Tamy Guberek | University of Michigan (original) (raw)

Papers by Tamy Guberek

Quantitative analysis of historical 'big data' can help to explain how record-making prac... more Quantitative analysis of historical 'big data' can help to explain how record-making practices around death facilitated policies of repression and control, writes Tamy Guberek (University of Michigan).

International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2018

Since mid-2005, archivist-activists at the Historical Archive of the National Police of Guatemala... more Since mid-2005, archivist-activists at the Historical Archive of the National Police of Guatemala have been digitizing a century's worth of previously suppressed police records so as to protect, mobilize and provide access to them-23 million pages to date. We find that digitization amplified the staff's repurposing of the archive to serve victims of human rights violations. Digitization enhances short-and long-term safeguards for the archive's physical integrity, probative value and enduring accessibility, but has required critical human factors and institutional solidarity, most notably partnerships with international donors and allied organizations, and Guatemalan nongovernmental organizations. Finally, technology offers a lens to analyze the persistent challenges to promoting truth and justice in Guatemala. We show how simple, often ad hoc approaches to digitization developed under political urgency can have an irreversible impact when used to amplify a unified mission driven by a committed community of archival workers.

Archival Science, 2017

This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repres... more This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repression and violence during Guatemala's civil war. We provide empirical evidence from the Historical Archive of the Guatemalan National Police (AHPN) that the police used language, terminology and codes to record deaths in ways that produced silences about the level of violence during the height of repressive military rule. Using a dataset derived from a statistically valid sample of police records together with qualitative archival analysis, we find evidence of profound changes in the terminology used to record and report on deaths-changes that follow a pattern consistent with the policies of information control and concealment of the three different military regimes that ruled Guatemala between 1978 and 1985. We argue that researchers will need to consider the silences created through the selective use of terminology in documents when using archives to produce historical knowledge. Detecting and intercepting silence will be especially important as state records are increasingly sought in service of ongoing pursuits for truth and justice about past atrocities.

viii 4.3.3 Methodological scrutiny is selective when advocates cite "authoritative numbers" .

This study was commissioned by five leading foundations to inform donors' thinking and fundin... more This study was commissioned by five leading foundations to inform donors' thinking and funding in the overlapping space of human rights and technology.New technologies, especially access to the internet, are transforming the landscape of the international human rights movement. The Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Oak Foundation and Humanity United, seeking to make strategic investments to harness technology in the service of human rights, face choices about priorities and opportunities for strategic collaboration as well as risks and challenges in this rapidly changing field.This study shows how the HR-Tech space encompasses technology both as infrastructure on which rights in the digital and the physical worlds depend, and as instruments that can help make human rights defenders and their work more effective and secure. Many HR-Tech discussions focus too narrowly on the challenges related to the development a...

Is the crisis in Darfur a genocide? How common is sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of C... more Is the crisis in Darfur a genocide? How common is sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Is it “widespread and systematic” tactic of one or more armed groups? Did Colombia’s paramilitary demobilization program actually reduce violence against noncombatants? How many Iraqi civilians have died during the ongoing American-led conflict there? How does that number compare to the number of soldiers and insurgents killed? Each of these high-stakes questions asks the analyst to estimate the “dirtiness” of a military action. Directly or indirectly, each can be (and has been) answered using quantitative evidence. Different answers point to radically different legal and policy conclusions. Given the dire consequences of wrong answers, quantitative research in human rights demands accuracy—or, at the least, an honest accounting of uncertainty. Yet armed conflicts (like many other human rights crises) are nearimpossible contexts for the collection of comprehensive, or even represen...

