Blogs
Welcoming Our 2019 Visiting Analyst
Valentina Rozo Ángel has joined our team as our new visiting analyst this fall.
New Research on Civilian Deaths and Disappearances in El Salvador
This rigorous estimate shows that 1-2 percent of the country’s population was killed or disappeared during the civil war.
RustConf 2019, and systems programming as a data scientist
It could make sense to use Rust as a data journalist for in-browser computations, and other thoughts from RustConf.
HRDAG To Join the Partnership on AI
HRDAG is joining Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society (PAI).
Update on Work in Guatemala and the AHPN
HRDAG has sampled and analyzed documents at Guatemala's AHPN and has testified against war criminals based on that analysis.
Primer to Inform Discussions about Bail Reform
The primer addresses what pretrial risk assessment is and what the research supports.
Always Learning
The data science field is always changing, which means that I'll always be learning.
HRDAG’s Year End Review: 2018
In 2018, HRDAG collaborated on work in Guatemala, US criminal justice, and more.
HRDAG Names New Board Member Margot Gerritsen
Margot is a professor in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University, interested in computer simulation and mathematical analysis of engineering processes.
New analysis of World War II Korean “comfort women” held by Japanese
There may have been more undocumented World War II-era Korean "comfort women" than known.
HRDAG Report on Disappeared Tamils in Army Custody in Sri Lanka
HRDAG has published a report about the 500 Tamils who disappeared while in Army custody in Sri Lanka in 2009.
The UDHR Turns 70
We're thinking about how rigorous analysis can fortify debates about components of our criminal justice system such as cash bail, pretrial risk assessment and fairness in general.
Welcoming Our 2018 Data Science Fellow
Shemika Lamare has joined the HRDAG team as our new data science fellow.
HRDAG and #GivingTuesday 2018
Will you help HRDAG advance human rights?
Herb Spirer, 1925 – 2018
Herb led and mentored a generation of statisticians working in human rights.
Open Source Summit 2018
On October 23, 2018, Patrick Ball keynoted at the Open Source Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Where Stats and Rights Thrive Together
Everyone I had the pleasure of interacting with enriched my summer in some way.
Happy Hacking
From my first introduction to the HRDAG community at the annual retreat it was clear to me that mentorship is an organizational priority and that the contributions of interns are valued. Much of my first couple weeks as a summer intern at HRDAG were spent familiarizing myself with Patrick’s paradigm for principled data processing. At the same time, I was learning the skills and tricks (bash, make, vim, git) that promote an effortless programming workflow, a pursuit that Patrick calls “sharpening the saw” (just like in programming, you can cut down a tree with a ...
Disrupt San Francisco TechCrunch 2018
On September 7, 2018, Kristian Lum and Patrick Ball participated in a panel at Disrupt San Francisco by TechCrunch. The talk was titled "Dismantling Algorithmic Bias." Brian Brackeen of Kairos was part of the panel as well, and the talk was moderated by TechCrunch reporter Megan Rose Dickey.
From the TechCrunch website, "Disrupt is a 3-day conference focused on breaking technology news and developments with big-name thought leaders who are making waves in the industry."
Video of the talk is available here, and Megan Rose Dickey's coverage is here.
Kristian Lum in Bloomberg
The interview poses questions about Lum's focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on predictive policing and sentencing programs.



















