With a new Congress at work on Capitol Hill, two CMF members are helping to support a program that provides critical technology support and increased technology capacity for our policymakers through a fellowship provided by TechCongress. The organization says it seeks to bring diverse tech talent, ideas and training to Congress through their fellowship program by embedding tech experts in offices on the Hill.

The fellows work directly for members of Congress, briefing Congress on technology issues, researching legislation and prepping for technology-related hearings on everything from cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to data privacy, election security, automation and more.

Through the support of the Ford Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund the TechCongress 2019 cohort is the largest and most diverse group of fellows to date.

As TechCongress shares, this comes at a critical time when Congress needs to be equipped as lawmakers to discuss potential digital regulations, question tech giants about our digital infrastructure, deliberate the role of social media in privacy issues and understand the circulation of disinformation.

“Ensuring that government and governmental staff understand how tech works is urgent, and more urgent with each passing day. A Congress where only seven of the 3,500 legislative staff have any formal technical training is not going to cut it,” TechCongress shared.

The Knight Foundation has published research around the growing issue of disinformation.

Data from the Knight Foundation highlight the need for urgency:

• Disinformation continues to be an issue, with 4 million tweets linking to fake and conspiracy news publishers found in a 30-day period from mid-March to mid-April 2017.

• 89 percent of disinformation accounts, mapped by a social media intelligence firm in the Knight report, remained active as of mid-April 2018.

• Most accounts spreading disinformation are semi-automated or “bots.”

Both the Knight Foundation and Ford Foundation have been working deeply in issues of supporting digital infrastructure and democracy.

The Knight Foundation’s work supporting journalism in our current digital age is aimed at promoting “informed and engaged communities, which are vital to a healthy democracy.”

The Ford Foundation’s Technology and Society program “supports a growing field of organizations and networks working to ensure that digital technologies are designed and governed in ways that advance equity and justice.”

Their efforts have included advancing digital access and standards, building a more secure digital infrastructure, addressing critical digital policy questions and more.

There’s work underway from these two members and across the country to support the growing demands of technology and our democracy.

“Building governments that are equipped to understand how technology is changing society is the governing challenge of our generation,” TechCongress shared.

Want more?

Check out the Knight Foundations’ work and research.

Learn more about Ford Foundation’s work.