Hi, my name is Meg Young. My work applies participatory and action methods to research on how to govern technology—with a focus on how to make surveillance and AI more accountable to the public. I am a Participatory Methods Researcher at Data & Society in the Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab and AI on the Ground Initiative, where I study how to support advocacy groups and the public to drive the terms of algorithmic accountability efforts.

I have collaborated with activists, advocacy groups, and public agencies on capacity-building for data governance, technology oversight, and public engagement. Previously, our work with ACLU WA and the Tech Equity Coalition led to the Algorithmic Equity Toolkit. Right now I am a co-organizer of NYC Tech Action Working Group, where I was part of the Internet for All campaign.

Much of my work focuses on promoting digital rights in municipal government use of data and AI. I work with government agencies, such as collaborating with the NYC Office of the Public Advocate on the #BantheScan campaign. Previously I was a Fellow with the NYC Office of the Chief Technology Officer and still closely collaborate with it via the NYC Office of Technology Innovation. I recently taught a course on digital rights to city employees from half a dozen U.S. cities as part of Results for America’s What Works Cities program in collaboration with Nneka Sobers and the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech.

My collaborators and I co-founded the Critical Platform Studies Group, a non-profit that partners with civil rights groups to pursue algorithmic accountability through adversarial design. We also write and organize around industry influence over academic research in computing. This work has been at its best when it embraces art, action, and play.

My doctoral dissertation looked at how government use of proprietary systems impacts public access, accountability, and oversight. I also spent years working in Seattle to create a data trust pilot called the UW Transportation Data Collaborative as a model to support research access to proprietary data. Our model is being used today in industry via the SAE Mobility Data Collaborative.

Previously I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell Tech Digital Life Initiative with Helen Nissenbaum, where I am now a Visiting Researcher. My PhD is in information science from the University of Washington in Seattle, where I was part of the UW Tech Policy Lab. My MS in information and BA in cultural anthropology are from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is also my hometown.

📄 My CV is here. My Google Scholar page is here.

📯 Get in touch on Twitter (still there even as it is horrible now) @megyoung0

📬 We can also get in touch on email: my personal email is meg at publictech.space ; my work email is meg at datasociety.net.

🪅 If you are doing work in participatory methods and AI and want to be in the loop for opportunities and events, email participation at datasociety.net

📅 Here is a link to come to my office hours.

💬 I value candor and other perspectives on the work I do; I have set up an anonymous feedback inbox here.

Talks