The Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley is pleased to announce the Human Rights Center Mobile Challenge.   The HRC Mobile Challenge launches to the NetSquared community on Monday, February 2, 2009 11am PST, but to get you thinking about what's to come, we had a chance to interview Phuong Pham, Director of Research and one of the Principle Investigators of Advancing New Technologies for Justice and Human Rights.

About Phuong Pham and Mobile Innovation

Phuong Pham received her Ph.D. in International Social Epidemiology and Development, with a dissertation on technology transfer in Cote d'Ivoire. She has been fascinated with combining information technology with traditional research methods in order to improve the quantity and quality of the data we collect in our research.

In 2007, her team piloted the application of smart phones equipped with GPS navigational software in a remote area of Northern Uganda where electricity is either unreliable or nonexistent. Using PDA and GPS to collect survey data and GPS points was not new then. What was innovative was integrating GPS reading into a database. Their programmer developed a database system that automatically stamped the GPS location of each data record. Thus each time we did an interview, that interview record was automaticaly linked to a GPS point without any manual manipulation. Also, to insure our device was properly charged, we used a portable generator, emergency battery charger, and solar backpack.

What are the key issues or problems you want to address with your work?

Human rights and sustainable human development among vulnerable populations.

There are several challenges to social research:

1.  Time
2. Capturing the dynamics of social systems
3.  Obtaining location points

Normally, the research cycle is about 1-2 years from data collection to release of results. Entering and coding data takes time.   In addition, the issues we cover in human rights and international development can change rapidly and dramatically. The research requires updated data on an ongoing basis.

Finally, knowing the location of human rights abuses and where events are unfolding are key variables in conflict prevention and program planning. New devices such as the integrated smart phone with GPS navigational software help us collect this information in a timely matter.

What are you doing to address those issues, how does your vision take shape?

Through innovative education, research and service programs, we try to represent the voices of vulnerable populations in the reconstruction and development process. Our population-based surveys, similar to polling, document attitudes toward peace, justice, and social reconstruction in areas of ongoing conflict and post-conflict situations.

What keeps you inspired, keeps you going?

Witnessing the resilience of people who experience such atrocity and the dual world in which we live. My family migrated to the U.S. after the war in Vietnam and I was lucky to benefit from the results of a fair and just system. It is unfortunate to see other parts of the world still struggling for such a system. It is hard to believe in this modern age that instead of fighting 21st-century challenges such as global poverty and chronic and infectious diseases and researching technologies that increase the quality of life, we are still facing the challenges of dictatorships and illegitimate regimes, war, poverty, and human rights abuses. I am hoping one day we will work ourselves out of a job.    

Why do you think mobile technology holds such potential for social impact?

Technology, especially   mobile technology, allow populations who normally would never have access to old communication technology to leapfrog into mobile technology. . It can instantly send information across geographic and political borders. It connects people from remote areas, such as Democratic Republic of Congo, to the rest of world. If can equip them with these technologies, people there can directly express their plights and opinions.

For example, in the age of traditional media, people hope that somewhere a journalist or activist will come and report on what is happening to them. Now, they can directly send messages, pictures, and videos of what is unfolding in their community. In addition, technology can serve as a mechanism for people to participate in the democratic process, e.g. the recent U.S. election, when the Obama campaign used text messaging to announce the Vice Presidential running mate and YouTube videos to communicate with supporters about campaign strategy.

What are you most excited about, or hoping will come out of your work and the U.C. Berkeley Human Rights Center Mobile Challenge?

We are looking forward to reviewing all ideas of possible applications of mobile technologies in our field. We hope these projects will help people rethink approaches to investigating human rights abuses and challenge the way we are doing things. We also hope the technologies will make a major contribution to our goal of insuring global human rights and justice.

What is your role with the Human Rights Center and the upcoming Mobile Challenge?

I am currently the Director of Research and one of the Principle Investigators of our project, Advancing New Technologies for Justice and Human Rights. I will serve on the final selection panel. I would like to coordinate the activities of the winners of the challenge so that these projects will also feed into the work we are doing at the Human Rights Center and ensure the projects build upon one another.

What is the Challenge all about?

The Human Rights Center is sponsoring a challenge to encourage innovations for applying mobile technologies for human rights investigations and advocacy. Through a NetSquared Community vote, ten finalists will be chosen. All ten finalists will be invited to present their ideas at an international conference, "The Soul of the New Machine: Human Rights, Technology, and New Media," at UC Berkeley, May 4 and 5, 2009. A panel of judges, selected by the Human Rights Center, will choose three winners, to be announced at the conference. Winners will receive cash awards of $15,000 (first place), $10,000 (second place), and $5,000 (third place) to implement their ideas.
 
How can people get involved?

• Learn more about the HRC Mobile Challenge
• Check out how to apply