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Events

Explore our upcoming events, find video and audio from our past events, and subscribe to stay updated on all of our talks, panels, and live webcasts.

Welcome to the Berkman Klein Center’s events. These get-togethers are all about having great conversations and making new connections in a friendly and inclusive space. We believe everyone has something interesting to say. Please bring your ideas, experiences, and unique perspectives. Feel free to critique ideas and speak from your own experience, all in the spirit of lively and respectful discourse.

Thanks for helping us create a great community atmosphere!

Our hybrid and virtual events are hosted on Zoom with closed-captioning. Questions can be submitted to the moderator, who will highlight popular and emerging themes and relay them to the speakers. Please note that translation services are currently unavailable.

Public event recordings will be available one week after the event. You can find them on the event page or BKC’s YouTube channel. For the latest updates, follow BKC on X or LinkedIn.

Respiratory illnesses like flu, COVID-19, and RSV affect millions annually. Protect yourself and others by wearing a high-quality face mask in crowded indoor settings and staying home if you're unwell.

Harvard University and the Berkman Klein Center welcome individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact our Event Specialist at [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

For further questions about accessibility on Harvard's campus, we invite visitors to check out Harvard University Disability Resources page and the Digital Accessibility page.

For in-person attendees, below is a list of resources regarding parking and accessibility at HLS. Harvard is a tough area to find parking, but we do have a number of options around Lewis.

For those with accessibility needs who have handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage (the garage recommended for events) for a moderate fee. Passes must be purchased in advance and printed ahead of time. For more info on Accessible Parking at HLS click here.
  2. Public handicap spots are spread out throughout Cambridge. Click here for a guide to public Cambridge parking, and click for campus interactive accessibility maps. The closest spots within reasonable walking distance and NO major roadways to cross are located at 2 Kirkland St, 23 Everett St, and 12 Oxford St. All 3 locations are located within 1 block of Lewis. Please note, so long as the driver has a legal handicap permit, they can park at any public, paid metered spot, or "Residents Only" spot in Cambridge, but MUST have their permit displayed at all times in their car window. If the permit is not visible, they will be ticketed and/or towed. They do NOT need to park in a handicap spot so long as their permit is visible.
  3. The most accessible streets to park on (meaning no major roadways to cross and within reasonable distance of Lewis) are Everett St, Oxford St, and Kirkland St.

For those not using handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage, 52 Oxford St Garage, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These are the 3 privately owned Harvard garages recommended. Click here for daily permit purchasing information, which must be done ahead of the event. A day rate is $25. Click here for Harvard’s Parking Map.
  2. Public, metered parking spots are available. They range in maximum parking time limit from 2-4 hours for $1.50-$2.00/hour. Please note, if you pay using the mobile Passport Parking app, you will NOT be able to renew your session once it ends. You will have to feed the meter using coins as the app will not permit you to surpass the maximum parking limit. (continued below).
  3. Car-pooling and public transportation are great ways to save money and time. These methods of transportation are highly recommended to those who can do so! 

The Berkman Klein Center is located on the 4th and 5th floors of the Lewis Law Center. The street address is 1557 Massachusetts Avenue. Most events occur in the 5th floor multipurpose room. The Center is wheelchair-accessible and includes accessible restrooms. The building is key card access only. For public events, staff will be stationed at the door to allow entry.

If an event is being catered, it will be noted in the event description and you will be prompted to indicate your dietary preferences on the RSVP form. Food is always offered on a first come, first served basis. The more we know, the better we can prepare, so please always RSVP. If you were unable to RSVP, please still come but consider not taking a meal unless there is an abundance.

Using a variety of local caterers, BKC does its best to provide an assortment of clearly labeled dietary options at all catered events. We usually have vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available.

For all event related needs or concerns, please contact someone on our Events Team at [email protected] or call our Event Specialist at 617-384-0596. Thank you.

Past Events

Event
Sep 10, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Can Tech be Governed?

BKC Luncheon Series: Public Kickoff featuring Jonathan Zittrain

VIDEO & PODCAST: How different is this technology from what preceded it, and do we need new ways to govern it? If so, how would they come about?

Event
May 21, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Auditing for Bias in Resume Search Engines

with Christo Wilson, Associate Professor Northeastern University

VIDEO & PODCAST: Are the algorithms that surface and rank your resume for job recruiters biased with respect to gender?

