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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 »May 2015
Pics or it didn’t happen—how does social media access affect what we know about killings in the Syrian conflict?
On May 6, 2015, HRDAG affiliate Anita Gohdes presented a talk at re:publica 2015, a conference on Internet and society, about data culled from social media and their impact on our understanding of the Syrian conflict. Pics or it didn’t happen—how does social media access affect what we know about killings in the Syrian conflict? Anita Gohdes May 6, 2015 Berlin #rp15
Find out more »January 2015
Examining the Crisis in Syria
Conference Hosted by New America and Arizona State University’s Center on the Future of War and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Megan Price, panelist. Washington, D.C. January 15, 2015.
Find out more »April 2014
You Are Not So Smart: How we miss what is missing and what to do about it
YANSS podcast 022 On the San Francisco program, You Are Not So Smart, HRDAG director of research Megan Price talked with host David McRaney about Syria, human rights violations, and statistical analysis. The topic was survivorship bias. Megan's part in the podcast begins around Minute 27. From the YANSS blog: "Unfortunately, survivorship bias stands between you and the epiphanies you seek." You Are Not So Smart March 11, 2014 (podcast April 24, 2014) San Francisco, California Link to YANSS podcast…
Find out more »March 2014
Pulling the Plug: Network Disruptions and Violence in the Syrian Conflict
At this year’s International Studies Association Annual Convention, Anita Gohdes presented a talk titled, “Pulling the Plug: Network Disruptions and Violence in the Syrian Conflict,” while director of research Megan Price served on the working group, “Global Trends in War, Conflict, and Political Violence.” International Studies Association Annual Convention March 26-29, 2014 Toronto, Canada Link to ISA 2014 program
Find out more »“Lightning Talk” at RightsCon 2014 – Using Math and Science to Count Killings in Syria
Megan Price at RightsCon 2014 In this afternoon "Lightning Talk" at RightsCon 2014, Megan Price spoke about the importance of using models to adjust for variability when reporting human rights violations and mentioned innovative tools that can be used for tracking abuses. RIGHTSCON March 4, 2014 San Francisco, California Link to RightsCon program Back to Talks
Find out more »February 2014
STRATA 2014 – Record Linkage and Other Statistical Models for Quantifying Conflict Casualties in Syria
How do we know how many people have been killed in Syria? The hard answer is we don't. In this talk, presented at Strata, Megan Price addresses how HRDAG uses random forests, multiple systems estimation, and various Python and R packages to estimate conflict casualties. STRATA February 13, 2014 Santa Clara, California Link to 10-minute talk on youtube Back to Talks
Find out more »June 2012
Counting the Toll: The Production and Consumption of Human Rights Data
Counting the Toll: The Production and Consumption of Human Rights Data. Patrick Ball at Mozilla. June 2012. *** Patrick Ball has spent more than twenty years designing databases and conducting quantitative analyses for truth commissions, non-governmental organizations, international criminal tribunals, national tribunals, and United Nations missions in over twenty countries. Using examples from his projects in El Salvador, Kosovo, Colombia, Timor-Leste, and Sierra Leone, Patrick will explore how human rights statistics can be misleading -- and how the limitations can…
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