Feminist reflections on internet policies

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"All that you walk on to get there": Feminist reflections on methodology, ethics and access in research

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 14:30

Research and knowledge has long been based on a hierarchical and fraught dynamic between the researcher and researched that perpetuates, the objective academic and the "subject". Feminist way of knowing, standpoint theory and participatory methodology are some of the tools that seek to destabilise and upset this equation and produce in its place the possibility of co-creating knowledge and technology together. 

"All that you walk on to get there": How to centre feminist ways of knowing in our research on technology

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 13:19

Feminist research practices and ways of knowing have paid close attention to questions of ethics, the divide between the researcher and researched, the power dynamics of knowledge-making and extraction. In this editorial, we look at how these questions are of importance especially in relation to research that seeks to contribute to liberation and transformation of technology to be used by women and people of diverse sexualities and genders. 

Sorry, we need to see a letter from an instittuion: Struggling as an independent researcher

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 12:05

The hallowed halls of academia, meaningless standards of rigour determine who can be a researcher. Would it be possible to truly undertake independent research outside of the aegis and agendas of institutions.

Memory and invisibility: feminist research as institutional archive of our diversit

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 11:05

What is the place of memory in research? What happens when researchers hold fragile links to the past for a community? How can we pleasantly complicate our ideas around research and writing by including the role of memories - that of those being researched and our own as well.

Digging up Trauma, Survivor Porn and other Ethical Concerns about Research

Wed, 08/28/2019 - 16:33

Research is often meant for lofty objectives of ensuring policy change, and at at the very least, it should do no harm. But what if your research is about violence - and what risks do we run when asking participants to revisit their trauma and hurt that they experienced because of online violence.

Participatory Design of Smart Home Technology: self-reflections of my work as a black African migrant HCI researcher.

Wed, 08/28/2019 - 14:30

What are the complications that identity can produce in research? And when can it be fruitful - can we design solutions and technology keeping in mind the diversity of people, and seeking particularly to include those voices often less heard in technology design.

“I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions”: Informed Consent in the Age of Social Media

Wed, 08/28/2019 - 14:17

Research on social media, particularly relying on public and semi-public data shared by people, raises uncomfortable questions about privacy of people and their consent to being part of a research project. What questions of consent does a feminist lens on this subject raise?

Female porn on the rise?

Wed, 08/28/2019 - 14:01

Women are being recognised as consumers of pornography increasingly which potentially can change how compulsory heterosexuality and gender stereotypes are embedded in media. Here we explore the contradictions between women consuming porn and sexual violations of female performers, and how do we then understand, research and talk about consumption of pornography.

Kondoa Community Network: Breaking gender Digital divides

Wed, 08/21/2019 - 11:48

Community networks provide alternatives to infrastructure to access internet that is controlled by either companies or the state. In the remote area where Kondoa Community Network works, even patchy services have been helpful to ensure access to better education and medical services. 

A response to ‘The age of the feminist influencer’

Thu, 08/15/2019 - 09:46

How we organise around shared causes and beliefs has changed with the internet. This piece looks at how the internet allows leadership to be decentralised, and a response to the idea that the age of influencers is necessarily a bad thing.

Advocating for better ICT laws at the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum

Thu, 08/08/2019 - 11:05

The Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum just completed in July 2019 and it took place in Russia. There were very few sessions that dealt with either gender or human rights and none that addressed sexuality. At one session there were discussions on the ICT related-laws and particularly on the broad and unclear provisions that deal with online censorship.

Visibility and secrecy: Data protection, privacy and gender in Pakistan

Thu, 07/11/2019 - 11:47

Privacy rights are becoming increasingly important and especially in the context of increasing datafication. Shmyla Khan of Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan talks about the ways in which privacy rights are relevant, used and abused in the lives of women and gender diverse people.

How we reimagine and redefine freedoms

Thu, 07/04/2019 - 13:25

What is the extraordinary power of storytelling and art when it comes to the liberation of personhood and sexuality. Here we explore the domino effect of telling our stories and hearing others.

Lets go beyond ticking boxes: gender and sexuality in internet policy

Thu, 06/27/2019 - 15:09

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and others (LGBTI+) people across the world face varying levels of discrimination, exclusion, precarity, violence and phobia. Our difference seems to cancel out the possibility of empathy.

Are we just ticking boxes: Bringing up and expanding notions of gender in internet policy and governance

Thu, 06/27/2019 - 14:43

Can policy and law accommodate genders that are not confined by the binaries or are fluid? Spaces around governance often display an acute dysphasia and inability to comprehend what lies beyond and between categories, especially of gender.

Discourse online and onground around LGBTI rights in Poland

Thu, 06/27/2019 - 14:41

In Eastern Europe there is a spread of anti-gender discourse and in this context the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex (LGBTI) people is precarious. This article explores the protection for free speech, religion and for LGBTI rights in Poland. 

Finding the Pleasure Point in Internet Policy Spaces

Thu, 06/27/2019 - 13:04

For some of us pleasure in our work is possible, even if it is to find the breaking and bending points in the institutions of policy and law. But even though political and particularly feminist frameworks make space for pleasure, where is the space for that in legal or policy language at the international or national level?

Design Justice, A.I., and Escape from the Matrix of Domination

Thu, 06/27/2019 - 12:42

An essential read about how design justice could be an incomparable tool to address discriminations towards transgender, intersex and gender diverse people. More broadly the series explores the injustices that could result from algorithmic decision making and the preponderance of artificial intelligence based mechanisms.

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