- change - Mailing Lists

Wikimedia Foundation is hiring a Research Scientist
by Jonathan T Morgan 06 Jun '18

06 Jun '18

Hello changemakers, New social impact-focused research position below! You'd be working on building models and running research studies to improve the integrity of the information published on Wikipedia (and sister projects like WikiData and Wikimedia Commons), as well as identifying and addressing knowledge gaps, sources of bias, and sociotechnical barriers to contribution in the content and the contributor communities of those projects. Details below and here <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1173279?gh_src=a41847991>. Please forward this on relevant contacts and channels! Cheers, Jonathan Research Scientist at Wikimedia Foundation (View all jobs) <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia?t=a41847991> San Francisco, CA or Remote *Summary* Every month, more than 70,000 volunteer editors come together to make free knowledge a reality. Every hour, 36,000 people view Wikipedia articles from all over the world. Every second, more than 100,000 HTTP requests hit Wikimedia’s servers. In the Wikimedia Foundation’s Research team, we leverage this large-scale data to understand and empower people around the world to share in the sum of all knowledge. As a research scientist at the Wikimedia Foundation, you will work with researchers, software engineers, designers, and volunteers to design, test and evaluate new technologies. You will produce empirical insights to inform the organization’s and the movement’s efforts towards our strategic direction—to become the platform that serves open knowledge to the world and to empower all people to access and contribute to free knowledge. You will turn research questions into publicly shared, reproducible knowledge and work with a team that is strongly committed to principles of transparency, privacy and collaboration. You will use and develop free and open source technology and collaborate with researchers in the industry and academia. *Responsibilities* As a research scientist with our team, you will: - Conduct research involving experimental design, labeled data collection, large-scale data analysis and data mining, statistical modeling as well as the application and online/offline evaluation of machine learning methods - Contribute to the design, execution, and communication of research projects - Discuss, document and share the process and results of your research publicly - Actively engage in a collaborative, consensus-oriented environment and as part of a globally-distributed organization *Requirements* - PhD or MSc degree plus related work experience in computer science, statistics, or related technical fields; PhD degree highly preferred - Experience in Machine Learning and at least one of the following fields: Natural Language Processing, Algorithm Design, Social Network Analysis, HCI, Behavioral/ Experimental Economics, Computational Social Science - Programming experience in Python, Scala, R, or C++ - Contributions to research communities and research initiatives including publishing in relevant conferences and journals, organizing academic workshops *This will set you apart* - A portfolio of open source research or programming projects - Relevant work experience, in academia or industry - Experience with large-scale experiments in online platforms - Experience with mixed methods research - A strong record of scholarly publications - Experience with tools such as Spark, Flink, Hive, Kafka - Experience editing Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects * The Wikimedia Foundation is... * ...the nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge, free of interference. We host the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive financial support from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA. *The Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply* *Benefits & Perks ** - Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!) - The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, baby sitting, continuing education and much more - The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary - Flexible and generous time off - vacation, sick and volunteer days, plus 19 paid holidays - including the last week of the year. - Family friendly! 100% paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, flexible options to phase back in after leave, fully equipped lactation room. - For those emergency moments - long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program - Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses - Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available - Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax - Great colleagues - diverse staff and contractors speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people * for benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location -- Jonathan T. Morgan Lecturer, Human Centered Design & Engineering University of Washington jmo25(a)uw.edu

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5/29 seminar: Expanding financial inclusion for Seattle-area immigrants and refugees
by Philip Garrison 29 May '18

