Arts, culture and justice

The Carr Center explores and promotes the use of arts and culture to explore some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. We work in collaboration with the American Repertory Theater to host public conversations on these issues with artists, academics and activists.

Can We Move Fast Without Breaking Things? Software Engineering Methods Matter to Human Rights Outcomes
Alexander Voss. 10/24/2022. “Can We Move Fast Without Breaking Things? Software Engineering Methods Matter to Human Rights Outcomes.” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series. Publisher's VersionAbstract
As the products of the IT industry have become ever more prevalent in our everyday lives, evidence of undesirable consequences of their use has become ever more difficult to ignore. Consequently, several responses ranging from attempts to foster individual ethics and collective standards in the industry to legal and regulatory frameworks have been developed and are being widely discussed in the literature. This paper instead makes the argument that currently popular methods of software engineering are implicated as they hinder work that would be necessary to avoid negative outcomes. I argue that software engineering has regressed and that introducing rights as a core concept into the ways of working in the industry is essential for making software engineering more rights-respecting.

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Online Platforms & Mental Health: A Policy Proposal
Maria Carnovale and Samuel A. Ramirez. 9/22/2022. “Online Platforms & Mental Health: A Policy Proposal.” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In recent years, there has been growing concern regarding the unintended mental health impact of online platforms and whether they might be driving a public health crisis, especially among children and teens. There is emerging evidence that spending too much time on digital platforms—like gaming sites, online pornography sites, and social media—can be associated with negative mental health effects such as depression and social anxiety, at least in some users. Yet most policy action and advocacy in this industry have focused on the issues of privacy and misinformation, relegating the mental health impact of digital technology as a secondary byproduct of the industry. In this paper, we provide an overview of the documented negative mental health effects associated with prolonged use of video games, online pornography, and social media. We outline the measures that have been taken to address the mental health impact of these technologies. Finally, we suggest that induced overuse is at the heart of the problem and we propose an incentive-based policy mechanism to address it.

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