Hi everyone, (With the usual apologies for cross-postings...) I'm absolutely thrilled to share that the Coalition for Independent Technology Research <https://independenttechresearch.org/> has officially launched today! The Coalition brings together academics, journalists, civil society researchers, and community scientists who work independently from the tech industry. And together we seek to advance, defend, and sustain the right to ethically study the impact of technology on society. (Read our full manifesto here: https://independenttechresearch.org/manifesto-the-coalition-for-independent-... .) To this end, we're organizing a number of key activities in the coming weeks and months, including: - Organizing mutual defense - Promoting and growing funding for research - Creating standards and oversights - Convening communities of practice - Advocacy And we'd love for folks from the AoIR community to be a part of this. The Coalition welcomes both organizational and individual members. You can join us here: https://independenttechresearch.org/join-us/ You can also follow the Coalition on Twitter (for as long as it's around) here: https://twitter.com/transparenttech. Rebekah Dr. Rebekah Tromble Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, George Washington University | Associate Professor, School of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington University | Visiting Researcher, The Alan Turing Institute (London) | www.rebekahtromble.net iddp.gwu.edu