BU CDS Announces the Data Science PhD Student Seminar Series
November 20, 2024
The Boston University PhD program is home to a wide range of students, all studying various facets of data science. To help give students a friendly opportunity to practice and develop their research skills, we are launching the Computing and Data Science PhD Student Seminar Series. This series is focused on allowing doctoral students to present their research within a supportive and collaborative environment. Each seminar offers students a chance to share their findings, practice presentation skills, and receive constructive feedback from peers and faculty in a friendly, non-judgmental setting. This format not only helps students refine their work but also fosters essential communication skills that are crucial for their academic and professional careers.
Beyond the academic benefits, the seminar series is a community-building endeavor that seeks to strengthen connections among CDS students. By creating a space for students to share their work with the public, students from various backgrounds can learn from each other's experiences and methodologies.
The seminar series, organized by students Freddy Reiber, Lingyi Xu, and Yan (Stella) Si, meets weekly throughout the year on Fridays from noon to 1 PM, with lunch during the talk. Students interested in giving a talk should reach out to the organizers through email.
View the Full Event Series Here
Labor Unions and Digital Democracy with Freddy Reiber
November 22, 2024 11 AM - CDS 1646
Abstract: Labor Unions have served an important role in giving workers a voice within the economy, however, this does not mean they are without critique. Central to many union critiques is the lack of meaningful democracy within unions, or what Robert Michels calls the “Iron law of oligarchy”. In the 2000s researchers thought that information and communication technology might serve as a solution to these problems, however as empirical literature developed, it became clear that ICTs were not the silver bullet theorists had originally hoped. This talk reviews literature on both the theorizing and empirical work of labor scholars and HCI researchers as to why ICTs didn’t provide a meaningful shift in union democracy as well as some ideas for future work.
Bio: Freddy is a third-year PhD student in the Computing and Data Science department at Boston University, and advised by the fantastic Allison McDonald. His work explores how power dynamics are shifted by technology with a focus on applying human-driven methods to complex issues. Currently, his projects are on 2nd order dynamics in digital spaces within labor unions and the motivations used by cryptographers for their research.