Technology as a Public Good

Murali Venkatesh, associate professor at Syracuse University’s iSchool, and Linda Littlejohn, associate vice president of Community initiatives for Academic Affairs at SU, and South Side Community Coalition Project Manager, have been awarded an Enitiative grant for course development.

The course will equip professionals-in-training with the conceptual frameworks and practical social skills derived from an ethical and socially-responsible perspective on technology in order that they may effectively intervene in public technology initiatives as public-spirited citizens. Students will be exposed to key ideas and values of participatory democracy and citizen activism. They will work with local neighborhoods to develop (a) robust strategies for citizen participation in the design and ongoing development of local technology projects, and (b) three workshops to train citizen activists around technology access/use issues.

Luk Boral ’06, G’07
New York City
Grant Audit Professional Program participant/analyst, JPMorgan Chase Finance/Auditing

Programs: B.S. in information management and technology and M.S. in information management

Luk joined JPMorgan Chase in 2007, and began in a two-year Grant Audit Professionals Program. Luk is responsible for internal IT audit within the Treasury & Securities Services (TSS) department. In this position, Luk carries different responsibilities in each audit performed: understanding the business needs and operations; maintaining a relationship with the stakeholders; analyzing IT processes within the audited area, parameters, and usage of various applications; assessing and measuring risks; identifying mitigating controls; and finally testing and grading them. Some of the systems within TSS transfer over a trillion dollars each day and a deficiency in any of them might directly affect the U.S. global economy.