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Left to right: MIT associate professors Eden Medina of science, technology, and society and Sarah Williams of technology and urban planning. Medina is particularly well-versed in the social, historical, and ethical aspects of computing, and Williams brings expertise as a practicing data scientist. Their multi-layered course, Data and Society, is designed to train practitioners who know how to use ...

The social life of data

New Data and Society course engages students in the ethics and societal implications of data.

June 8, 2020

We’re approaching the limit of how small transistors can get. As a result, over the past decade researchers have been working to find other ways to improve performance so that the computer industry can continue to innovate.

If transistors can’t get smaller, then coders have to get smarter

MIT CSAIL researchers say improving computing technology after Moore's Law will require more efficient software, new algorithms, and specialized hardware.

June 5, 2020

A new algorithm, called the Fast Loaded Dice Roller (FLDR), simulates the roll of dice to produce random integers. The dice, in this case, could have any number of sides, and they are “loaded,” or weighted, to make some sides more likely to come up than others.

Algorithm quickly simulates a roll of loaded dice

Approach for generating numbers at random may help analyses of complex systems, from Earth’s climate to financial markets.

May 28, 2020

Researchers with the IDSS Covid-19 Collaboration (Isolat) are designing a control model for testing and isolating members of communities like MIT’s to reduce Covid-19 infection.

A data-driven response to a pandemic

Isolat, a volunteer collaboration organized by the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, informs coronavirus policy by analyzing data associated with the pandemic.

May 15, 2020

A new hospital status app aims to balance hospitals’ Covid-19 load. Based on crowdsourced data, the app gives patients, EMTs, and physicians tools to report and check on availability of hospital resources, from ventilators and ICU beds to average wait times.

Reporting tool aims to balance hospitals’ Covid-19 load

Based on crowdsourced data, app helps patients, EMTs, and physicians determine real-time availability of hospital resources.

April 23, 2020

WiDS Cambridge, co-hosted by the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, recognized and empowered women in STEM across a variety of disciplines.

Annual Women in Data Science conference discusses fake news

WiDS Cambridge, co-hosted by the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, recognizes and empowers women in STEM across a variety of disciplines.

April 17, 2020

Assistant Professor Catherine D’Ignazio uses data and computational techniques to work toward gender and racial equity. MIT News spoke with her about the current boom in Covid-19 data visualizations, and how data visualizers can help us make sense of the pandemic’s uncertain numbers.

3 Questions: Catherine D’Ignazio on visualizing Covid-19 data

“Data scientists and visualization designers need to take their civic role very seriously in a pandemic,” says the MIT assistant professor.

April 13, 2020

To reduce lag times and increase quality in video streaming, mobile gaming, and other web services, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have designed a congestion-control scheme for time-varying wireless links, such as cellular networks.

Reducing delays in wireless networks

Congestion control system could help streaming video, mobile games, and other applications run more smoothly.

April 9, 2020

Paradigm4 allows users to integrate data from sources like genomic sequencing, biometric measurements, environmental factors, and more into their inquiries to enable new discoveries across a range of life science fields.

Accelerating data-driven discoveries

Life science companies use Paradigm4’s unique database management system to uncover new insights into human health.

April 4, 2020

MIT’s innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) community has stepped up to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic — and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the new Covid-19 Rapid Innovation Dashboard, pictured, which features more than 50 projects, research initiatives, startups, and global activities undertaken by the MIT community to respond to the crisis.

MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem steps up to the challenge of Covid-19

Entrepreneurial groups around the Institute have launched initiatives to address challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

April 2, 2020

Census Day is April 1, but the government strongly encourages online responses, which can be submitted until Aug. 14 under a revised schedule.

The 2020 U.S. census: Time to make it count

Amid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, the MIT community has an important role to play in the 2020 census.

March 31, 2020

“I’ve recently encountered researchers at a loss for how to describe their visualizations in ways that make them more accessible. When visualizations appear in, say, textbooks, scientific publications, or educational materials, they might appear as braille translations of the image, but more often they appear as textual descriptions. But what is the best way to describe a visualization?,” sa...

3Q: Collaborating with users to develop accessible designs

An MIT team discusses the pitfalls of “parachute research” and the importance of “sociotechnical” factors.

March 13, 2020

Learners in the Advanced Program in Data Science and Global Skills interact with each other in physical space while receiving live instruction and feedback from teaching assistants, recruited by the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, to support their journey through the MicroMasters Program in Statistics and Data Science.

Creating Peru’s next generation of data scientists

IDSS and social impact group Aporta share a vision to educate and empower.

March 9, 2020

Catherine D’Ignazio is the co-author of a new book, “Data Feminism,” published by MIT Press in March 2020.

The elephant in the server room

Catherine D’Ignazio’s new book, “Data Feminism,” examines problems of bias and power that beset modern information.

March 9, 2020

In a new metadata-protecting scheme, users send encrypted messages to multiple chains of servers, with each chain mathematically guaranteed to have at least one hacker-free server. Each server decrypts and shuffles the messages in random order, before shooting them to the next server in line.

Protecting sensitive metadata so it can’t be used for surveillance

System ensures hackers eavesdropping on large networks can’t find out who’s communicating and when they’re doing so.

February 26, 2020