Abstract

Products we use every day — like smartphones, laptops and cars — contain minerals that may have fueled violence and human rights abuses in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We want to know what companies are doing to ensure they source these minerals responsibly. So we’ve put together a set of questions designed to find that out.

We need your help to answer these questions!

Amnesty International and WikiRate invite you to a hands-on data sprint where we will work together to understand how companies score in terms of responsible sourcing of minerals.

You will learn how to use the public WikiRate.org platform to analyse and make sense of the information from companies around their mineral sourcing policies and practices. The data generated in this event will become part of a larger research effort on companies’ behaviour.

Experts from Amnesty International as well as Global Witness will be speaking at the workshop about the link between minerals, conflict and human rights abuses and why responsible sourcing matters. WikiRate representatives will introduce the platform and describe their approach to measuring companies’ behaviour.

As a bonus, throughout the event The Restart Project will be running a special edition of its pop-up repair clinics. Participants can bring their broken or malfunctioning small electrical items and electronics and work in small groups with Restart’s repair coaches to learn the basics of maintenance and repair of their devices. By doing so, they will also learn about the materials used in their devices and reflect on the impact of minerals on their lives.

Where do you come in?

1. Join as a participant during the day

Are you a university student in Cambridge? Then you are exactly who we need!

You will need to be prepared to spend about 3 hours with us, working hands on and scouting the web for information on companies and how they source and use minerals.

As this is an interactive event please bring a laptop so you can contribute to the research effort!

Event Agenda

12:30pm – Introductions by WikiRate, Amnesty, Global Witness, Restart

1:30pm – Researching companies

1:30pm – Bonus: Pop up repair clinics with The Restart Project

If you want to be part of Restart’s pop-up repair clinic, please bring a device you’re struggling with, anything from a malfunctioning smartphone, to a radio, slow laptop, headphone set, printer, blender, you name it. You will have the option to be part of a repair clinic so if there’s something about your devices driving you crazy, you’ll be able to investigate what’s wrong with them during the event. At this event, we won’t be able to repair hardware faults in tablets, due to the short repair sessions.

2. Help us online

You are not in Cambridge or for whatever reason you can’t attend the event but still want to help?

Join us online and contribute directly on the WikiRate platform. You can also contribute via the Amnesty International page on WikiRate.

We will cover the event on Twitter – follow us and ask questions using #AmnestySprint or #ResponsibleSourcing

About us

WikiRate is a public platform for collecting and analysing information about companies’ ethical behaviour. Through understanding and tracking how companies behave, the WikiRate community aims to push companies to improve their policies and practices.

Amnesty International campaigns to ensure that companies respect human rights wherever they operate, and are held to account when they don’t. Global Witness exposes the hidden links between demand for natural resources, corruption, armed conflict and environmental destruction.