A research entity is only as good as its transparency about what it is and who it is for. This page tries to answer both questions plainly.
The name came from a book that I read not too long ago, but unfortunately the title has already been forgotten, however the word has stayed. Phronesis: Aristotle's term for practical wisdom. Something that is familiar to some, while entirely foreign to others. Which feels like the right kind of name for what we are building.
This is a home for a particular perspective, produced by people with backgrounds spanning academia, industry, and government. We publish what we find worth saying, for readers who find it worth reading. Nothing more than that.
Phronesis publishes research papers, policy proposals, legal analysis, essays, articles, and reports on the governance of technology. Our output is designed to be thorough and accessible, written for the casual reader and experts alike.
The intention is bite-sized content for daily and weekly readers, alongside more thorough work for contemporaries and specific professional audiences. We are not trying to be a newspaper or a wire service. We are trying to produce work worth returning to.
We focus on the intersection of technology with law and policy. Our current areas of focus include, but are not limited to:
As Phronesis grows, so will its scope. For now, we work in the areas we know best.
Our contributors bring backgrounds spanning academia, industry, and government. We are transparent about who we are and deliberate about what we publish.
Research engineer with a background spanning economics, computational sciences, and policy. Affiliated with SAS Institute and MIT Sloan.
Phronesis welcomes collaborators. If your work fits this space, get in touch.
Phronesis is an independent, non-partisan research entity. We do not accept funding that conditions or influences our editorial positions. Our work reflects the views of its authors and no one else.
We do not compete with the institutions and publications that already exist in this space. We exist alongside them, with our own perspective and our own readers.