262.53 sec. 001 - Technology and Human Rights (Fall 2024)
Instructor: Laurel E Fletcher (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 2
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
W 08:00 AM - 09:50 AM
Location: Law 145
From August 21, 2024
To November 20, 2024
Course End: November 20, 2024
Class Number: 32219
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 6
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 30
As of: 04/27 11:57 PM
How should human rights advocates harness digital technologies to convey complex information about legal responsibility for violations? Once the mainstay of human rights campaigns, there is a limited audience for traditional human rights fact-finding reports in the new media landscape, which is instead dominated by social media exposure to human rights violations. Fact-finding and public reporting can ultimately drive change on the ground, and in the current information environment, facts are increasingly found in a digital format. However, the fields of law and human rights lag behind fields like journalism and data science in harnessing digital technologies to narrate facts.
This course will examine a variety of new technologies and their application to and implications for human rights advocacy and story-telling, including, for example, artificial intelligence, data visualization, machine learning, visual and augmented reality, and other audio and visual tools. We will analyze the moral, legal, and technological frameworks that shape the challenges and opportunities for human rights advocates to generate compelling digital portrayals of human rights violations that can motivate public audiences to care about impacted communities, thereby generating the social power that is often necessary to induce human rights compliance and real-world change. We will also consider the extent to which these new technologies can advance human rights and what conditions are necessary to safeguard individual and collective rights as advocates use new technologies. Over the semester, students will identify potential applications of new technology to human rights advocacy and assess the opportunities and tradeoffs of specific applications through a series of written assignments. Students are expected to participate in class discussions and in-class exercises.
Prerequisites:
Prior work experience or enrollment (prior or concurrent) in international human rights law or a law and technology class is a plus, but not required.
Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
Course Category: International and Comparative Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Business Law
Social Justice and Public Interest
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