29 May '18

*Who*: Students from the Jackson School Applied Research Program, led by Jessica Beyer *What*: Expanding financial inclusion for Seattle-area immigrants and refugees *Where*: EEB 037 *When*: Noon-1pm, Tuesday, 5/29 *Abstract:* As immigrants and refugees migrate to new home countries, many experience difficulties adjusting to their new home nation’s financial systems. Issues relating to language, education, and cultural sensitivity contribute to these populations’ barriers to entry. As a result, many immigrants and refugees remain unbanked or underbanked. To ensure their successful integration to financial systems and the establishment of financial well-being, a team of researchers from the Jackson School of International Studies Applied Research Project team seeks to understand how populations of immigrants and refugees interact with the financial systems in the Greater Seattle Area. The report begins by examining established legal definitions of different types of immigrants. It then explores the demographic makeup of people arriving in Washington State and the Greater Seattle Area before examining the existing financial systems in Seattle. The report concludes with an in-depth overview of the various obstacles to financial inclusion for specific target populations by examining three case studies: the Somali population, Eritrean and Ethiopian populations, and Latino communities. This project was completing in collaboration with the University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering department. *Bio:* *Jessica Beyer,* *Faculty Lead*: Jessica Beyer is a Research Scientist in the Henry M. Jackson School for International Studies and the Technology & Social Change Group in the Information School. Jessica holds her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington. *Allison Anderson, ARP Program Manager*: Allison Anderson is a Ph.D. student at the Jackson School of International Studies. Her research interests are centered around gender, development, and information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the Arab world. *Grant Dailey, Senior Research Fellow*: Grant Dailey is currently enrolled as a concurrent degree candidate pursuing a Master of Public Administration with the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, and a Master of Arts in International Studies with the Jackson School of International Studies. *Nabilla Gunawan*: Nabilla Gunawan is a junior pursuing a B.A. in International Studies with an emphasis on Political Economy and Development. *Mardav Jain*: Mardav Jain is a junior pursuing a BA in Economics and International Studies with a focus on Foreign Security and Diplomacy. *Sertseleul Kebede*: Sertseluel D. Kebede is a senior at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies majoring in International Studies. *Jinyong Um*: Jinyong Um is currently a junior at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies studying Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Peace and Security. He also is an Informatics minor. *Jaime White*: Jaime White is a second-year master's student at the Jackson School of International Studies. Her research focuses on narrative and rhetoric in Hindu and Buddhist movements, and communal violence in South

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Fwd: [TIER] Volunteer to serve on the program committee for ICTD 2019
by Trevor Perrier 22 May '18

22 May '18

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Neha Kumar <neha.kumar(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, May 21, 2018 at 7:44 PM Subject: [TIER] Volunteer to serve on the program committee for ICTD 2019 To: tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu Dear ICTD friends, We invite you to volunteer to serve on our Program Committee for ICTD 2019 (to be held January 4th-7th in Ahmedabad, India). If selected (based on the spots we have open at present), we will rely on your expertise to ensure that the submissions selected for publication are high quality and guarantee an inclusive, impactful, and interdisciplinarily rich conference. **Please fill out this very short form, if interested: https://goo.gl/for ms/bM8vkOjmANpnEfMk1.** Below, we offer (1) a quick introduction to ICTD 2019, (2) important dates for reviewing, and (3) a description of what makes an ICTD Paper/Poster. *What is ICTD 2019?*Held in cooperation with ACM SIGCAS, ICTD 2019 will provide an international forum for scholarly researchers to explore the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social, political, and economic development. The ICTD conferences have been taking place every 12-18 months since 2006. The first ICTD conference was organized in 2006 at UC Berkeley and the conference has since been hosted in Bangalore (2007), Doha (2009), London (2010), Atlanta (2012), Cape Town (2013), Singapore (2015), Ann Arbor (2016), and Lahore (2017). The ICTD community is methodologically and conceptually diverse, including, for example, anthropologists who study how underserved individuals and communities engage with technology, computer scientists who design novel technological interventions to target development outcomes, data scientists who examine human-centered aspects of big data, political scientists looking at how national and state governments implement ICTD projects, economists who evaluate the developmental impact of such projects, and practitioners who implement them on the ground. *What does the ICTD 2019 review process entail?*As a member of the ICTD 2019 Program Committee, you can expect to complete reviews no more than five Papers and three Posters (we hope). Reviewing will take place between July 22nd and August 22nd (approximately). You will not be required to participate in a PC meeting or conduct any meta-reviews. *What is an ICTD Paper?*An ICTD Paper, 7-10 pages in the ACM two-column format (excluding references, but including figures and tables), must make a new research contribution and provide complete and substantial support for its results and conclusions. Accepted Papers will be presented orally at the conference and archived in the ACM Digital Library (unless otherwise requested by authors). Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of novelty of the research contribution, significance of the contribution to ICTD, validity of method, rigor of analysis, and clarity of presentation. *What is an ICTD Poster?*An ICTD Poster, up to 4 pages in the ACM two-column format (excluding references, but including figures and tables), can report on practitioner projects, research work in progress, dissertation progress, and other content that would enrich the conference. A complete research contribution is not mandatory. Posters will be reviewed in the same timeline as (but differently than) Full Papers. Accepted Posters will be presented as posters at the conference and archived in the ACM Digital Library (unless otherwise requested by authors). Submissions will be lightly reviewed, but required to meet most of the criteria mentioned above for Papers. The deadline to fill out this form is **Friday, June 1, 2018**. Should you require any clarifications, please contact us at program(a)ictdx.org. For more information on the conference, people involved, and/or the Call for Papers, please visit our website at www.ictdx.org, which we will continue to update as more details become available. If you are connected on social media, please follow our updates on Twitter @ictdx and here on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/ictdx) Warm regards, Neha Kumar & Rajesh Veeraraghavan Program Chairs, ICTD 2019 _______________________________________________ TIER mailing list Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu TIER(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier

