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October 2016
Multithreaded Speaker Series
Kristian Lum spoke about her recent work exploring the consequences of police using predictive models.
Find out more »September 2016
Digital Echoes: Understanding Patterns of Mass Violence with Data and Statistics
HRDAG’s director of research, Patrick Ball, explores the assumption that nearly every project using data must make: that the data are representative of reality in the world.The talk illustrates how biases in raw data can be addressed through estimation, and explain why it matters. Please book your ticket for this event via Eventbrite by 20 September, as a light lunch reception will be provided. Follow on Twitter via @EssexHRC. The talk is chaired by Professor Lorna McGregor, Director of Human Rights Centre, Co-Director of ESRC Human…
Find out more »Multiple Systems Estimation Workshop
HRDAG’s director of research, Patrick Ball, explores capture-recapture, a statistical method that enables the estimation of a total population using a set of intersecting, partial lists. This workshop follows a seminar on Understanding Patterns of Mass Violence with Data and Statistics, also by Patrick. Registration for this seminar will close at 17:00 on Friday 9 September 2016. Follow on Twitter @CamBigData.
Find out more »Digital Echoes: Understanding Patterns of Mass Violence with Data and Statistics
HRDAG's director of research, Patrick Ball, explores the assumption that nearly every project using data must make: that the data are representative of reality in the world.The talk illustrates how biases in raw data can be addressed through estimation, and explain why it matters. This talk will be followed by a Multiple Systems Estimation workshop, also by Patrick. Registration for this seminar will close at 17:00 on Friday 9 September 2016. Follow on Twitter @CamBigData.
Find out more »August 2016
PyData San Francisco
HRDAG executive director Megan Price delivers the keynote: Using the Python Data Science Stack to Determine How Many People Have Been Killed in Syria. Open to anyone registered for PyData San Francisco. Follow on Twitter @PyData.
Find out more »May 2016
Quantitative Data and Human Rights Conference: Duke University
Presentations by HRDAG team members Megan Price, Kristian Lum and Patrick Ball, as well as colleagues as James Johndrow,Daniel Manrique, Robin Mejia and Beka Steorts. Hosted by HRDAG Advisory Board member David Banks.
Find out more »March 2016
Seeing the Forest: Columbia University
Patrick Ball, director of research at HRDAG, discusses how to analyze hidden patterns using (mostly) public data about people killed in Syria, 2011-2015. This is part of the Disrupting Unity and Discerning Ruptures: Focus Aleppo lecture series, with Laura Kurgan and Avinaom Shalem. Please register: info @ c4sr.columbia.edu by March 24, 2016.
Find out more »Strata + Hadoop Conference
Megan Price, executive director of Human Rights Data Analysis Group, delivers the keynote speech at the Wednesday morning session. Video footage of the talk: https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/data-and-human-rights
Find out more »Data & Society: understanding patterns of mass violence with data and statistics
Databite No. 74: Patrick Ball presents Digital Echoes: Understanding Patterns of Mass Violence with Data and Statistics. This talk will explore the assumption that nearly every project using data must make: that the data are representative of reality in the world. Using analysis of killings in Iraq, homicides committed by police in the US, killings in the conflict in Syria, and homicides in Colombia, we will contrast patterns in raw data with data in estimated total patterns of violence. The talk will show how biases…
Find out more »Tyranny of the Algorithm?
The Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at New York University Law School held a two-day conference exploring predictive analytics and human rights. HRDAG director of research Patrick Ball and lead statistician Kristian Lum spoke about Data Hygiene and Algorithmic Oversight. "Data-driven risk assessments raise difficult issues of oversight, since they rely on data sets and algorithms that may be hidden, opaque, or misunderstood by the general public. Many of the actors who usually play a role in the detection of human rights…
Find out more »International Studies Association Conference 2016
ISA's 57th Annual Convention: Exploring Peace. Megan Price, executive director of HRDAG, will participate as a panelist in "A Million Deaths is a Statistic: New Findings from the Archives of Political Conflict." Her talk will be "Exploring the Contents of the Historic Archive of the National Police in Guatemala." This session is open to anyone attending ISA.
Find out more »November 2015
Meet the Innovators Under 35
In September, our colleague Beka Steorts was named an Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review. Two months later, she delivered a talk at EmTech -- at the MIT Media Lab -- on how "big data" could cut through the fog of war. Here's a link to her three-minute talk, and here's more information on Beka's award. #EmTechMIT
Find out more »September 2015
Policing in the dark? Observed homicides and the Colombian peace process, 2003-2011
At the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), HRDAG colleagues Jule Krüger and Amelia Hoover Green will discuss "Filling in the Blanks: Data Problems and Solutions in the Study of Violence" as part of the HIDDEN VIOLENCE DURING ARMED CONFLICT: METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES AND INNOVATIONS panel. The panel will be chaired by Christian Davenport. From the program: "The aim for this panel is to take stock of data and methods used to understand hard-to-study phenomena in conflict…
Find out more »August 2015
Big Data Promises and Pitfalls: Examples from Syria
On August 25, 2015, at #HLF15, director of research Megan Price explained how HRDAG relies on many data sources in the documentation of human rights, such as bureaucratic or border crossing records. Quantitative analyses have the potential to contribute to transitional justice mechanisms, via empirical evidence—but most data available in transitional justice settings are incomplete. Using conventional "big data" approaches can lead to not only incomplete but often incorrect analytical results. Her presentation explored how information is generated about killings in conflict, and…
Find out more »May 2015
Digital Echoes: Understanding Patterns of Mass Violence with Data and Statistics
Hosted by the Open Society Foundations with Elizabeth Eagen. Statistical patterns in raw data tend to be quite different than patterns in the real world: patterns in data tend to reflect how the data was collected rather than changes in the real-world phenomena the data appears to represent. Using analysis of killings in Iraq, homicides committed by police in the United States, killings in the conflict in Syria, and homicides in Colombia, Patrick Ball will explore how biases in raw…
Find out more »“Big Data” Plenary Panel
On May 15, 2015, HRDAG executive director Patrick Ball addressed a crowd of more than 100 people at Claremont Graduate University during a forum on the potential and limitations of big data. Patrick was one of five headline speakers at the event, which was moderated by Thomas Horan, CGU Professor and Director, Center for Information Systems and Technology. Here's Patrick's 12 minutes on "big data." In addition to Patrick, the panel included: Mukesh Aghi, President of the United States-India Business…
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