Verifying Social Media Content for Human Rights Work

3 ECTS

Bachelor / Master Seminar: Praxisrelevante Fertigkeiten

27.10. 11:00 - 11:30 Uhr HG 201b | 01.12.; 08.12.; 15.12. 9:00 - 13:00 Uhr GD 07

Open source investigation has become part of the requirements of human rights investigation. Organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the United Nations are faced with the challenge of how to use content such as videos and photographs sourced from social media platforms to monitor possible human rights violations across the globe. Due to the proliferation of smart phones, improved internet and mobile phone networks and open social media platforms, increasingly events are first reported on social media. However, verifying that the content found on social media truly depicts what it is said to is frequently a time-consuming endeavour requiring specific skills. This seminar series takes you through the skills required to undertake verification on pieces of social media content. You will learn how to check when a piece of content was captured and how to learn where it was captured using freely available software. You will also be taken through the steps to discover content on events around the world. These skills are at the cutting edge of contemporary human rights investigation. Open source investigation is a new, but critical field of human rights research and monitoring. Demand for the open-source investigation skills that will be developed through this seminar are also growing amongst grassroots and international human rights organisations. Participation will give you this applied knowledge and an understanding of real human rights research work.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen: active and regular participation

Leistungsnachweis: presentation; verification of social media content

Sprache: Englisch