DatNav: How to Navigate Digital Data for Human Rights Research (2016)

CGHR Practitioner Paper #2

The Engine Room, Benetech, and Amnesty International

From online videos of rights violations, to satellite images of environmental degradation, to eyewitness accounts disseminated on social media, we have access to more relevant data today than ever before. But integrating data collection and management into the day to day work of human rights research and documentation can be challenging, even overwhelming, for individuals and organisations. 

Through interviews, community consultations and a survey, we learned about the challenges facing human rights researchers in using digital data in their work. That’s why we created DatNav, using a collaborative writing process involving a group of 15 experts (including CGHR’s Ella McPherson) from leading human rights, educational and technology organisations around the world, as well as a series of community consultations.  DatNav is CC-BY-SA licensed and cross-published here.

DatNav is an introductory resource for those new to using digital data in human rights documentation and covers topics including documenting for court, using satellite and drone imagery, the safety of digital tools, and preventing secondary trauma.