In the digital era, it's a fine line

Digital technologies provide a new means to exercise human rights, however, are too often also used to violate them. 

Freedom of expression is fundamental to ensuring a vibrant democracy. The online world has given rise to important citizen media efforts that has enforced a culture of accountability, but has also allowed objectional material, in the guise of hate speeches, cyberbullying and 'fake' news.

This panel brings together a group of experts to navigate the complexities of digital citizenship, and explore how digital platforms have specifically impacted news and journalistic content.
 

Guest Speaker: Katie Ellis

A professor in Internet Studies and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. Her research is located at the intersection of media access and representation and engages with government, industry and community to ensure actual benefits for real people with disability. She has authored or edited 17 books and numerous articles on the topic of disability and the media, including most recently the monograph Disability and Digital Television Cultures (Routledge, 2019).

Guest Speaker: Professor Ulrich Ecker

Ullrich is a cognitive psychologist studying the impact of misinformation on memory, reasoning, and behaviour. He received his PhD at Saarland University, Germany in 2007 and then moved to the University of Western Australia, where he is a Professor in the School of Psychological Science and a Fellow of the UWA Public Policy Institute. Ullrich currently holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to work on a project titled “Combating Misinformation”.

In Conversation is a monthly series of thought-provoking topics exploring big questions, ideas and human narratives. Curated in collaboration with The Museum of Freedom and Tolerance (MFT), this series brings human rights stories to the foreground.

The eight-part discussion explores a range of contemporary human rights issues through stories of resilience and action, shining a spotlight on overcoming prejudices in the face of persistent challenges and slow progress. It asks the question, how do human rights affect us in our daily lives, and how can we better acknowledge our responsibilities in balancing any given right with the rights of others?

Explore the series here.