Technology and Society Forum - Panel

Confirmed Panel: Melinda Cilento (Chief Executive, CEDA), Amanda Robinson (Australian Red Cross), Katina Michael (Arizona State University)

Key questions

1. What is PIT, and why is it important (reflecting your particular lens/perspective on PIT)?

2. What are you doing in the space?

3. How has COVID shaped or re-shaped this?

Emphasis on the importance of interdisciplinary, multi-sector collaboration, in service of PIT. Hosted by Swinburne University of Technology and Latrobe University Diane Sivasubramaniam and Samuel Wilson (SUT) and Lawrie Zion (Latrobe University)

Event Brief: Tuesday 15th June, 12:00-1:30pm

The impact of technology on our society is one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our time. In this context, it is critical to consider how technology and innovation affects not just our industrial systems, but entire political, social, and economic systems.

Public interest technologies put people and society at the centre of our technological choices and strive to ensure that the benefits of technology are widely shared. However, there is limited understanding in Australia of the notion of public interest technology, in part because the use and meaning of the term is contingent on the ongoing and – in the wake of Covid – emerging questions about what constitutes the public interest. Drawing on perspectives from three experts in industry and academia, this forum socialises the concept of public interest technology, reveals recent applications of public interest technology, and issues a call to action for cross-sector engagement and collaboration to advance the development and implementation of public interest technology.

This Public Interest Technology webinar is the first event of the Technology x Society Forum, which is co-convened by Professor Lawrie Zion (La Trobe University), Associate Professor Diane Sivasubramaniam, and Associate Professor Sam Wilson.

• Melinda Cilento is Chief Executive of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA). Melinda is a company director, economist and experienced senior executive. She is a Non-Executive Director of Australian Unity and Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia. Melinda is also a member of the Parliamentary Budget Office panel of expert advisors. Melinda was previously a Non-Executive Director with Woodside Petroleum, Commissioner with the Productivity Commission and Deputy CEO and Chief Economist with the Business Council of Australia. Melinda has also previously held senior roles with the Federal Department of Treasury, Invesco and the International Monetary Fund.

• Amanda Robinson is Head of Social Innovation at the Australian Red Cross. Amanda founded the Humanitech 'think+do tank' within Australian Red Cross which harnesses the transformational power of emerging technology for good by putting humanity at its centre. She is a senior and strategic social innovation specialist with a focus on emerging technologies including blockchain, digital identity and AI, to help solve complex social problems and drive humanitarian outcomes at scale. Amanda is a versatile and entrepreneurial digital product and marketing professional with extensive experience in developing and managing online services, in particular online marketplaces, across a number of sectors.

• Katina Michael is a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. Previously, Katina was associate dean international at the University of Wollongong, where she was employed in the School of Computing and Information Technology. She researches predominantly in the area of emerging technologies and their corresponding social implications. In 2017, she was awarded the Brian M. O’Connell Distinguished Service Award from the Society for the Social Implications of Technology. She is the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society.

Source: Melinda Cilento, Amanda Robinson, Katina Michael (panel), 15 June 2021, “Public Interest Technology”, in Diane Sivasubramaniam, Samuel Wilson and Lawrie Zion, Technology and Society Forum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nb--eLodVo