The human rights sector is increasingly complementing its more traditional forms of research with data and computational methodologies. This has lead to a demand for tools that activists can integrate in their daily data collection and documentation work. This presentation will explore how choices in software construction impact their work.
A central focus in developing software for the human rights sector lies in its focus on adaptability and re-usability to ever changing realities of activists on the ground. Concepts such as immutable data and pure functions are already very beneficial. However, equipping this sector with tools that are based on functional abstractions and techniques can have even further advantages. The concepts and abstractions we use to build software influence the processes people form around those tools.
Christo started out as a system administrator but some years ago he switched to become a software developer. The last years he was part of a team of researchers and technologists to investigate issues around the politics of data. Christo is currently an independent developer working with several NGO’s to document human rights and environmental abuses and to conduct data based investigations.
