Digital Village with Ric Allan and Leilani Albano
Digital Village is KPFK's bi-weekly show on how computing is completely changing the world as we once knew it. Hosted by Ric Allan and Leilani Albano.
On Digital Village we bring you stories about the internet and technology, how they are shaping culture, and changing every aspect of our lives… for both good and bad. We delve into the good and how we can avoid its abuses.
Ric Allan: Ric@digitalvillage.org
Leilani Albano: Leilani@digitalvillage.org
Archives https://digitalvillage.org/episodes
Twitter: @DigiVilleRadio
Ric Allan
During his 25-year stint as founder, co-producer, host and reporter for Digital Village, Ric has had the privilege of interviewing everyone from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Copy Left’s Lawrence Lessig, Internet founders Vin Cerf, Stewart Brand and Internet Archivist, Brewster Kahle, to Sci-Fi author William Gibson, Net Neutrality FCC commissioner Michael J. Copps and New York Times contributor and Re-code founder, Kara Swisher. A fugitive from the University of Michigan’s communications community, Ric has performed as a singer/MC/front man as well as radio show host for 30 plus years. He is also the lyricist/composer of at least one award winning-song and for the past eight years has hosted the wildly popular “Musicians’ Hang/Open Mic” in the Los Angeles’ Studio City locale. One of these days he will certainly be the recipient of an honorable U of M degree.
Leilani Albano
Digital Village co-host Leilani Albano is a longtime contributor to KPFK Radio and loves all things journalism. After starting off as a volunteer front desk receptionist, she quickly moved to the newsroom where she served as a writer and news anchor for a live half-hour broadcast. Since then, she has worked as a regular contributor to Pacifica’s international program Free Speech Radio News and nationally syndicated Workers Independent News. Leilani currently serves as Digital Village co-host, where she focuses on technology, social justice, public health and the environment. Her broadcast and print segments have been featured on KPCC Radio, Los Angeles Weekly, as well as Pacifica affiliate stations around the globe. She received her master’s degree from the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. Outside of radio, her favorite activities include labor activism, reading and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Brittney Gallagher
Digital Village Host Brittney Gallagher loves telling the story human interaction with the technology that is changing our world. A freelance contributor to a number of publications, Brittney covered digital culture at Digital Village for 8 years before moving into hosting in 2019. A Los Angeles resident, Brittney commutes to work in San Francisco. You can also hear her on SciFi-preneurship with Phil Libin where she co-hosts the series which explores how great works of science fiction have inspired creators.
She is also working on spinning up the AI Objectives Institute.
Contributors
A View From the Outside
Joanna Miller on A View From the Outside will be covering technology from a different angle.
Joanna Miller
Lydia Laurenson
The New Modality
Lydia Laurenson has covered (and lived) culture and counterculture throughout her career and she frequently joins Digital Village to discuss digital culture. She is currently working on The New Modality, a publication and community about experiments in culture. Lydia served as the Director of Strategy and Research at the award-winning geopolitical journalism company News Deeply and has semi-famously blogged under the pseudonym Clarisse Thorn. Her freelance bylines include Vice, The Atlantic and the Harvard Business Review.
Regular Guests
Discussing Biotech
Dr. Jun Axup is the Scientific Director & Partner for Indie Bio. She brings a passion for using biology, technology and design to better human health to the Digital Village airwaves. Jun has worked with start-ups focused on immuno-oncology, protein engineering, lab automation robotics, CRISPR and precision medicine.
Discussing Gaming
Mandie Roman is a Los Angeles based gamer, host, and consumer products consultant. When she's not hosting gaming or esports events you can typically catch her streaming on Twitch, attending pop culture conventions, or running her video game apparel and accessory business, GeekyGlamorous.
Discussing All Things Space
Dr. Casey Handmer is a physicist and software engineer who disposes of his copious free time by writing about the industrialization of Mars.
Casey is the writer of the blog Misconceptions in Space Journalism.
Nothing Is Secure
Roy Natian currently consults in the IT and infosec space with a focus on human centered design and its application to cybersecurity.
Roy has a passion for empowering people through the use of technology and design. He created secureyourself.org as an accessible guide and information source for people who wish to be more secure, but are unsure how to begin.
He currently resides in Boston where he’s trying to get used to the concept of having more than two seasons.
Covering AI
Dr. Peter Eckersley is an AI and privacy researcher . He brings a broad range of knowledge on the AI ecosystem to Digital Village, where he will appear monthly. His research and interests include best practices for ethical and safe use of AI and how to translate these concerns into mathematical constraints. He is also at the forefront of discussions on developing sound policies around high-stakes machine learning applications such as self-driving vehicles and cybersecurity.
Covering Climate Change
Dr. Addison Killean Stark is Associate Director for Energy Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC). Prior to joining BPC, Stark served as a Fellow at the US Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) focusing on early-stage energy technology development and R&D across sectors including renewable fuels, green industrial chemistry, dry-cooling technologies for water conservation in power generation, advanced sensor systems for agriculture and leveraging advanced manufacturing for the fabrication of energy devices.