26
April
2023
|
10:29
Europe/Amsterdam

How can we guarantee our digital human rights?

Lectorale Rede BenWagner

Society is digitalising very quickly, with business and meetings increasingly taking place online. The digital world offers benefits, of course, but drawbacks too, one of which is that our human rights are constantly being violated. And this is not just annoying on a personal level, it can also be disruptive for our democratic society, warns Ben Wagner. As a new Professor of Media, Technology & Society Ben, together with partners inside and outside Inholland University of Applied Sciences, is contributing to a safer and fairer digital ecosystem. He intends to discuss this challenging issue during what will be his inaugural lecture on 15 May.

Watch the recording of Ben's inaugural lecture > 

We are living in a hybrid world, begins Ben. With one foot firmly in the physical, tangible world and the other in a digital environment. The latter is becoming increasingly dominant in our daily lives and work, but when it comes to our rights as consumers and citizens, unfortunately clouded in uncertainty. Our personal data is being pilfered, algorithms are deciding what we read and, without us even noticing it, creating profiles of us.

In the physical world, companies simply wouldn't get away with such abuses of our human rights

Ben Wagner, Professor of Media, Technology & Society

Impact on society
In the physical world, companies simply wouldn't get away with such abuses of our human rights, continues Ben. ‘The application and enforcement of laws and regulations online certainly leave a lot to be desired. This not only impacts you as a person, it also affects society as a whole. Just think of the algorithms that played a key role in the benefits scandal that recently rocked the Netherlands. Or the dissemination of fake news that influenced democratic elections.’

Transparency and accountability
But how do we go about reclaiming our human rights in the digital world? Transparency is a crucial first step, insists Ben. ‘What are the policies and political premises that algorithms are based on, for example? Exposing these mechanisms will make it easier to hold organisations accountable and the mechanisms themselves could then be made fairer, more democratic and more honest. It’s therefore an issue that transcends just being technical; above all it’s also organisational, judicial and political.’

While you may be the owner of your personal data, its management lies elsewhere, often with commercial companies

Ander de Keijzer, Professor of Data Driven Smart Society

Digitalising our cultural heritage
Grounded in practically oriented research, Ben intends to help develop evidence-based solutions that will provide more digital legitimacy. ‘How can we give stakeholders who have to deal with digital systems in their everyday lives more influence in the operation of those systems, for example? And avoid the bias that labels certain groups as potential fraudsters by involving them in the development of the digital systems they are expected to use. It is good news that we are now collaborating with institutions for cultural heritage, which are digitalising their archives on a large scale. But hopefully they won't be doing so from the same colonial perspective with which those archives were initially set up, over a hundred years ago. We need to set up a digital infrastructure that does justice to the way we see the world today.’

Digital Rights Research Team
At Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the research groups with which Ben is working include those of Wina Smeenk, Professor of Societal Impact Design, and Ander de Keijzer, Professor of Data Driven Smart Society. The three of them have set up the Digital Rights Research Team (DRRT) to explore how our digital society can improve the quality of life. From a technological perspective, Ander cautions that digital rights are far from easy to guarantee. ‘The problem is that while you may be the owner of your personal data, its management lies elsewhere, often with commercial companies, who subsequently sell it on without you having any say or control over the process. The way that the digital infrastructure is now set up makes it very difficult to reconcile the ownership and management of data. The most practical thing is for there to be good regulations and enforcement. Within the framework of the DRRT we are organising co-design sessions to develop solutions with students, including those from senior secondary vocational schools. An example of such a solution is a label that indicates how organisations approach digital rights.’

We have asked students from Inholland University of Applied Sciences to write blogs and articles about topics such as biases in artificial intelligence and the future of facial recognition

Thomas Ansell, The Hague Humanity Hub

The Hague Humanity Hub
Ben also works with external partners in the Sustainable Media Lab, such as The Hague Humanity Hub, a community for professionals active in the field of peace and justice. ‘We involve students from the Lab in Just Peace, a programme aimed at familiarising a broader audience with the work being done in the area of peace and justice,’ says head of communications, Thomas Ansell. ‘We also want to interest young people, through ways that include our online platform. And what better way to do so than with young people themselves? Which is why we have asked students from Inholland University of Applied Sciences to write blogs and articles about topics such as biases in artificial intelligence and the future of facial recognition. We are also one of the organisations that give students other challenging assignments. Like how to use metadata to establish whether photos from conflict areas are authentic, or developing teaching aids to help secondary schools identify fake news on social media. Digital human rights constitute the common thread that runs through it all. It’s also a key focus area for The Hague Humanity Hub, because our digital rights trail behind digital developments by some distance. We have a lot of catching up to do.’

Boilerplate

Ben Wagner’s inaugural lecture
The inaugural lecture 'The ground beneath our feet: embedding digital rights in media ecosystems and technology infrastructure' by Ben Wagner, Professor of Media, Technology & Society, was given on Monday, 15 May 2023.

Ben's (English spoken) lecture has been recorded. Watch the recording on the page of Media, Technology & Society.

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