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SEMINAR: Bots, Trolls and New Distributed Forms of Censorship Online
by Daniel Arnaudo 22 May '18

22 May '18

Hey All, I'm coming to Seattle Thursday to give a talk on this upcoming report I am publishing with the Center for International Media Assistance, hope to see you there! Best, Dan Arnaudo *New Distributed Forms of Censorship Online * Dan Arnaudo, a UW alumnus currently at the National Democratic Institute, is coming to give a talk *Thursday (5/24) 10am-11:30am in CMU 202* about his work researching new forms of online distributed censorship, computational propaganda and media manipulation. Dan Arnaudo, Senior Program Manager with the National Democratic Institute and UW International Policy Institute Cybersecurity Fellow, will be presenting on his new report examining "New Forms of Censorship" globally. The report, published by the Center for International Media Assistance, looks at case studies around the world and proposes potential responses for civil society, private enterprise, governments and particularly the press and media development community based on this assessment. It takes on international cases, ranging from Bahrain, China, the Philippines, Turkey and Ukraine, to explain new technologies that governments – particularly authoritarian regimes – are using to disrupt the free flow of news and information online. This includes the use of computational propaganda, troll farms, bot networks and forms of algorithmic manipulation, amongst other methods. It also looks at how these tactics differ from previous methods of government censorship, and how they have changed the way governments address these issues, both democratic and authoritarian, and suggests potential legal, political, and technical countermeasures. For more details please see the calendar invite: https://jsis.washington.edu/events/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D12… *Bio:* Dan is concurrently an International Policy Institute Cybersecurity Fellow and a Senior Program Manager at the National Democratic Institute tracking disinformation in political systems around the world. He is also a Research Fellow at the Igarapé Institute of Rio de Janeiro. Formerly, Dan was a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Global Studies working on the Jackson School’s Information Strategies for Societies in Transition project in Myanmar. His research focuses on internet governance, cybersecurity, and information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D). He earned an MS in Information Management and an MA in International Studies at UW by completing a thesis on Brazil and its Bill of Rights for the Internet–the Marco Civil. In 2013-2014, he was a Global Studies Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow in Portuguese. In past he has worked for the Arms Control Association, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Carter Center, and consulted for a wide range of organizations including Microsoft, the Center on International Cooperation at NYU, and NASA.

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Change Seminar TOMORROW (5/22): Stacey Wedlake
by Erin McAweeney 21 May '18

21 May '18

*Who*: Stacey Wedlake <https://tascha.uw.edu/people/stacey-wedlake/>, Technology and Social Change group *What*: Kenyan public librarians’ role in mobile-centric information access *Where*: EEB 037 *When*: Noon-1pm, Tuesday, 5/22 *Abstract*: Mobile phones and smartphones have become the entry point to the internet for billions of people around the world. In these mobile-centric contexts, accessibility, manifestation of social ecosystems, and the affordances of mobile devices shape people’s participation in the digital world. Through these changes, public libraries continue to connect people to information. Informed by Burnett and Jaeger’s theory of information worlds, this research examines how, in a mobile-centric environment, Kenyan public libraries and librarians play a critical role in the physical, intellectual, and social information access in their communities. Influenced by their personal technology engagement, information worlds and behavior, and perceived community need, Kenyan librarians' individual diversity of access directly impacts how mobile-centric community members access information. These findings were elucidated in March, over the course of a Mobile Information Literacy (MIL) training developed by the Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School. Addressing the technological and information literacies needed for smartphone internet use, public library specialists completed their training and have begun developing their own trainings which will cascade down to their communities. *Bio*: Stacey is a research coordinator with the Technology & Social Change Group. Her research interests include understanding the affordances and limitations of using different types of devices to interact with the Internet and what technology skills and access people need to accomplish their goals. Before coming to the UW, she taught basic computer classes at a nonprofit, community college, and as Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia. Stacey holds degrees in Public Administration (MPA) and Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Washington. She earned a BA in Communication from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas).

