Dr. Henrique Z. M. Parra, Professor Social Sciences, UNIFESP, Brazil

08/13/18 • 48 min

The Human Show: Innovation through Social Science

Dr. Henrique Z. M. Parra has an MsC in Sociology (USP), a PhD in Political Science (UNICAMP) and is currently a permanent Professor of Social Sciences at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). He worked as a professor, researcher and project lead at public and academic institutions in areas connected to social economic development, (social) technology, public policy, human rights and communication.

In today’s episode we talk to Henrique about his interests and projects in the space of data transparency and civic activism in Brazil. We cover the definition of transparency, governance and the “right” data ; legal governance in Brazil and the case for radical democratisation through open data and technology.

We cover his project in the city of Ubatuba where he helped build a prototype that aimed to empower social groups to access information that would enable them to contribute to the political debate in a conflict over a territory. We talk about the academic, public and private sectors, their position on open data and relationship to each other.

Lastly we talk about his future plans in the technology space.

Mentioned in podcast:

Open Science Research Project Ubatuba city
short documentary on the project (english subtitles)
project website (in Portuguese only)
OCSDNet – Open and Collaborative Science in Development
LAVITS, Latin America Research Network on surveillance, technology and society studies
CitizensLab, a participatory European network of local actors of change from different sectors and contexts. Research project Henrique conducted in Madrid, Spain (in Portuguese only)
Crypto annual event happening in Sao Paulo, Brasil
Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (Marco Civil) (2014)
English version of the approved law here
Understanding Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (2015, ITS)
The Commons Lab, Madrid
Gilbert Simondon

Henrique’s work:

https://pimentalab.milharal.org/txt/

Social media or other links:

https://pimentalab.milharal.org
‪@henrique_parra‬

Lastly we talk about his future plans in the technology space.

Mentioned in podcast:

Open Science Research Project Ubatuba city
short documentary on the project (english subtitles)
project website (in Portuguese only)
OCSDNet – Open and Collaborative Science in Development
LAVITS, Latin America Research Network on surveillance, technology and society studies
CitizensLab, a participatory European network of local actors of change from different sectors and contexts. Research project Henrique conducted in Madrid, Spain (in Portuguese only)
Crypto annual event happening in Sao Paulo, Brasil
Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (Marco Civil) (2014)
English version of the approved law here
Understanding Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (2015, ITS)
The Commons Lab, Madrid
Gilbert Simondon

Henrique’s work:

https://pimentalab.milharal.org/txt/

Social media or other links:

https://pimentalab.milharal.org
‪@henrique_parra‬

Previous Episode

Jacquelyn Krones: Principal for Ethics in the AI Perceptions and MR Group, Microsoft

We talk with Jacquelyn about the definitions and components of AI and ethics at Microsoft ; how she works with ethics within an enterprise solution team, transitioning from high level ethics principles to day to day product work. We cover metrics around ethics, the connection between ethics and consumer trust and governance. Lastly we talk about the value of a social scientist and how to approach the corporate ethics field when looking for employment.

Mentioned in Podcast:

The Partnership of the Future: Microsoft’s CEO explores how humans and A.I. can work together to solve society’s greatest challenges:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/06/microsoft_ceo_satya_nadella_humans_and_a_i_can_work_together_to_solve_society.html

The Future Computed, AI and it’s role in society
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2018/01/17/future-computed-artificial-intelligence-role-society/

FATE Research Group Microsoft
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/fate/

Eric Horvitz, who leads AETHER is quoted talking about it here: https://www.geekwire.com/2018/microsoft-cutting-off-sales-ai-ethics-top-researcher-eric-horvitz-says/-

Partnership on AI:
https://www.partnershiponai.org

AINow Institute:
https://ainowinstitute.org/

Data & Society:
https://datasociety.net/

Several speakers in the excellent MSR podcast series who discuss ethics and AI

Dr. Eric Horvitz https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/ai-and-our-future-with-machines-eric-horvitz/

Dr. Ece Kamar
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/life-at-intersection-of-ai-society-ece-kamar/

Dr. Kate Crawford
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/keeping-an-eye-on-ai-with-dr-kate-crawford/

Dr. Rich Caruana
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/making-intelligence-intelligible-dr-rich-caruana/

Social media or other links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelyn-krones-56302b1/

Next Episode

Ann Hsieh: UX Research Leader, Facebook Groups: exploration & creativity in research

Ann Hsieh is a mixed-methods research leader and loves adapting or creating new methods to build greater impact with stakeholders. She currently leads research for Groups team at Facebook and has 13 years of industry experience from Google, Nokia, and Yahoo. She has published and presented papers at conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia since 2005. Ann has a master’s from Stanford University and a bachelor's from Cornell and grew up in upstate NY and Taiwan. In her spare time, she is an avid cyclist and loves gardening with succulents.

In today’s episode we talk to Ann about her definition of user experience and user research; her experience as the first researcher working on Google Music and her creative approaches to dealing with time constraints; we cover the topic of stakeholders, why they are important and how to get them on board a research project; we cover thinking about community and cross-culturalism when researching social groups; we cover how she deals with bias and her preferred methods of research. Lastly she gives advice on how to make a (smooth) transition from academia to the technology industry.

Mentioned in podcast:

Design User Research Google Group

Ann’s work:

How to Use Video to Tell Impactful Stories
Influencers and Barriers to Technology
If you build it, they will come ... if they can: pitfalls of releasing the same product globally
The Effects of Two Competing Predictors: Gratifications and Personality on Cellular and Household Telephone Use

Social media or other links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhsieh/