As societies continue to grapple with myriad issues related to the information environment – from the introduction of new technology to the spread of disinformation – a key component in getting ahead of problems is missing: an understanding of how the information environment works. The fact is, it’s impossible to measure the impact of a new technology on a complex system without first understanding how that system works and its prior state. It’s an old problem faced by other fields. This talk explores how other fields like earth sciences and ecology developed to answer complex problems, and how a similar approach can make sense of the information environment in information ecology. No single discipline can explain a complex system like the information environment alone, but taking a structured interdisciplinary approach can help information ecology advance a holistic understanding of it – along with your work.

About the speaker:

Dr Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of the information environment. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality.

As part of her work at Carnegie, Alicia created a multistakeholder network in partnership with the G7 Rapid Response Network to support information integrity efforts in Ukraine. Alicia was a technical advisor to Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and is a founding member of its Global Cybersecurity Group. She is also an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition for Digital Safety. Alicia is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour in the University of Bath's School of Management. At King’s College London in War Studies, she completed her PhD combining strategic theory and ecology in a new approach to understanding conflict within the information environment.

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