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UW Change Seminar: May 15 Dominic Widdows GrabShare
by Trevor Perrier 15 May '18

15 May '18

Please join us for the Change Seminar tomorrow *Tuesday 5/15/2018 *in *EEB 037.* *Who: *Dominic Widdows, Grab *What: *GrabShare: The construction of a realtime ridesharing service in Southeast Asia *When: *Tuesday, May 15 12-1pm *Where: *EEB 037 *GrabShare: The construction of a realtime ridesharing service in Southeast Asia* Ridesharing is a natural option for increasing the efficiency and availability of transportation, and many factors need to align for ridesharing to successfully meet user needs in the marketplace. This talk explains how some of these issues have been addressed in the creation of GrabShare, a realtime ridesharing service available in an increasing number of Southeast Asian cities including Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta. From an algorithmic point of view, the central topic is the scheduling system, which, given passenger bookings and vehicle locations, assigns passengers to vehicles and creates routes for those vehicles to follow. Other crucial factors include pricing, a navigable and reliable user experience, a system architecture robust to rejections and cancellations, and computationally tractable use of maps and traffic resources. A continuing dedication to understanding each city's individual needs and challenges, and persistent attention to user feedback, is also vital. This paper at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8056896/ gives an account of these areas, and attempts to give an organic overview of how GrabShare helps to serve customers as part of an integrated suite of transportation services throughout Southeast Asia. *Bio:* Dominic came to Grab after several years working on local search at Microsoft, commerce and logistics at Google, natural language processing and machine learning at Stanford, and a few other places along the way. He started off as a differential geometer at Oxford developing quaternion algebraic geometry, and is still applying geometry to various problem areas. In 2000 he moved to California and worked on natural language processing at Stanford, mainly using graph theory and linear algebra to model word meanings, which led to the application of quantum logic in word vector models. He continues this work as an open-source owner of the SemanticVectors package and steering committee member for the Quantum Interaction conference series. High points of his time at Google included building the first routing and delivery system for the project that became Google Shopping Express, and organizing the star data, matrix transformations, and time travel feature for Google Sky Map. (If you have an Android phone and any interest in backyard astronomy, this is still a very fun and useful app to play with!) Most of his work at Microsoft was in local search and information extraction of business listings from the web. So far at Grab he’s worked on designing and building the first versions of GrabShare and GrabExpress, and is now mainly focussing on NLP and AI challenges with Southeast Asian languages, particularly Indonesian and Malaysian.

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Fwd: [Dataseminar] Data Science Seminar: Uyi Stewart, May 23, 3:30 p.m., PAA A102
by Jared Moore 14 May '18

14 May '18

Below is a talk that many of you may find relevant. > Begin forwarded message: > > From: "Robin E. Brooks" <rebrooks(a)uw.edu> > Subject: [Dataseminar] Data Science Seminar: Uyi Stewart, May 23, 3:30 p.m., PAA A102 > Date: May 14, 2018 at 11:14:41 PDT > To: dataseminar(a)u.washington.edu, escience_allhands <escience_allhands(a)uw.edu>, "escience_bbl(a)u.washington.edu" <escience_bbl(a)u.washington.edu>, escience_affiliates(a)uw.edu, iths_tnt(a)uw.edu > > Hello everyone, > > We hope you can join us for our next Data Science Seminar <http://escience.washington.edu/uw-data-science-seminar/Stewart> featuring Uyi Stewart <https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/AI/Pages/stewart.aspx>, director of Global Development Strategy, Data and Analytics at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The seminar will be on Wednesday, May 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the Physics/Astronomy Auditorium, room A102. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome to attend. > > Please feel free to post the attached flier and forward to those interested! This seminar is co-sponsored by Urbanlytics <http://urbanalytics.uw.edu/>. > > Data science, AI, and big data analytics for global good & social impact > > Abstract: > > Over the past decade, we have witnessed an unprecedented explosion in data and in the way that analytics is being used to generate insights from such data. For example, in agriculture we used to rely mainly on subjective interpretation of weather or the farmer’s almanac to support farmer’s productivity. Now, we rely on remote sensing and predictive analytics to forecast yield, crop health, when or what to plant, etc. In healthcare, our polio eradication campaigns used to be targeted uniformly across geographies causing supply chain and coverage estimation nightmares. Now, we rely on analytics to help predict and smartly focus our interventions. This transition from diagnostic to predictive problem solving is happening across research, academic, commercial and non-governmental global development efforts, albeit with different incentives and underlying assumptions about the Data Value Chain (DVC). > > I’ll describe my journey from a commercial global innovation lab to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, starting with our work in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) to set up the first commercial research lab on the continent that is focused on applied and far-reaching exploratory research. I will describe how data and its usage have emerged as one of the most important global public goods at Gates Foundation; in particular, how we are using innovative technologies across the DVC to shape/influence our program strategy teams and the engagement with our partners in pursuit of our core belief that all lives have equal value. In light of these, I will motivate a unifying DVC and global data architecture that will enable data scientists and others from the research, academic, and commercial communities to contribute toward global public good (data science for social good) and help to make tomorrow better than today for billions of people. > > Bio: > > Dr. Uyi Stewart's team is responsible for applying innovative technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc. to optimize the use of data for decision-making and for delivery effectiveness, as well as leveraging the foundation’s data investments to create global public goods. Prior to joining the Gates foundation in March 2017, Uyi previously spent 13 years with IBM Research where he was promoted to distinguished engineer (one of the firm’s highest technical honors) in 2014, and he was also the co-founder and chief scientist of IBM Research – Africa from 2012 – 2016 (the first lab on the continent for conducting applied and far-reaching exploratory research into Africa’s grand challenges). > > Kind regards, > > Robin Brooks > Communications Associate | eScience Institute <http://escience.washington.edu/> > 206.543.9674 & rebrooks(a)uw.edu <mailto:rebrooks@uw.edu> > Follow us on Twitter <https://twitter.com/uwescience>, Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/uwescienceinstitute/> and YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLKSeDZWDqBzKRfHTabg1lQ>! > University of Washington > 3910 15th Ave NE, Campus Box 351570 | Seattle, WA 98195 > _______________________________________________ > Dataseminar mailing list > Dataseminar(a)u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/dataseminar

