Digital self-determination/Reimagining Digital Self-Determination

This final module highlights the ideas and work that participants in the original research sprint engaged with during the two months it ran in Spring 2021. For learners, we hope this will prove a moment to reflect and consider how they have explored digital self-determination through various lenses (economics, health, media consumption) as well as challenged certain assumptions around the concept. In addition to reflecting on what ideas we have about digital self-determination, we encourage learners to offer recommendations about the key considerations around this subject.

Session Recording
For the final session, we share the recording in its entirety because of its richness, the multitude of voices we had, the various perspectives and questions shared, many of which will accompany us in the coming weeks, maybe months or years. In a way, rather than the last session, it felt like a new beginning: during the last months, all the participants –including the organizers– have faced the complexity of this concept, the depth of the questions it gives rise to, the difficulty of translating these insights into individual and collective actions, civic engagement, policies, and more inclusive, trustworthy digital spaces. We hope the research sprint, its partial and final outputs, and this newsletter contribute to your own reflections, research, and more autonomous use of digital technologies

Learning Artifacts
Below are four videos answering the prompt: “Based upon the learning from the sprint, what 3 essential points would you want the Swiss government to hear and consider when doing work in the realm of digital self-determination?”

Activity
Based upon the learning from the sprint, learners are encouraged to make a video of no longer than two minutes in duration answering the prompt: what are three essential points that you would want the Swiss government to hear and consider when doing work in the realm of digital self-determination? We encourage you to create these and be sure to share on Twitter or other social media platforms using the following hashtag: #DigitalSelfDetermination or even add them to this syllabus.

Beyond that, we encourage you, especially if you have been going through each of the modules, at this point to start to think about what you might contribute to the discussion on Digital Self-Determination. This can be done in several ways. You could add artifacts to some of these modules or you could edit the Wikipedia entry on Digital Self-Determination that the Digital Asia Hub and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society's Spring 2021 Research Sprint helped to create. You can also engage in conversation with other folks on the topics in general or by using the hashtag: #DigitalSelfDetermination.

Regardless of what you do, be sure to share on Twitter or other social media platforms using the following hashtag: #DigitalSelfDetermination

Additional Learning Experiences
While the original impetus for this syllabus and materials was the Digital Asia Hub and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society's 2021 Research Sprint, we encourage others to share summations, resources, and content.

Center for Internet and Society at the Rosario University (ISUR) Spring 2021 Sprint
During the Spring 2021, the Center for Internet and Society at the Rosario University (ISUR) in Bogota, Colombia, has conducted a parallel research sprint on “autodeterminación digital” (digital self-determination), based on the DAH-BKC research sprint plan. ISUR research sprint has been hosted by the Faculty of Law at Universidad del Rosario and has had ten former and current bachelor’s students as participants. Further information and some of their artifacts are located on this document.

Speaker Bios
Roger Dubach

Roger Dubach, born in 1974, studied Law at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Philosophy at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). In 2003, he joined the diplomatic service of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and was appointed as a Diplomatic Advisor to the Director of the Federal Office for Energy in 2006. In this and his next function as Energy Counsellor at the Swiss Mission to the EU in Brussels, he acted as Technical Director of the energy negotiations between Switzerland and the EU. In 2013, he was appointed as a Personal Advisor to the Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, and later as Deputy Director of the Task Force for the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship. Between 2016 and 2018, he served as Diplomatic Advisor on G7 and G20 issues in the Cabinet of the OECD Secretary-General in Paris, and was appointed by the Federal Council in August 2018 as an Ambassador and Deputy Director of the Directorate of International Law.