Rethinking access: how humanitarian technology governance blurs control and care

Area of Science:

• Humanitarian Studies
• Information Science
• Technology Governance

Background:

• Limited scholarly attention to digital technology's role in humanitarian governance.
• Existing literature overlooks data production, storage, processing, and sharing aspects.
• Need for integrating technological considerations into humanitarian governance frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the critical role of digital technology in humanitarian governance.
• To propose a framework for understanding technology's dual impact: its use and its outputs.
• To analyze the implications of digital data access for humanitarian subjects' security.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis using Michael Barnett's framework.
• Literature review on humanitarian governance and technology.
• Exploration of digital data access and protection issues.

Main Results:

• Digital technology profoundly shapes humanitarian governance dynamics.
• Governance must address both the application of new technologies and the data they generate.
• Digital data access presents new security challenges for vulnerable populations.

Conclusions:

• Humanitarian governance requires heightened awareness of digital technology's influence.
• Access and protection paradigms must evolve to encompass digital vulnerabilities.
• Future research should integrate digital technology into analyses of humanitarian governance.