Researching the Human Rights Impact of New and Emerging Digital Technologies

This chapter examines methodological approaches to research on the human rights impact of new and emerging digital technologies. While recognising central obstacles to research in this area as a result of layers of opacity surrounding the use of digital technologies by states and businesses, human rights researchers have incrementally documented the types of human rights harm resulting from such technological uptake. In this chapter, I argue that this research can – and should – be taken further through engagement with other research fields, such as critical data studies, which would not only allow for the documentation of the human rights effects of the use of new and emerging digital technologies but also the enabling structures and political economy. The chapter further proposes the adoption of a multi-methods approach combining traditional and newer research methods to help to assemble disparate pieces of knowledge on the human rights causes and consequences of the design, development and deployment of new and emerging digital technologies.