2 Exploring Observed Patterns 2 2.1 Observed Patterns Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... more 2 Exploring Observed Patterns 2 2.1 Observed Patterns Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.2 Records in More Than One Dataset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 Observed Patterns Over Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4 Observed Patterns by Union Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Human Rights Data …, 2007

Missing People in Casanare Daniel Guzmán, Tamy Guberek, Amelia Hoover, and Patrick Ball November ... more Missing People in Casanare Daniel Guzmán, Tamy Guberek, Amelia Hoover, and Patrick Ball November 28, 2007 ... Our third regional subset, represented above as “TAU, AGUA, YOP” in shades of green, includes the municipalities of Tauramena, Aguazul, and Yopal (TAY). ...

El analisis cuantitativo del "big data" historico puede contribuir a explicar como las ... more El analisis cuantitativo del "big data" historico puede contribuir a explicar como las practicas de generacion de registros en torno a la muerte facilitaron las politicas de represion y control, escribe Tamy Guberek (University of Michigan).

Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and depo... more Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and deportation. We investigate their technology use, risk perceptions, and protective strategies relating to their vulnerability. Through semi-structured interviews with Latinx undocumented immigrants, we find that while participants act to address offline threats, this vigilance does not translate to their online activities. Their technology use is shaped by needs and benefits rather than risk perceptions. While our participants are concerned about identity theft and privacy generally, and some raise concerns about online harassment, their understanding of government surveillance risks is vague and met with resignation. We identify tensions among self-expression, group privacy, and self-censorship related to their immigration status, as well as strong trust in service providers. Our findings have implications for digital literacy education, privacy and security interfaces, and technology design in general. Even minor design decisions can substantially affect exposure risks and well-being for such vulnerable communities.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and depo... more Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and deportation. We investigate their technology use, risk perceptions, and protective strategies relating to their vulnerability. Through semi-structured interviews with Latinx undocumented immigrants, we find that while participants act to address offline threats, this vigilance does not translate to their online activities. Their technology use is shaped by needs and benefits rather than risk perceptions. While our participants are concerned about identity theft and privacy generally, and some raise concerns about online harassment, their understanding of government surveillance risks is vague and met with resignation. We identify tensions among self-expression, group privacy, and self-censorship related to their immigration status, as well as strong trust in service providers. Our findings have implications for digital literacy education, privacy and security interfaces, and technology design in general. Even minor design decisions can substantially affect exposure risks and well-being for such vulnerable communities.

This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repres... more This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repression and violence during Guatemala's civil war. We provide empirical evidence from the Historical Archive of the Guatemalan National Police that the police used language, terminology and codes to record deaths in ways that produced silences about the level of violence during the height of repressive military rule. Using a dataset derived from a statistically valid sample of police records together with qualitative archival analysis, we find evidence of profound changes in the terminology used to record and report on deaths—changes that follow a pattern consistent with the policies of information control and concealment of the three different military regimes that ruled Guatemala between 1978 and 1985. We argue that researchers will need to consider the silences created through the selective use of terminology in documents when using archives to produce historical knowledge. Detecting and intercepting silence will be especially important as state records are increasingly sought in service of ongoing pursuits for truth and justice about past atrocities.

This paper describes the sample design used at the Guatemalan National Police Archive (GNPA). The... more This paper describes the sample design used at the Guatemalan National Police Archive (GNPA). The Archive contains millions of documents, which were initially found mixed together and in poor physical condition. Given the Archive size and the lack of a traditional sample frame, we opted for a multi-stage random PPS sample using the Archive's topography for stages 1 and 2. For stages 3 and 4, frames were created on location. The sampling faced several challenges, including movement of the documents as they were being restored and organized, and uncertain resource availability. To manage these difficulties we drew iterative sample waves. After rounds of evaluation, we modified the sampling to reduce one stage, making the sampling more efficient. Over 2 years of sampling, we have selected 20,000 documents. Next, we may use adaptive sampling to search more deliberately and probabilistically for documents of interest.

Statistics, Politics, and Policy, 2010

Lum, Kristian; Price, Megan; Guberek, Tamy; and Ball, Patrick (2010) "Measur... more Lum, Kristian; Price, Megan; Guberek, Tamy; and Ball, Patrick (2010) "Measuring Elusive Populations with Bayesian Model Averaging for Multiple Systems Estimation: A Case Study on Lethal Violations in Casanare, 1998-2007," Statistics, Politics, and Policy: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: ...

