⋆⋆⋆ Welcome to my nook of the internet !
My name is Tina Zeng. (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ‹𝟹
I work at the intersection of technology, policy, and public interest, exploring how AI can empower communities and democratic institutions.
I've come to see AI as the steam engine of our century — profoundly transformative, but in need of deliberate guidance to serve the public good. Channeling this conviction into cautious techno-optimism motivates me to engage with digital ethics, policy, and technology for creating human flourishing. By studying Global Affairs + Computing, Culture & Society at Yale, I aspire to pursue a career in public service at the intersection of public interest technology, law, and government — hoping to contribute to policy and legal frameworks that safeguard our civil liberties in the digital age.
I am passionate about:
𖤣 civic + public interest technology
𖤣 democratic innovation
𖤣 social entrepreneurship
- 𖤣 AI (the full scope)
- 𖤣 Attention
- 𖤣 Collective Intelligence
- 𖤣 Critical Technology Studies
- 𖤣 Deliberative Democracy
- 𖤣 Governance & Institutional Design
- 𖤣 Human relationships
- 𖤣 Human-machine interfaces
- 𖤣 Internet Cultures and Anthropology, and its Futures
- 𖤣 Law
- 𖤣 Open Data, Open Source, Open Science
- 𖤣 Philanthropy
- 𖤣 Philosophy of Mind
- 𖤣 Politics (Structures of Power)
- 𖤣 Social Networks
- 𖤣 US - China Relations
- 𖤣 Venture Capital
- 𖤣 Buying and writing cards for people
- 𖤣 Chatting with people
- 𖤣 Collecting little miffy’s
- 𖤣 Going to Events
- 𖤣 Introspecting
- 𖤣 Listening to Podcasts (news, political commentary, market, tech)
- 𖤣 Optimizing for interesting gastronomic experiences
- 𖤣 Styling the self through Fashion
- 𖤣 Thrifting. I often go item by item, rack by rack, for whole stores
- 𖤣 Traversing hyperlinks rabbitholes
- 𖤣 Vibecoding, check out my projects here
- 𖤣 Watching Youtube
Currently, I am:
𖤣 Building community through Public Interest Technology Student Collective at Yale. I invite cool people to campus to share about their tech for social impact work. Email me if you wanna speak about your work to yale students!
𖤣 Building the first directory of Citizens’ Assemblies in the USA
𖤣 Web-dev-ing for the Connecticut Citizens' Assembly, first state-wide Citizens' Assembly in USA; and, helping organize the Great Ice Cream Assembly, community deliberations in partnership with Ben & Jerry's
𖤣 Interning at the NYC Civic Engagement Commission
𖤣 Serving as Associate Board Member for BetaNYC, a civic tech org
Throughout high school, I was a community organizer and activist for education justice and youth civic engagement from Brooklyn, NY. As a first generation low-income student, I believe education is the main way for upward mobility and empowerment allowing our society to become more equitable. This conviction has led me to become deeply and actively involved in the NYC public school activism scene, driven by initiative and impact to advocate for education equity and youth power. I also conducted mixed-method and participatory action research on K12 school cybersecurity policies, youth civic engagement, NYC school funding, and issues impacting NYC youth.
Thank you for being curious about me. I'm also curious about you, so you're most welcome to chat with me at tina.zeng@yale.edu
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