‘After Surveillance’ network members Amy Collier, Anne-Marie Scott, Brian Lamb, and Tom Woodward have created a prototype of a Higher Education Surveillance Observatory. The Observatory project began as an exploration of ways to document and make visible surveillance practices in an open, organized, and centralized place by collecting examples of good and bad practice (or perhaps “mixed”) practices in institutions of higher education (read the group’s initial thoughts on the project here). As we previously reported, the team believed that data gathered via the Observatory with the help of higher education and edtech communities might help us to learn more about:
- the extent to which higher education institutions have implemented different forms of surveillance.
- the extent to which higher education institutions have put in place guidelines / policies in this area.
- the extent to which commercial companies (edtech and beyond) are collecting student data.
- where financial and other support for projects/work in this space is coming from.
- examples of good practice and collections of constructive responses to surveillance.
With data collected and shared via the Observatory, new forms of open analysis, research, and activism might become possible.
Based on the team’s conversations, and drawing broad inspiration from citizen science observatories, Tom Woodward built a working prototype that invites people to contribute coverage of surveillance practices from news sites and/or to contribute stories of experiences of surveillance in higher education. Contributions can be sorted by categories and tags to help with analysis of those contributions.
The team presented their working prototype at the OER22 conference in April 2022 in the spirit of co-design with some of our intended community. The team introduced the Observatory and facilitated an interactive discussion, giving participants a chance to explore the site, share feedback on the site’s functionality, and consider how the Observatory might be valuable to their own work and to their institutions. Participants responded enthusiastically to the prototype, and shared a desire to also collect information about effective approaches to grappling with issues of surveillance, including resistance tactics and advocacy resources and practices that go beyond basic legal compliance.
We encourage you to view the resources from the team’s OER22 presentation and to explore and contribute to the Observatory site. If you have any feedback or questions about the site, please use the Connect feature to reach out to the team.
This year, we expect to offer focus group sessions to continue seeking input on the design and launch of the Observatory. If you are interested in co-hosting a focus group session with your university or group, please use the Connect feature to reach out to the team.
