SBCC on trial: thinking critically about SBCC in a digital age
Summary:
The allegations of psychological manipulation and data misuse by Cambridge Analytica highlight the risks of using digital communication to influence behavior. Should this lead us to question SBCC? In a digital age, data about people's online and mobile habits and preferences are being used to inform SBCC strategies and approaches. The availability of these data offers opportunities for SBCC practitioners to know more about the people we seek to interact with and design interventions in more personalized ways. SBCC can be used to persuade people to adopt certain behaviors, but when does persuasion become manipulation? Who decides what are the desired behaviors? Are those who we seek to change knowing and willing participants in our data collection and behavior changing efforts? Are digital tools exacerbating the already asymmetrical power dynamics between the Global North and South? This session will put SBCC on trial. The prosecution and defense will each have an opportunity to convince the audience of the merits or critique of digital SBCC with opening statements and challenges to each other. The audience will be the judge. The defense of SBCC will be represented by Managing Director, Sesame Workshop India, Sonali Khan, and Kama Garrison, Senior SBC Advisor, USAID. The prosecution will be led by Khwezi Magwaza, Editorial Director at Girl Effect and tech for good founder Emma Koster. The format will be a serious examination of the topic moderated by BBC Media Action in an entertaining and fast-paced style one would expect from a dramatized trial.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
The SBCC field needs to take a hard look at the ethics underpinning in as it evolves rapidly due to digital advancements. Increased digital use by both the targets of SBCC projects and practitioners raises unchartered questions relating to data privacy, new business models (e.g. working with tech and mobile companies) and many other ethical issues. This panel will highlight these emerging issues and draw conclusions about the state of our field. It will underpin the need to acknowledge the potential to do harm and suggest practical ways to safeguard vulnerable populations.
Abstract submitted by:
Yvonne MacPherson - BBC Media Action
Caroline Sugg - BBC Media Action
The allegations of psychological manipulation and data misuse by Cambridge Analytica highlight the risks of using digital communication to influence behavior. Should this lead us to question SBCC? In a digital age, data about people's online and mobile habits and preferences are being used to inform SBCC strategies and approaches. The availability of these data offers opportunities for SBCC practitioners to know more about the people we seek to interact with and design interventions in more personalized ways. SBCC can be used to persuade people to adopt certain behaviors, but when does persuasion become manipulation? Who decides what are the desired behaviors? Are those who we seek to change knowing and willing participants in our data collection and behavior changing efforts? Are digital tools exacerbating the already asymmetrical power dynamics between the Global North and South? This session will put SBCC on trial. The prosecution and defense will each have an opportunity to convince the audience of the merits or critique of digital SBCC with opening statements and challenges to each other. The audience will be the judge. The defense of SBCC will be represented by Managing Director, Sesame Workshop India, Sonali Khan, and Kama Garrison, Senior SBC Advisor, USAID. The prosecution will be led by Khwezi Magwaza, Editorial Director at Girl Effect and tech for good founder Emma Koster. The format will be a serious examination of the topic moderated by BBC Media Action in an entertaining and fast-paced style one would expect from a dramatized trial.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
The SBCC field needs to take a hard look at the ethics underpinning in as it evolves rapidly due to digital advancements. Increased digital use by both the targets of SBCC projects and practitioners raises unchartered questions relating to data privacy, new business models (e.g. working with tech and mobile companies) and many other ethical issues. This panel will highlight these emerging issues and draw conclusions about the state of our field. It will underpin the need to acknowledge the potential to do harm and suggest practical ways to safeguard vulnerable populations.
Abstract submitted by:
Yvonne MacPherson - BBC Media Action
Caroline Sugg - BBC Media Action
Source
Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: MEET Digigal Culture Center via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)