccines is in contrast with how swiftly the world has shifted to virtual accommodations in other areas over the last 10 months. We've done a tremendous job keeping people somewhat connected during the pandemic for shopping and education, but we’re not doing a really good job when it comes to the deployment of technology when it comes to public goods. My heart is breaking for these seniors.
"I would see [Kamala Harris] in support of transparency and visibility of Big Tech practices and pushing for more anti-discrimination frameworks and potentially putting in place regulation if it means more competition for small businesses."
“Broadband plays a role in every aspect of society. The lack of connection means a degradation in quality of life; it debilitates you.”
"To make distance learning work, vulnerable families need emergency broadband relief, which can be done through increased investments in home broadband, schools, and libraries."