Margarita Boenig-Liptsin

Margarita (Margo) Boenig-Liptsin is a Lecturer in the History Department and the Human Contexts and Ethics Coordinator in the Division of Data Science and Information at UC Berkeley. She teaches about the relationship between technology, democracy, and ethics in a cross-cultural perspective with a foundation in co-productionist STS to students of diverse backgrounds (www.hce-sts.org). In addition to teaching, she leads a team that develops the Human Contexts and Ethics (HCE) component of the data science educational program. This work includes translating social science theory and methods for students of all backgrounds, building connections between engineering and social sciences, bringing together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at Berkeley into a community of scholars focused on issues of technology and society, and connecting the work of HCE to the San Francisco Bay Area’s communities and needs. She is trained in the field of Science, Technology and Society and holds a PhD in History of Science (Harvard University) and in Philosophy (Université Paris-Sorbonne). Her research examines transformations to human identity and citizenship in relation to information technologies across time and cultures. Margo is currently working on a book manuscript titled “Digital Demos: Computer Literacy and Culture in the Information Age in the United States, France, and the Soviet Union” and, together with Sheila Jasanoff, on an edited volume for the NSF-funded collective project “Traveling Imaginaries of Innovation.” Margo has been part of the SDN community since 2010, which has instilled in her a strong sense that STS is of utmost need today in the world and a deep commitment to building the field of STS to serve all students, the Silicon Valley, and communities around the world.