The Assembly Student Fellowship is one of the three pillars of the Assembly Program at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The Student Fellowship brings together a cohort of Harvard students from a range of disciplines and schools. Student Fellows regularly convene for problem-solving seminars and student-led discussions to explore real-world disinformation problems. Students are supported by a community of Berkman Klein Center and Harvard faculty and staff.
ABOUT THIS SITE
Our aim is twofold: first, for this site to become a home for the intellectual output of the Assembly Student Fellowship; and second, to become a hub of discussion about disinformation — through aggregation of scholarly work that we read, conversations with activists and policymakers that we admire, and discussion of individual Fellows’ research and ideas outside the confines of the program.
In the spring of 2021, we will meet our first objective primarily through updates on the progress of the Collaboration Groups, which are teams of Fellows investigating specific topics within disinformation. While the output of their work will take various forms, most teams are planning to share their progress on this site. We expect several teams to make original contributions to the understanding of disinformation.
Our second objective entails drawing on the community addressing disinformation that exists beyond our program — at the Berkman Klein Center, Harvard, and at organizations around the world. Given how diffuse and multifaceted the study of disinformation has become, we hope to represent the range of individuals and ideas that have emerged to fight it.
Our (evolving) editorial approach is coordinated by Danny Wilson, a first-year student at Harvard Business School. For additional information about this site, please write [sans spaces] dwilson @ mba2022.hbs.edu.
ABOUT THE 2020-21 STUDENT FELLOWSHIP
The 2020-21 Assembly Student Fellowship is a program for Harvard undergraduate and graduate students interested in exploring the complex challenges of disinformation on online platforms, engaging with faculty working on the cutting edge of the field, and building a diverse community of learning across disciplines.
Structured to complement existing coursework, the Student Fellowship is grounded in a tailored seminar series and offers the opportunity to connect with and learn from other students, as well as with esteemed scholars, technologists, and journalists working in the disinformation space, from the Berkman Klein Center and beyond. Previous students have described the program as “one of the highlights” of their year, noting in particular that guest speakers share a wealth of insights and knowledge and that the fellowship creates a community of exceptional students from across the University.
Now in its third year, the Assembly Student Fellowship is a multidisciplinary learning and teaching initiative that brings together Harvard students and faculty around quickly-emerging issues in technology policy; this year, the program is focused on disinformation. Based at the Berkman Klein Center, the Student Fellowship is supported by a diverse network of Harvard faculty and staff from across the University, including faculty from the HBS Digital Initiative and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy.
If you’re interested in learning more about last year’s fellowship, visit the Assembly Medium.
THE BROADER ASSEMBLY PROGRAM
This site serves as a student blog for the Assembly Student Fellowship, 2020-21. To learn more about the Assembly Program, please see the following links:
- Assembly Program website – contains an overview of the Assembly Program, including information about the Fellowship, the Student Fellowship, and the Forum
- Berkman Klein Center website – Assembly Program page (program summary)
- Assembly Medium collection – includes write-ups about outputs from the Assembly Fellowship and the Student Fellowship in 2019-2020
- The Breakdown – a collection of video interviews about disinformation, hosted by BKC Fellow Oumou Ly