May 21, 2019 @ 7:00 PM

Ghost Work

Book Launch & Reception with author Mary L. Gray

How services delivered by companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Uber can only function smoothly thanks to the judgment and experience of a vast, invisible human labor force

May 20, 2019 @ 6:30 PM

Book Launch for UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye's Book 'Speech Police'

Cambridge Public Library Horizons Lecture Series

The social media have been accused of contributing to everything from terrorism to genocide. They have also been the only space in which activists and journalists at risk are…

May 14, 2019 @ 7:00 PM

Everyday Chaos

A Book Talk with author David Weinberger and Joi Ito

VIDEO & PODCAST: In his new book, Everyday Chaos, David Weinberger points to accepted ways we work on the Internet that in fact undo our old assumptions about how the future works…

May 7, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

IGNITE Talks at BKC

Featuring members of the BKC Community

PODCAST & VIDEO: Berkman Klein community members will share their research, passions, and musings in 5 minute Ignite talks. These topics may range from misinformation online to…

Event
Apr 29, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Having our cake and eating it too

How to develop AI competitively without falling victim to collective action problems

VIDEO: Could competition to develop new AI systems cause companies to cut corners ensuring their systems are safe and beneficial?

Event
Apr 23, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

How to Work with Tech Companies on Human Rights

Insights from a decade of multi-stakeholder collaboration (and an argument with Steve Jobs)

PODCAST & VIDEO: In conversation with Chinmayi Arun, David Sullivan draws upon a decade of work with technology companies (and a heated argument with Steve Jobs) to offer insights…

Event
Apr 16, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Dirty Data, Bad Predictions

How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems and Society

PODCAST & VIDEO: An examination of the data provenance of police data commonly used in predictive policing system.

Apr 12, 2019 @ 3:00 PM

The Cleaners

Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Told in the sinister style of a neon, cyberpunk thriller, The Cleaners charts social media’s evolution from a shared vision of a global village to a dangerous web of fake news,…

Apr 9, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Constitutionalizing Speech Platforms

Featuring Kate Klonick and Thomas Kadri with members of the BKC community

PODCAST & VIDEO: We're never going to get a global set of norms for online speech but do the platforms pick our global values and constitutionalize them? Something to tie them to…

Apr 8, 2019 @ 12:30 PM

BKC Meet the Author Series: Urs Gasser in conversation with Jason Farman

"The Art of Waiting in an Instant World"

PODCAST & VIDEO: The delay between call and response has always been a vital piece of the messages we send. In this talk, Farman and Gasser discuss the impact that technology has…

Apr 3, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

What Should Happen to Our Medical Records When We Die?

Featuring Dr. Jon Cornwall, Centre for Early Learning in Medicine

Digital innovation is transforming health care, and the amount of digital health care data being generated will likely have increasing research utility over time. Despite the…

Event
Apr 2, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Machines Learning to Find Injustice

Featuring HLS Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law, Ryan Copus

VIDEO & PODCAST: Can we find a responsible, ethical, and transparent way to leverage the power of predictive algorithms in our justice systems?

Mar 25, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

BKC Meet the Author Series: Urs Gasser in conversation with Farah Pandith

"How We Can Defeat the Extremist Threat"

Our featured author series, hosted by Berkman Klein Center Executive Director Urs Gasser and Farah Pandith, featured an in-depth conversation about big…

Event
Mar 12, 2019 @ 12:30 PM

Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics

How the Internet Era is Transforming Kenya

PODCAST & VIDEO: Join us for a conversation with author Nanjala Nyabola and 2017 Berkman Klein Fellow Grace Mutung'u about Nanjala's book, Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics:…

Event
Mar 5, 2019 @ 12:15 PM

Privacy’s Blueprint

The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies

PODCAST & VIDEO: The dominant model for regulating privacy focuses on giving people control over their information and regulating data practices. This focus ignores the role that…

Event
Mar 1, 2019 @ 1:00 PM

Alterspace

libraries, digital placemaking, and emancipatory design

An immersive library experience that gives visitors control over light, color, sound, and space to create the ideal environment for whatever brings them through the library's…

Event
Feb 26, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Waking Up to the Internet Platform Disaster

Featuring the author Roger McNamee in conversation with Lawrence Lessig

PODCAST & VIDEO: A former mentor to Mark Zuckerberg explains the danger posed by Facebook, Google and other internet platforms and what we must do about it.

Event
Feb 26, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Goodbye California?

The New Tech Worker Movement

VIDEO & PODCAST: In the past years, workers across the tech industry have engaged in an unprecedented series of actions challenging their companies. What do these actions mean-…