Kira Allmann, Ph.D.

Kira Allmann, Ph.D.

United States
2K followers 500+ connections

About

I’m a researcher who has worked in academic and policy arenas on tech, data, and digital…

Activity

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Experience

  • Joint Commission on Technology and Science Graphic

    Joint Commission on Technology and Science

    Richmond, Virginia, United States

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    Manchester, England, United Kingdom

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    London, England, United Kingdom

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    Oxford, England, United Kingdom

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    Oxford, United Kingdom

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    Oxford, United Kingdom

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    Oxford, United Kingdom

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    Oxford, United Kingdom

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    Brussels, Brussels Region, Belgium

Education

Volunteer Experience

  • Nominet Graphic

    Digital Youth Index Advisory Group Member

    Nominet

    - 2 years 1 month

    Children

    The Nominet Digital Youth Index is a free-to-use national, annual benchmarking and barometer research identifying and monitoring the key drivers, issues and opportunities in young people’s relationship with digital technology across the UK. Website: https://digitalyouthindex.uk/

  • Nuffield Foundation Graphic

    Minimum Digital Living Standard Project Advisory Board Member

    Nuffield Foundation

    - Present 3 years 3 months

    Poverty Alleviation

    Digital inequalities in access, skills, and capabilities impact all aspects of citizens’ lives, be that work, education, leisure, health, or wellbeing. The team will undertake a ‘proof of concept’ study capitalising on the well-established Minimum Income Standard (MIS) methodology to develop a Minimum Digital Living Standard (MDLS) for households with children. This will capture the minimum basket of digital goods, skills and services households need in order to have an adequate quality of life…

    Digital inequalities in access, skills, and capabilities impact all aspects of citizens’ lives, be that work, education, leisure, health, or wellbeing. The team will undertake a ‘proof of concept’ study capitalising on the well-established Minimum Income Standard (MIS) methodology to develop a Minimum Digital Living Standard (MDLS) for households with children. This will capture the minimum basket of digital goods, skills and services households need in order to have an adequate quality of life and participate in society. Through employing a participatory approach, the team will develop a framework that encapsulates digital needs and explores the implications of not having these. The project seeks to move digital inclusion policy and research debates beyond simple measures of access and skills.

  • Nuffield Foundation Graphic

    Code Encounters: Algorithmic Risk Profiling in Housing Advisory Board Member

    Nuffield Foundation

    - Present 3 years

    Poverty Alleviation

    This project will examine the societal impact of algorithmic risk-profiling tools used by lenders and landlords.

    Housing decisions are made with the help of algorithmic tools as a way for lenders and landlords to mitigate risk. Credit scoring in the mortgage market and automated tenant screening tools are increasingly commonplace. However, there is little understanding about the societal impact of these human-tech encounters. Questions have been raised over the construction of these…

    This project will examine the societal impact of algorithmic risk-profiling tools used by lenders and landlords.

    Housing decisions are made with the help of algorithmic tools as a way for lenders and landlords to mitigate risk. Credit scoring in the mortgage market and automated tenant screening tools are increasingly commonplace. However, there is little understanding about the societal impact of these human-tech encounters. Questions have been raised over the construction of these technologies, whether they are understood by applicants or service users and if they embed bias into their decision making. Despite this lack of knowledge these tools have become further entrenched in our society and systems. The research team will be addressing this knowledge gap by conducting the first UK examination of housing risk-profiling technologies.

  • Rhodes Trust Graphic

    Global Rhodes Scholarship Pre-Selector

    Rhodes Trust

    - Present 5 years 4 months

    Education

    There are two Rhodes Scholarships available each year for Global.

    The Global Scholarships allow eligible candidates from the rest of the world (i.e. not eligible under any other Rhodes Scholarships Constituency) to apply for a Scholarship, subject to nomination. I serve as a pre-selection interviewer.

  • William & Mary Graphic

    Reves Center for International Studies Advisory Board Member

    William & Mary

    - 6 years

    Education

    The Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies was established at the College of William & Mary in 1989 to foster greater understanding of global issues across the university, the nation, and beyond. The Reves Center’s mission is to support and promote the internationalization of learning, teaching, research and community involvement at William & Mary. We do this through programs for education abroad, international students and scholars, and global engagement across the university…

    The Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies was established at the College of William & Mary in 1989 to foster greater understanding of global issues across the university, the nation, and beyond. The Reves Center’s mission is to support and promote the internationalization of learning, teaching, research and community involvement at William & Mary. We do this through programs for education abroad, international students and scholars, and global engagement across the university.

