RightsCon Toronto 2018

We would present a research and design checklist for people who are developing technologies to help communities at risk. This checklist is designed to promote human rights-centered design by streamlining the process of user research. We believe this resource will aid builders of tools, platforms, and services with limited resources and time.

Whether you are building a platform to help vulnerable communities or providing people with resources for direct tech interventions, it is challenging to ensure the product or service is adaptive to the needs of whose privacy and safety we want to protect. In light of this, we shared our experiences and reviewed best practices in the field to create a checklist with our suggestions conducting research/design to defend human rights online.

Our focus in this session is on interaction and engagement. The session format will be a group-based discussion, to allow flexibility with varying numbers of participants. We would start by learning about the participants’ backgrounds, followed by a brief introduction to the checklist. Afterwards, we would break up into small groups, depending on the size of participation, with a series of questions to discuss. The session will wrap up with bullet points of outcomes and insights share by each group. We will document the whole process and share reflections at the conclusion of the session.