New technologies expedite the myriad ways surveillance impacts our society, and the latest podcast “Tracked & Traced” from WDET, Detroit’s NPR Station, and MSU Science Gallery is exploring surveillance through experts, young people, and the general public. The first episode will be published in early 2022 and made available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR, and Stitcher.
The 10-episode podcast series is inspired by the MSU Science Gallery’s “Tracked & Traced” exhibition at the MSU Museum, which is on display through December 23, 2021. Through stories the series will explore what it means to live within a surveillance society, how surveillance benefits us as individuals and as a society, and the inherent harms inflicted upon those being tracked and monitored. A featured episode will focus on “Surveillance Capitalism” with Emily Wilson who is a researcher at the University of Chicago and co-curator of the “Tracked & Traced” exhibit.
Co-hosts of the podcast include acclaimed poet and MSU Science Gallery Community Engagement Manager Natasha T. Miller and MSU Science Gallery Head of Programming Antajuan Scott. Additionally, Science Gallery Mediators will serve as “street reporters” by asking visitors to the “Tracked & Tracked” exhibition at the MSU Museum questions about surveillance. Science Gallery Mediators are a team of young adults with a passion for talking about the collision between science and the arts.
“With reporting from WDET journalists and Science Gallery Mediators, this program will get in-depth reporting on topics from understanding surveillance attached to “going viral” to exploring policies that aim to erase the indefinite access to our digital data. I’m excited for this project and continued collaboration with WDET,” says Antajuan Scott.
The “Tracked & Traced” podcast is MSU Science Gallery’s second installment in collaboration with WDET. In June 2021, the highly successful “The Science of Grief” debuted as the first-of-its-kind to serve as a platform to provide young people with agency while exploring issues affecting their lives. Listen to all 10-episodes on WDET.
Support for the “Tracked & Traced” podcast comes from MSU Federal Credit Union and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) and the Pulitzer Center.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development, and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $1.2 billion through more than 80,000 grants to nonprofit organizations primarily throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.
The Pulitzer Center raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms and a unique program of education and public outreach. The Pulitzer Center is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) and the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN). For more information, please visit pulitzercenter.org/.
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Michigan State University Museum
The MSU Museum is the science and culture museum at Michigan State University and the state’s first Smithsonian Affiliate. The museum features three floors of special collections and changing exhibits. The Museum is located on 409 West Circle Drive next to Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus. Visitor parking is available at metered spaces at the Grand River Ramp, one block away at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Charles Street. For more information, call (517) 355-2370 or see museum.msu.edu.
Science Gallery
Founded in 2018, Michigan State University’s Science Gallery works with young adults to ignite creativity and discovery at the intersections of science, technology, art, and design. Science Gallery is our nation’s first member of the prestigious, international Science Gallery Network. The university-linked Science Gallery Network consists of eight locations worldwide: Dublin, London, Bengaluru, Melbourne, Rotterdam, Detroit, Atlanta, and Berlin. In 2021, Science Gallery became a programmatic division of the museum aimed at experimentation and innovation at the intersection of science and art.
WDET
For more than 70 years, from its Midtown Detroit location on the campus of Wayne State University, WDET-FM 101.9, Detroit’s NPR station, has delivered a unique mix of news, conversation, special programs and music programming. The station’s 48,000-watt broadcast signal reaches a 70-mile radius across all southeast Michigan, northwest Ohio and southwest Ontario. It expands nationally through our live stream, website, mobile app and podcasts. WDET-FM 101.9 is a community service of Wayne State University. Support for WDET comes from Wayne State, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, local foundations, and through private donors and corporate underwriting.