    The Reves Center Advisory Board is an external body comprising distinguished and experienced friends of the Center, who serve as advocates for the Reves Center and the College of William & Mary. Members of the Board provide external perspectives to the Director and advise the Director on international studies programs and activities.

  • University of Oxford Graphic

    Co-Organizer, The Oxford Writing Project

    University of Oxford

    - 1 year 5 months

    Education

    The Oxford Writing Project was a volunteer programme that works with students in local schools to promote creative expression through art, music, movement, and writing. Volunteers visit partner schools weekly to provide writing workshops for primary school students.
    Website: https://oxfordwritingproject.wordpress.com

  • Oxfordshire County Council Graphic

    Digital Helper at the Central Library

    Oxfordshire County Council

    - 2 years 1 month

    Education

    Assisting library customers with digital needs, such as word processing, email, and other digital skills.

Publications

  • Digital footprints as barriers to accessing e-government services

    Global Policy Journal

    This article builds on existing literature on digital inequality and the digitised welfare state to elucidate one underexplored way in which the rise of e-government platforms further disadvantages already-marginalised people: by requiring that they possess a verifiable digital footprint distributed across multiple public and commercial platforms. We illustrate the pertinence and nuances of this particular risk through lived experience research in a UK public library where limited users receive…

    This article builds on existing literature on digital inequality and the digitised welfare state to elucidate one underexplored way in which the rise of e-government platforms further disadvantages already-marginalised people: by requiring that they possess a verifiable digital footprint distributed across multiple public and commercial platforms. We illustrate the pertinence and nuances of this particular risk through lived experience research in a UK public library where limited users receive help with digital skills. Although there is a growing recognition of both the inevitability of digital welfare and the risks to marginalised communities, little work has been done to connect these abstract policy discussions to lived experience—to pinpoint how digitisation creates these exclusions, beyond simply having internet access or not. This article argues that the prerequisite of a digital footprint engenders a double disadvantage: (1) lacking a digital footprint is the result of barriers that are largely invisible to data-driven, digital-by-default systems, and (2) when marginalised users establish a sufficient footprint, this entails a disproportionately onerous responsibility for managing a distributed personal data trail in the long term. This combination of mundane barriers and the burden of responsibility for a digital identity points to policy implications for governments aiming to advance inclusive digital transformation agendas.

    Other authors
    See publication
  • 2022 UK Digital Poverty Evidence Review

    The Digital Poverty Alliance

    A research report on the state of digital poverty in the UK.

    See publication
  • Rethinking digital skills in the era of compulsory computing: methods, measurement, policy and theory

    Information, Communication & Society

    Around the world, digital platforms have become the first – or only – option for many everyday activities. The United Kingdom, for instance, is implementing a ‘digital-by-default’ e-government agenda, which has steadily digitized vital services such as taxes, pensions, and welfare. This pervasive digitization marks an important shift in the relationship between society and computing; people are compelled to use computers and the internet in order to accomplish the basic tasks. We suggest that…

    Around the world, digital platforms have become the first – or only – option for many everyday activities. The United Kingdom, for instance, is implementing a ‘digital-by-default’ e-government agenda, which has steadily digitized vital services such as taxes, pensions, and welfare. This pervasive digitization marks an important shift in the relationship between society and computing; people are compelled to use computers and the internet in order to accomplish the basic tasks. We suggest that this era of compulsory computing demands new ways of measuring and theorizing about digital skills, which remain a crucial dimension of the digital divide. In this article, we re-examine the theory and measurement of digital skills, making three contributions to understanding of how digital skills are encountered, acquired, and conceptualized. First, we introduce a new methodology to research skills: participant-observation of novices in the process of learning new skills along with interviews with the people who help them. Our ethnographically informed method leads us to a second contribution: a different theory of skills, which identifies three primary characteristics: (1) sequence, (2) simultaneity, and, most importantly, (3) path abstraction. Third, we argue that these characteristics suggest the need to change current ways skills are measured, and we also discuss the policy implications of this empirically informed theory.

