● 주제: Who Governs What a Democracy Knows? Power, Dependency, and Accountability across Journalism, Platforms, and AI

● 발표자: Heesoo Jang (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

● 시간 및 장소: 6월 15일 (월) 11:30~13:00, IBK커뮤니케이션센터 64동 501호

 

● 초록:

Who governs what a democracy knows? The work of informing the public, long the task of journalism, increasingly runs on digital platforms and AI as well. My research examines these information infrastructures from two sides: (i) how power, dependency, and accountability are distributed within them and (ii) what shapes public support for the policies meant to govern them. This talk introduces studies spanning election information, platform governance and online harm, and public opinion on technology policy. Together, they show that as the public's knowledge comes to depend on systems democracies do not control, power concentrates in fewer hands and accountability becomes harder to locate. My central argument is that this dependency is itself political: who relies on whom for information infrastructure shapes who holds power, from local news to "sovereign AI." The studies also show that public support for governing these systems depends on whom people trust and what they expect of those in control. Methodologically, the work combines quantitative and computational analysis with critical and normative interpretation. I close with implications for studying information infrastructures and the technology policy their governance demands.

 

● 연사 소개:

Heesoo Jang 교수

Heesoo Jang (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an Assistant Professor of Media Law and Ethics in the Department of Journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, affiliated with the Global Technology for Social Justice Lab (GloTech Lab) and the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP). She studies the information infrastructures that democracy depends on, including journalism, platforms, and AI. She approaches them from two sides: (i) how power, dependency, and accountability are distributed within them and (ii) what shapes public support for the technology policies meant to govern them. Her research has appeared in leading journals including the International Journal of Press/Politics, Information, Communication & Society, and Social Media + Society; her public commentary has been featured by CNN, Wired, and the Washington Post; and her policy engagement has included the NIST Generative AI Public Working Group, Data & Society's Public Technology Leadership Collaborative, and roundtables convened by OpenAI and the Bipartisan Policy Center.