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COMPASS 2018 Early Registration Deadline
by Richard Anderson 14 May '18

14 May '18

Just a reminder, the COMPASS 2018 Early Registration Deadline is Tuesday, May 15. https://www.regonline.com/registration/Checkin.aspx?EventID=2313635 Please see the conference website https://acmcompass.org/ for a list of accepted papers and notes. Just a note on the venues - the first day of the conference (Wednesday, June 20) will be at the Tech Museum in San Jose, California, and the second two days (Thursday, June 21 and Friday, June 22) will be at Facebook in Menlo Park, California. See you at Compass! Sincerely, Richard Anderson

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Talk Next Thursday (5/10) from Benjamin Fernandes, CEO of NALA
by Sam Castle 10 May '18

10 May '18

Hi all, please note an upcoming special talk at UW. *Who*: Benjamin Fernandes, CEO of NALA, a digital payments company in East Africa *What*: Building a Digital Payments Company for East Africa *When*: Thursday, May 10, 3:30-4:30pm *Where*: Paul G. Allen Center, Room 403 *Abstract*: With the ever-changing payments ecosystem around the world, learn what it's like to build a digital payments company in Africa. Hear insights from needs-finding to prototyping, to beta testing and finally becoming the number one trending finance application on the play store one day after launching. Learn about the challenges, the key insights and valuable lessons learned in the journey. Co-founded by UW's very own Sam Castle. *Bio*: Benjamin Fernandes (Stanford MBA'17) is an award-winning speaker, entrepreneur and former national TV personality from Tanzania. Fernandes is co-founder and CEO of NALA (www.nala.money) a consumer mobile payments company that works offline operating in Tanzania. NALA has been backed by the DFS Lab (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and CGAP (World Bank). Fernandes is currently listed in the top 15 Most Influential Tanzanians.

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UW Change Seminar Tuesday, May 08: Bennett Gordon, CEO of Terra
by Sam Castle 08 May '18

08 May '18

Please join us for the Change Seminar next week on* Tuesday 5/08/2018* in *EEB 037*. *Who:* Bennett Gordon, CEO of Terra and former Finance Manager at Kopo Kopo *What:** Traceability and Financial Inclusion in the Coffee Supply Chain* *When: *Tuesday, May 8th, 12-1pm *Where: EEB 037* *Bio: *Bennett Gordon is a digital financial services consultant and entrepreneur. He used to lead the finance department at Kopo Kopo, the first merchant services and merchant cash advance provider in the mobile money industry. Since then, he has advised MasterCard, the United Nations, the World Bank, and other organizations on how to reach unbanked and underbanked people around the world. He is also the CEO of Terra, a company that uses distributed ledger technology to enhance traceability and financial inclusion among the 125 million people who trace their livliehoods back to coffee. Live streaming will be available, and we will send a link before the event.

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