    See publication
  • The remote British village that built one of the fastest internet networks in the UK

    The Conversation

    B4RN started planning to roll out its fibre-to-the-home network in Clapham in 2014, and by the end of 2018, around 180 homes out of 300 in the village had been hooked up with an affordable full gigabit-per-second symmetrical connection (currently only around 10% of homes in Britain are even capable of receiving such a connection). The speeds are impressive, especially in a rural context where internet connectivity lags horrendously behind urban areas in Britain. Rural download speeds average…

    B4RN started planning to roll out its fibre-to-the-home network in Clapham in 2014, and by the end of 2018, around 180 homes out of 300 in the village had been hooked up with an affordable full gigabit-per-second symmetrical connection (currently only around 10% of homes in Britain are even capable of receiving such a connection). The speeds are impressive, especially in a rural context where internet connectivity lags horrendously behind urban areas in Britain. Rural download speeds average around 28Mbps, compared to 62.9Mbps on average in urban areas. B4RN, meanwhile, delivers 1,000Mbps. The internet is more important than ever during the lockdown, where lack of access exposes other inequalities in internet use and skills. But B4RN means much more to digitally and geographically isolated communities than the internet service it provides.

    See publication
  • Privileging the social over the technical in community networks: An interview with Sol Luca de Tena

    GenderIT.org

    Zenzeleni network is an entirely community-owned and -operated internet service provider in rural South Africa, with 65 hotspots, 1.2 terabytes of monthly traffic, and an average of 200 devices connecting per day. When researchers from the University of the Western Cape and local activists got together to start the network in 2012, the rural communities in South Africa’s Eastern Cape were isolated and marginalised by generations of systemic exclusion that left them without economic stability…

    Zenzeleni network is an entirely community-owned and -operated internet service provider in rural South Africa, with 65 hotspots, 1.2 terabytes of monthly traffic, and an average of 200 devices connecting per day. When researchers from the University of the Western Cape and local activists got together to start the network in 2012, the rural communities in South Africa’s Eastern Cape were isolated and marginalised by generations of systemic exclusion that left them without economic stability, electricity, reliable education or transport services, or internet connectivity. Like many of the nearly 4 billion people who remain unconnected to the internet today, these communities are hard to reach and economically ‘unviable’ for major network operators. In contexts like this, community networks – or, networks owned and run by local communities – present an opportunity to build communications systems tailored to local needs.

    See publication
  • The Impact of New and Emerging Internet Technologies on Climate Change and Human Rights

    Submission to the Advisory Committee to the UN Human Rights Council

    Innovative solutions for Internet connectivity constitute one of the most important areas of new and emerging technology development with profound ramifications for the natural environment and human rights. This submission highlights two interrelated technological risks to human rights associated with Internet infrastructure: the environmental impact of Internet connectivity and the growing disparity in quality of Internet access worldwide. Closing various digital divides in Internet access is…

    Innovative solutions for Internet connectivity constitute one of the most important areas of new and emerging technology development with profound ramifications for the natural environment and human rights. This submission highlights two interrelated technological risks to human rights associated with Internet infrastructure: the environmental impact of Internet connectivity and the growing disparity in quality of Internet access worldwide. Closing various digital divides in Internet access is integral to ensuring the protection of human rights, and universal Internet access has been declared a UN Sustainable Development Goal. However, progress toward universal access must consider the environmental sustainability of connectivity solutions and take into account how rapid technological advances in Internet connectivity might exacerbate certain technological, economic, and social inequalities.

    See publication
  • Revenge porn does not only try to shame women – it tries to silence them too

    The Guardian

    If we are serious about free speech for all, we need laws to combat the abuse caused by revenge pornography. It is naive to think it can be self-regulated.

    Other authors
    See publication
  • Activism on the Move: Mediating Protest Space in Egypt with Mobile Technology

    Jadaliyya

    An exploration of how mobile phones were used during protests in Egypt in 2011.

