Social Media, Hate Speech, and Human Rights Defenders

Molly Land and Richard A. Wilson with support from the Social Media Analytics Command Center

Social media provides a platform for human rights defenders to share information and express opinions. At the same time, it is increasingly being used to target and harass human rights defenders, including journalists, environmental activists and lawyers. Read more about the project of Molly Land and Richard A. Wilson through the American Bar Association, SSRN, and Just Security.

Courtroom 600: Virtual Reality Encounter with Evidence of the Holocaust

Greenhouse Studios

This 3D interactive virtual reality (VR) experience explores histories of the Holocaust through archival materials. Read more about the project through Greenhouse Studios and on UConn Today.

2020 Election Social Media Research

John Murphy and the Social Media Analytics Command Center

As part of the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost’s funded project “The 21st-Century Poll - Making UConn the Leader in Gathering, Analyzing, and Disseminating Social Media Data and Sentiment Around the 2020 Election Cycle and Other Topics,” we conducted research on the culture wars, fake news, and Black Lives Matter. We also streamed an election night broadcast on YouTube with analysis of social media activity and predictions.

Armenian Memory Project

Under the guidance of filmmaker Catherine Masud, students enrolled in DMD 2200 Motion Graphics 1 (spring 2019) created an animated motion graphics video based on archival photographs from Dr. Armen T. Marsoobian's Dildilian Photography Collection depicting early 20th Century Armenian life in Turkey, prior to the genocide that erased the Armenian community. Students from DMD 3998/5998 Visual Representation of Armenian Memory (fall 2019) created a second video called The Dildilians: A Story of Photography and Survival. Watch a panel discussion with Catherine Masud, Dr. Armen T. Marsoobian, and ​​some of the student producers on YouTube. Learn more about the project via the Norian Armenian Project.

Course Highlights

Digital Storytelling through Human Rights Archives
DMD 3998-008
HRTS 3540-002
Instructor: Catherine Masud

Students in this course will style utilize the Nuremberg Collection of the Thomas Dodd Papers held in the University of Connecticut Library Archive to create a collaborative documentary.

Motion Graphics I
DMD 2200
Instructor: Anna Lindemann

Students in this course will bring to life archival photographs of student protests in the 1960s and 1970s held by Archives & Special Collections.

Power Privilege and Public Education
EDCI 2100
Instructors: Mark Kohan and Patricia O'Rourke

Students in this course will create collaborative short videos with community education partners using the WITNESS - Video for Change model of human rights advocacy.