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Professor Farber established the David Farber Prize in 2018 to recognize undergraduate students at Keio University to write a 3000-word English essay in the area of interaction between information technology and society, particularly in the research themes the Cyber Civilization Research Center is exploring.
The 2nd David Farber Prize Winner Announcement
★First Prize (JPY 35,000 each) 最優秀賞（賞金各3万５千円）
Lying in Wait – What Does More Data Mean for Us?
by Leif Lincoln
Is Digital Contact Tracing the Rise of Modern-day Big Brother?
by Yuto Yamaguchi
★Second Prize (JPY 30,000) 優秀賞（賞金３万円）
Surveilled Cyberspace in China: Arbitrariness and censorship
by Yunqi Shi
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have not been able to advertise the prize announcement to our satisfaction. As a result, we decided to extend the deadline for submission to December 31, 2020. We hope this extension will allow you to develop high-quality contents further. Students who are expected to graduate in 2020 Autumn are still eligible to submit the application. Results will be announced in Jan 2021. We are looking forward to receiving your applications and please circulate with potential applicants.
Winners Announced! David Farber Prize for Undergraduate Student Essays
★First Prize (JPY50,000)
“Peer-to-Peer Experience Economy: Can Engagement with Strangers Promote Connectivity in Humanity?”
by Daum Kim, Environment and Information Studies Year 4
★Second Prize (JPY20,000)
“It’s Everywhere and it’s Vulnerable”
by Lisa Takahashi, Policy Management Year 4
“Virtual reality – the negative side and the measures”
by Xiaofan Liu, Policy Management Year 3
★Third Prize (JPY10,000)
“Post-Capitalism: The Future of Economy in a Hyper-Connected Era”
by Andree Pratana, Policy Management Year 4
The 2nd David Farber Prize for Undergraduate Student Essay is calling for submission again!
The prize aims to encourage and stimulate discussion of various perspectives of the cyber civilization at the global level and, more importantly, to recognize and appreciate outstanding ideas from young researchers at the undergraduate level.
Best Papers will be awarded certificates and prizes of up to a total of ¥100,000. This year, we would like to call for paper on the topic:
Technology, Governance and Privacy – Are we living in 1984?
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”
– George Orwell, 1984
This is George Orwell’s famous quote that comes from the dystopian novel, “1984,” which unleashes the regime of a new form of governance – totalitarian surveillance state. Despite this novel being written in as early as 1948, the concept of “Big Brother” still prevails in this information era. Perhaps even more intensified with the emerging Internet-related technology. We are living in a namely, “everything-connected” world with all kinds of electronic devices attached to us tracing every bit of information.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, many countries adopt different levels of public health surveillance and contact traceability tools to monitor the transmission of the disease. The deployment of these kinds of technology definitely helps to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic, yet it also means our lives are more vulnerable to data exposure and digital surveillance.
How much privacy do we really have? Do we actually own or control our data? The government? How are we close to the society of 1984? How could the novel, 1984 be re-written considering the contemporary technological capabilities?
本賞の目的はサイバー文明に関するグローバルレベルでの議論を創出することだけでなく、若い学部生諸君ならではの素晴らしい考えを表彰することにあります。優秀な論文を出した学生には賞状と総額10万円が与えられます。
本年の応募論文のテーマ：
テクノロジー（技術）、ガバナンス（管理）、プライバシー（機密）
私たちは『1984』を生きているのだろうか？
「過去をコントロールする者が未来をコントロールする。現在をコントロールする者が過去をコントロールする。」
—-ジョージ・オーウェル著『1984』より
これはジョージ・オーウェル著の有名な近未来小説『1984』にある１節で、ここには全体主義の監視下にある国家での新管理体制が描かれています。この小説は1948年に書かれたにもかかわらず、ここにあるビッグ・ブラザーの概念は現代の情報社会に今なお存在しています。それどころか現在登場しつつあるインターネット関連技術にさらに強められているとさえ言えます。いわば私たちはあらゆる電子機器により結びつけられ、全ての情報が追跡可能となっているのです。
コロナウイルス蔓延により、各国がそれぞれ異なる手法で国民の健康状態管理体制を築き、感染源を追跡・監視できる機器を採用しました。こうした機器のめざましい開発は、コロナウイルス感染の抑制に大きく貢献しました。しかしこのことは、私たち現代人がデジタルデータの攻撃には極めて弱いことを示しています。
私たちのプライバシーは本当はどれほど守られているのでしょうか？実際のところ、自分たちの情報をどれくらいコントロールできているのでしょうか？政府は？『1984』の社会にどれほど近づいているのでしょうか？現代の技術力を考えると『1984』はどう書き直せるでしょうか？