    See publication
  • Mobile Revolution: Toward a History of Technology, Telephony and Political Activism in Egypt

    CyberOrient: Online Journal of the Virtual Middle East

    This article examines the use of everyday mobile technologies, and mobile telephony in particular, in political activism and protest during the 2011 Egyptian uprisings and throughout its continuing aftermath. The Arab revolutions have their own, now familiar, nomenclature, derived from the semantics of revolution and the digital age. Much of the language used to describe and analyze events in the Middle East has emphasized the “newness” of the technologies of protest and coordination and the…

    This article examines the use of everyday mobile technologies, and mobile telephony in particular, in political activism and protest during the 2011 Egyptian uprisings and throughout its continuing aftermath. The Arab revolutions have their own, now familiar, nomenclature, derived from the semantics of revolution and the digital age. Much of the language used to describe and analyze events in the Middle East has emphasized the “newness” of the technologies of protest and coordination and the uniquely 2.0 characteristics of these political movements. This article confronts this narrative, exploring the role of mobile telephony in Egypt during an ongoing period of political upheaval by moving away from the question of what is “new” or “revolutionary” toward what is ordinary put toward revolutionary ends. The article argues that the Arab Spring presents a crucial opportunity to interrogate and deconstruct the hybrid ecology of people and technological tools. By exploring several specific ways in which mobile telephony has played a role in the Egyptian revolution, this article demonstrates how a fixation on newness not only tells an incomplete story of this technologically mediated revolution but also undermines the ongoing practices of historicizing it.

    See publication

Honors & Awards

  • Rhodes Scholarship

    Rhodes Trust

    The Rhodes Scholarships are postgraduate awards supporting exceptional students from around the world to study at the University of Oxford. Established in the will of Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes is the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious international scholarship programme in the world, which aims to nurture public-spirited leaders for the world's future. They are based at Rhodes House, Oxford.

    http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk

  • Alumni Prize in Government

    The College of William and Mary, Department of Government

  • Benjamin Stoddert Ewell Award

    The College of William and Mary, Student Assembly

    In 1987, the Student Association (now the Student Assembly) established an award to honor well-rounded graduating students — both graduate and undergraduate — who best exemplify a liberal arts education through their activities and academic studies. This award was named in honor of Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, the President of the College of William & Mary, who by ringing the Wren Building bell kept the College alive when its doors closed during the Civil War. Ewell recognized that students are the…

    In 1987, the Student Association (now the Student Assembly) established an award to honor well-rounded graduating students — both graduate and undergraduate — who best exemplify a liberal arts education through their activities and academic studies. This award was named in honor of Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, the President of the College of William & Mary, who by ringing the Wren Building bell kept the College alive when its doors closed during the Civil War. Ewell recognized that students are the heart of the College's existence and continued the spirit until the students could bring life back to campus.

    https://www.wm.edu/sites/commencement/awards/ewell-award/index.php

  • Botetourt Medal

    The College of William and Mary

    The Lord Botetourt Medal is presented each year to the undergraduate student "who has most distinguished him- or herself in scholarship."​ Toward the end of the Spring semester, academic department chairs are notified of undergraduate students whose academic records merit their consideration for the Botetourt Medal. Those department chairs are asked to submit letters of recommendation on behalf of eligible students whom they wish to see considered for this singular honor…

    The Lord Botetourt Medal is presented each year to the undergraduate student "who has most distinguished him- or herself in scholarship."​ Toward the end of the Spring semester, academic department chairs are notified of undergraduate students whose academic records merit their consideration for the Botetourt Medal. Those department chairs are asked to submit letters of recommendation on behalf of eligible students whom they wish to see considered for this singular honor.

    https://www.wm.edu/sites/commencement/awards/lord-botetourt-medal/index.php

  • Megan Owen Award in Government

    The College of William and Mary, Department of Government

  • Phi Beta Kappa

    The Phi Beta Kappa Society

    Phi Beta Kappa chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at 283 leading U.S. colleges and universities. The Society sponsors activities to advance the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences in higher education and in society at large. A network of associations provides Phi Beta Kappa members opportunities to stay connected and involved in their own communities.

    https://www.pbk.org/web/

  • Phi Beta Kappa Chappell Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement

    Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Chapter

    http://www.wm.edu/sites/pbk/awardsscholarships/index.php

  • Monroe Scholar

    The College of William and Mary

    James Monroe Scholars are the most academically distinguished undergraduates at the College of William & Mary. Less than 10% of W&M undergraduates receive this prestigious designation.

    http://www.wm.edu/as/monroescholars/

Languages

  • Arabic

    Professional working proficiency

  • Spanish

    Full professional proficiency

  • French

    Limited working proficiency

  • English

    Native or bilingual proficiency

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