Panel Discussion: Ethical Challenges and Collaborative Futures in digital Investigations
- DIES IST EINE VERANSTALTUNG AUF ENGLISCH -
We invite you to an exchange with the members of the Counter Evidentiary Network (CEN). The CEN is a new research initiative in the school of Arts, Media and Creative Technology at the University of Salford. This interdisciplinary and collaborative network aims to foster dialogue, critical reflection, and knowledge exchange between various practice- and research-based open source investigation groups and individuals who are involved in exposing human rights violations and other forms of corporate and political violence.
Digital investigatory practices—also called ‘open source investigation’ (OSI)—have arguably democratised investigative practices across journalism, human rights law, and new media. It’s opened up possibilities for citizens and activists to pursue human rights violations and broader forms of corporate and political violence. But at the same time, as OSI becomes more established, significant challenges are emerging. A range of voices have warned that OSI practices risk dividing those who create content and those who analyse it. They argue that the investigators invariably shape—and ultimately take ownership—of the analysis and narrative of a particular investigation, rather than those individuals who captured, or featured in, the footage. The agency of those who are materially affected by harm and violence may therefore be suppressed; they are often sidelined within the process.
This symposium aims to confront these concerns, examining how emergent solidarity-based, feminist, and decolonial approaches to OSI practice might help to cultivate forms of collaboration between advocates that can support local accountability efforts in ways that bridge the divide. At the same time, it will ask what the impact might be of such a move for national and legal processes in their increasing reliance on OSI. Does law use or abuse those whose experiences are captured by OSI?
Speakers include Patrick Brian Smith (founder of CEN, University of Salford), Hadi Al Khatib (Mnemonic), Adebayo Okeowo (WITNESS), Nishat Awan (University College London), Ekin Urgen (Human Rights Watch), Basak Ertür (Goldsmiths), Andrew Williams (University of Warwick), Sarah Bulmer (University of Exeter)
Ort: Pavillon 333, Türkenstr. 15, München
Eintritt: kostenlos