Video: Politics & Technology – The Data Arms Race

Does technology make political participation more accessible or does it provide an unfair advantage to those who can afford the data?

Politics & Technology: The Data Arms Race from The Future of Humanity: Digital Divide Conference

The Panelists:

Erika Whillas (@erikawhillas)

Al Benninghoff (@AlBenninghoff)

Moderator: Ben Yee (@yben)

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Ben Yee (@yben)

Benjamin Yee has been a fundraiser and Digital Director for Barack Obama, served in the NY State Senate’s CIO’s office and has founded an online platform for crowd-funding lobbying.

Ben has also been a leader at every level of the Young Democrats, including VP of the nationwide Young Democrats of America.

He is currently Secretary of the New York County Democratic Party.

Erika Whillas (@erikawhillas)

Erika is an information architect and UX designer with a MPA from Columbia, and is Chief Product Officer of CoClear, a New York consultancy specializing in interactive life cycle analysis of consumer products. Erika is currently undertaking a PhD to answer the question: "Can participatory democracy be scaled with the use of digital tools to improve urban governance?” with a focus on making cities more resilient to climate change.

Al Benninghoff

Al Benninghoff (@AlBenninghoff)

Al is a progressive political strategist and movement builder who has run or consulted on over a dozen congressional campaigns across the country - most notably the 2012 congressional opponent to Paul Ryan. His data-driven organizing efforts and communication strategies have won national acclaim. Most recently, he led the effort to make election reform a key issue in the presidential primary. Last year, he managed the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's member driven effort to successfully pass federal legislation to address veteran suicide.

He has served in government on multiple levels (former-White House Director of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrion, the New York State Senate, and the City of New York), and he has worked closely with unions and grassroots groups to advance successful issue campaigns, independent expenditures, and ballot initiatives.

Al is a native of South Carolina and holds a Bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics, and Philosophy. When he is not working, he is building something in his workshop, running half marathons, or playing saxophone.