Intro
Hi, I’m Becky! I’ve been working at the intersection of technology, human rights, and social justice issues since 2009. My expertise is in the sociotechnical dimensions of privacy/digital security, data justice, automated systems, and climate justice. In a world where the fight for social justice and human rights takes many forms, I believe in the importance of bridging day-to-day practice with policy and theory, something I aim for in both my academic and practitioner work.
Academic work
Since December 2022, I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Political Science department of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). I’m working on an independent project investigating the politics of artificial intelligence in the context of climate adaptation and climate justice. As part of this work I’m currently under contract to co-author a book for the SAGE Data Justice series (working title: ‘From Data Justice to Climate Justice’).
I received my doctorate from the UvA in December of 2021. I worked within the European Research Council-funded DATACTIVE project on the ‘politics of big data according to civil society’. My doctoral research investigated how practices and infrastructures are developed to counter the threats of state and corporate data exploitation. In particular, I looked at how communities targeted by surveillance anticipate future digital threats and counter the harms of preemptive, data-driven regimes. Disciplinarily-speaking, I situate myself between traditions of feminist technoscience/information studies and the fields of surveillance and critical security studies. My research utilises ethnographic methods, interviewing, archival research and discourse analysis to inductively build socially engaged theory. During my PhD, I was doubly affiliated with the Media Studies and Political Science departments. From 2016-2021 I was also connected to the Informatics institute as a lecturer on data ethics in the Data Science Masters programme and as a member of the ethics advisory board of the Security Engineering masters programme. My work has been published in international peer reviewed journals such as Big Data & Society, New Media & Society, Internet Policy Review, Fibreculture, and International Studies Perspectives.
Practitioner work
From 2021 – 2023, I was the Research Lead at The Engine Room, overseeing research across the organization and leading the research team. During my time at The Engine Room, I led projects on chatbot use in the humanitarian sector and the intersections of digital rights and climate and environmental justice. I also advised/supervised research around responsible data policy development and biometrics use in the humanitarian sector.
Nowadays, I serve as an independent adviser and consultant to civil society groups. I’m currently part of a collaboration to develop a theory of change around tech governance and climate justice, and am working to advance discussions around the harms of climate tech solutionism . Recently I’ve helped develop a harm modelling framework for a new technical standard, conducted external evaluations of NGO technology programs, contributed to the development of several educational digital security resources, and explored data governance issues with developers of online educational platforms. From 2013-2015 I was Lead Programme Researcher at Tactical Tech in Berlin, conducting field-based research on privacy and digital security. This project culminated in a research report investigating the sociotechnical issues that make adopting digital security practices a challenge for human rights defenders. Its findings were based on 60 interviews and action-research with three human rights groups between 2013-2014. I’m glad to say that in the years since it was published in 2016, this research has helped bolster efforts within civil society to provide more equitable and community-centric forms of digital security support for communities dealing with technological threats. While at Tactical Tech, I also contributed to the programatic development of data literacy projects such as Myshadow.org and facilitated workshops and trainings on privacy and digital security with human rights groups in several regions of the world.
From 2011-2013 I was a research consultant on Internet policy with a focus on privacy and internet access for the Ford Foundation’s Advancing Media Rights and Access Initiative (now called Technology and Society). From 2011-2012, I worked as a blogger, writing about mesh networks, networked politics, hacking, and privacy issues for TechPresident. In 2012 I also received my masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU, where I studied human computer interaction. My foray into technology began with a stint in the game industry in 2009, when I researched community informatics for a ‘social impact games’ initiative by Area/Code and the Knight Foundation. From a personal perspective, my interest and focus on human rights issues comes from my family’s experience as refugees. As part of my engagement with that legacy, I’ve treasured the opportunity to volunteer as a Russian-English interpreter in support of asylum cases for individuals escaping human rights violations and totalitarian regimes.