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Amid a packed house bursting with students, media, community members and campus leaders, the UW officially launched the (CIP) — a groundbreaking nonpartisan effort to combat the spread and weaponization of disinformation in society.

The center is led by a diverse group of scholars, researchers and leaders from across industries and disciplines. ������Ƶ Professor and Co-Director Ryan Calo is one of the center’s founders and principal investigators. The School of Law will play a central role in finding and vetting policy solutions to what is arguably the biggest threat to American democracy in the age of digital technology.

“Great shifts in technology, ways of living and social norms ought to also precipitate changes to institutions — including universities, civic units, and government institutions. We’re in a place now where we’re in another such shift,” Calo said.

"We have to stop ignoring the prospect that the current civic and technology environment represents a paradigm shift. As civil institutions, public universities in particular have an obligation to shepherd us toward more productive ways of thinking, study and acting.”

The CIP is a joint effort among the law school, iSchool, and the College of Engineering in collaboration with the UW’s Communication Leadership Program and other university and community partners. The center’s overall mission is to take a multidisciplinary approach to resist strategic misinformation, promote an informed society and strengthen democratic discourse.

More than 450 attendees jammed into the UW’s Husky Union Building in Seattle for the kick-off event Dec. 3. , CIP director and associate professor at the (iSchool), opened the event before giving way to a panel discussion featuring the center’s principal investigators: Calo; and of the iSchool; and from the (DCHE).

University of Washington President and Washington State University President Kirk Schulz signed an MOU affirming the two universities will be collaborating on the first-of-its-kind effort moving forward.

“If we care about common goals, we have to care also about facts, truth and accuracy,” Cauce said. “Our society shares a lot of common ground, but misinformation can be weaponized to divide us and to weaken us. Through the Center for an Informed Public, we can fight back in the name of democratic governance.”

The donated $5 million in spring 2019 to fund the center, which will take a statewide approach to researching and finding solutions for the issues borne of strategic disinformation.

CIP leaders and partners will translate and bridge gaps between research, education, policy and public engagement; lead and develop top-tier research programs; create an innovation fund to spark new research; sponsor pilots to create innovative new ideas to address this problem; and serve as a magnet for the next generation of thought-leaders, innovators and scholars.

Great shifts in technology, ways of living and social norms ought to also precipitate changes to institutions — including universities, civic units, and government institutions.

Ryan Calo

A series of town hall events across the state begins at a Town Hall Seattle Jan. 23.

The tactical execution strategies are expansive, which is why the collective expertise assembled from across disciplines is essential to furthering the CIP’s goals.

The law school in particular is galvanized by a widespread and palpable enthusiasm among law school professors, scholars and researchers, led by ������Ƶ Toni Rembe Dean and Professor of Law Mario L. Barnes, who will be instrumental to executing ������Ƶ’s goals in this space.

������Ƶ will lead the way on a number of key fronts: Spearheading public policy research; framing findings so they more effectively address policy questions; and serving as a resource at the solution stage when it comes to navigating the legal landscape with respect to First Amendment issues, as well as liabilities and responsibilities of social media and other technology platforms.

“You cant ‘tech’ your way out of this problem, because the problem in the end is not solely about technology,” Calo said. “The fact is we’ve ceded an enormous amount of control to the private sector — tech in particular — and we should not be expecting that sector alone will be coming up with these solutions.

“Different parts of society are responsible for striking balances and enforcing those balances, and the tech sector itself is not the appropriate set of institutions that ought to be striking the balance of society. The role of government is where we conceive what the rules are and what is best for humans to flourish.”

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