Thanks to a $180,000 grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with two other University of California institutions, is “making technology for social good.” You can focus more on what you use.
UC Santa Cruz has secured its second grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN). PIT-UN — a partnership brought together by New America and the Ford and Hewlett Foundation to support 48 colleges and universities across the country in their quest to be inclusive in the face of new technological advances — in New York City Friday.
Silvanna FalconAssociate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and Director of the Dolores Huerta Research Center in the Americas. Alexa Koenig When Stephanie Croft of the Center for Human Rights at the University of California, Berkeley Jessica Peak During her 16 months at UCLA Law School’s Promise Institute for Human Rights, she assessed and taught environmental crimes that disproportionately affect marginalized communities in Latin America.
Falcon and her UC colleagues will advance existing work with students that build investigative skill sets while helping Latin American human rights organizations benefit from additional research support to complete comprehensive open source research. Support. Involved UC faculty and students gather information from a distance to help prepare their Southern counterparts to gather facts online.
“Environmental crime occurs in precarious and dangerous conditions, and our laboratories often work at safe distances,” Falcon said. We haven’t experienced any surveillance.”
It is a development of the work of UC Network for Human Rights and Digital Fact-Finding, It comprises a uniquely diverse group of over 100 student and community partner technologists. The majority of UC Labs are women of color who identify as bilingual or multilingual, immigrants or first generation. About 30 of these researchers attend his UC Santa Cruz.
“Working with such a diverse student community and being able to provide them with digital literacy skills has been a career highlight and unexpected,” Falcon added. “As you can imagine, the online disinformation landscape is extremely toxic and pervasive, and there is no shortage of work we have to do.”
Fellow Falcon scholar Peake believes that her work to fight for basic human rights will lead to real-world accountability for those responsible for environmental harm and reparation for those most affected. I hope
“Environmental harm is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. and resources,” she said. “Resource scarce, underrepresented and indigenous communities often disproportionately affected by exploitative extractive industries and climate change, seen across Latin America, environmental human rights advocates fear It’s been attacked and made worse by corporate officials.”
This is a mission that resonates with program trainees, who often come from under-appreciated backgrounds. Graduates of the program benefited from hands-on guidance from faculty members who immediately made a difference before beginning their careers in social justice. For example, a past investigator had contributed to a public report on her 2019-20 uprising in Chile before completing her degree.
“Sustainability and protecting the planet benefits us all, so these environmental crimes are damaging us all, regardless of where in the world they occur,” Falcon said. Told. “There are multiple ways to contribute to a sustainable planet, and our work is just one way to do so through human rights accountability by collecting and analyzing digital evidence.”
