Deadline: May 31, 2022
Applications for the IT for Change Big Tech & Society Media Fellowships 2022 are now open. IT for Change has always been at the forefront of southern-led and -centered digital and data policy. In a bid to further their commitment to democratizing discourse and perspective-building on digital justice, IT for Change is inviting applications for the debut cohort of its Big Tech & Society Media Fellowship program.
The Big Tech & Society Media Fellowship offers journalists and media professionals the opportunity to pursue deeply researched, investigative long-form projects in print and audio on issues at the intersection of technology, policy, and economy. Specifically, they are looking to support work that is focused on the Global South, which surfaces strong regional and local narratives of technology, capitalism, policy, and development from Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, and integrates economic and gender justice concerns. Two fellowship tracks are available for interested candidates to apply.
Thematic Areas
Major themes and an indicative (but not exhaustive) set of issues that the fellowships cover include, but are not restricted to:
Corporate power and digitalization
- FAANG and beyond: regional tech ecosystems of the Global South
- Sectoral deep-dives (e.g., finance, food, retail, pharma, etc.) of digitalization
- Big Tech, development, and infrastructure (e.g., education, health, and financial inclusion)
- Discursive overtures of Big Tech
Corporate excesses, data extractivism, and human rights
- Worker conditions in the digital economy
- Data concentration and extractivism
- Digital monopolies, corporate excess, and impact on market fairness
- Corporate capture of digital and data governance
- Climate justice and technology
Regulation of corporate power
- Emerging regulatory efforts from the Global South
- Big Tech and the multilateral arena, e-commerce, and digital trade
- Global digital economy governance for data and AI
- Frontier areas for policy (e.g., fintech, crypto, tele-medicine, cybersecurity, etc.)
Alternatives to Big Tech
- Digital public goods and social infrastructure initiatives
- Cooperatives and alternative economic models
- Collectively oriented data-based initiatives
Southern feminist perspectives on digital capitalism
- Feminist future of work in the platform economy
- Gender in e-commerce and digital trade debates
- Social and solidarity economy-based data business models for women’s livelihoods
- Gendering digital economy and data governance debates
- Feminist visions of digital and data infrastructures
Funding
- Funding ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 will be made available to selected applicants to work on and, develop media pieces that draw on substantive on-ground reporting and primary research.
Eligibility
- Open to early to mid-career media professionals, scholars, researchers, and practitioners with a proven publication record of covering and analysing Big Tech, to surface new and under-covered perspectives on digital economy debates.
- The ideal fellow is a compelling and creative storyteller, who is well-informed and has a keen interest on issues of digital economy, data, technology, and policy.
- They have sufficient immersion in policy analysis and are attuned to the specific regional contexts they seek to work in.
Application
Interested candidates may write to [email protected] with the following materials and subject line: Application for Big Tech & Society Media Fellowships – Track (1/2):
- Current resume
- A one-page cover letter outlining your motivation, qualifications, and experience
- A proposal for work, detailing at least three pitches of the stories you plan to cover (about 200 words each) and whom you plan to contact for interviews
- Two work samples (solo authorship only) focusing on digital issues from the past three years in English.
For more information, visit Big Tech & Society Media Fellowships.
