‘Year of Exploration’ continues Nov. 2 with look at sensitive information in a networked world

‘Year of Exploration’ continues Nov. 2 with look at sensitive information in a networked worldOctober 19, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Joan Feigenbaum, Henry Ford II Professor of Computer Science at Yale University, on Thursday, Nov. 2, will continue the journey through “The Year of Exploration,” a series jointly sponsored by Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and School of Information Studies.

Feigenbaum will speak on “Sensitive Information in a Networked World” beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Katzer Collaboratory, Room 347 of Hinds Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public; parking is available in the University’s visitor pay lots.

Increasing use of computers and networks in business, government, recreation and almost all aspects of daily life has led to a proliferation of online sensitive data that, if used improperly, can harm the data subjects. As a result, concern about the ownership, control, privacy and accuracy of data has become a top priority.

Since 2003, the National Science Foundation-funded PORTIA Project (http://crypto.Stanford.edu/portia) has focused on both the technical challenges of handling sensitive data and the policy and legal issues facing data subjects, owners and users. PORTIA is aimed at designing and developing a next generation of technology for handling sensitive data that is better than the technology of the current generation, as well as creating an effective conceptual framework for policy making and philosophical inquiry into the rights and responsibilities of subjects, owners and users. Feigenbaum will review some of the progress and conclusions of the project’s first three years.

Since 2000, Feigenbaum has been a faculty member at Yale University, where she has been involved with the PORTIA Project and the ONR-funded SPYCE Project. From 1986-2000, she worked for AT&T, where she participated broadly in the company’s information sciences research agenda and created a research group in algorithms and distributed data. Feigenbaum is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.

“The Year of Exploration,” established this year, focuses on the networked information society in recognition of the intimate interconnections among information technology, society and globalization. Political, economic and cultural developments over recent decades have made the management, distribution, control and use of information critically important to the proper functioning of societies. The challenges of creating, deploying and protecting technology and the information it contains have grown beyond the capabilities of a single academic discipline.

The series places emphasis on three areas chosen to represent the most challenging interdisciplinary problems facing the networked information society: trust, security and transparency; pervasive networks; and collaboration. Researchers and practitioners from several fields are scheduled to engage participants in workshops and lectures that explore the networked information society.