Abstract

What happens when digital data flows between people and machines echoes across borders, is interpreted, re-coded, transformed and analysed as it travels across digital spaces? What tools could we use to verify this rapidly-proliferating digital information?

Under the CGHR umbrella, and in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), The Whistle team developed two online resources designed to broaden participation and unsettle knowledge production in the digital space. The Human Rights Digital Toolkit (HRDT) is a decision tree model which provides an updated overview of current open-source investigation (OSINT) digital tools that can be used in fact-finding. It is meant to be used by human rights investigators, who are increasingly relying on digital data, not least because they face waves of Covid-19 lock-downs that interfere with their work. The Social Life of Data (SLoD) is an interactive experience where users become digital data in the shape of videos, narratives and numbers. This allows players to follow the data across different digital ecosystems, from being part of an article in The Guardian to becoming a Twitter hashtag.

Curious to know more? Come to our interactive launch to explore how knowledge in the digital space forms and transforms as you test out these tools!