A Report by the Benetech Human Rights Program, Feb 10, 2010

Casanare is a large, rural department in Colombia, with 19 municipalities and a population of alm... more Casanare is a large, rural department in Colombia, with 19 municipalities and a population of almost 300,000 inhabitants located in the foothills of the Andes and on the eastern plains. 1 Multiple armed actors in the Colombian conflict have operated there, including paramilitary groups, guerillas and the Colombian military. Many people of Casanare have suffered violent deaths and disappearances.

Quantitative analysis of historical 'big data' can help to explain how record-making prac... more Quantitative analysis of historical 'big data' can help to explain how record-making practices around death facilitated policies of repression and control, writes Tamy Guberek (University of Michigan).

International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2018

Since mid-2005, archivist-activists at the Historical Archive of the National Police of Guatemala... more Since mid-2005, archivist-activists at the Historical Archive of the National Police of Guatemala have been digitizing a century's worth of previously suppressed police records so as to protect, mobilize and provide access to them-23 million pages to date. We find that digitization amplified the staff's repurposing of the archive to serve victims of human rights violations. Digitization enhances short-and long-term safeguards for the archive's physical integrity, probative value and enduring accessibility, but has required critical human factors and institutional solidarity, most notably partnerships with international donors and allied organizations, and Guatemalan nongovernmental organizations. Finally, technology offers a lens to analyze the persistent challenges to promoting truth and justice in Guatemala. We show how simple, often ad hoc approaches to digitization developed under political urgency can have an irreversible impact when used to amplify a unified mission driven by a committed community of archival workers.

Archival Science, 2017

This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repres... more This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repression and violence during Guatemala's civil war. We provide empirical evidence from the Historical Archive of the Guatemalan National Police (AHPN) that the police used language, terminology and codes to record deaths in ways that produced silences about the level of violence during the height of repressive military rule. Using a dataset derived from a statistically valid sample of police records together with qualitative archival analysis, we find evidence of profound changes in the terminology used to record and report on deaths-changes that follow a pattern consistent with the policies of information control and concealment of the three different military regimes that ruled Guatemala between 1978 and 1985. We argue that researchers will need to consider the silences created through the selective use of terminology in documents when using archives to produce historical knowledge. Detecting and intercepting silence will be especially important as state records are increasingly sought in service of ongoing pursuits for truth and justice about past atrocities.

viii 4.3.3 Methodological scrutiny is selective when advocates cite "authoritative numbers" .

This study was commissioned by five leading foundations to inform donors' thinking and fundin... more This study was commissioned by five leading foundations to inform donors' thinking and funding in the overlapping space of human rights and technology.New technologies, especially access to the internet, are transforming the landscape of the international human rights movement. The Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Oak Foundation and Humanity United, seeking to make strategic investments to harness technology in the service of human rights, face choices about priorities and opportunities for strategic collaboration as well as risks and challenges in this rapidly changing field.This study shows how the HR-Tech space encompasses technology both as infrastructure on which rights in the digital and the physical worlds depend, and as instruments that can help make human rights defenders and their work more effective and secure. Many HR-Tech discussions focus too narrowly on the challenges related to the development a...

Is the crisis in Darfur a genocide? How common is sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of C... more Is the crisis in Darfur a genocide? How common is sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Is it “widespread and systematic” tactic of one or more armed groups? Did Colombia’s paramilitary demobilization program actually reduce violence against noncombatants? How many Iraqi civilians have died during the ongoing American-led conflict there? How does that number compare to the number of soldiers and insurgents killed? Each of these high-stakes questions asks the analyst to estimate the “dirtiness” of a military action. Directly or indirectly, each can be (and has been) answered using quantitative evidence. Different answers point to radically different legal and policy conclusions. Given the dire consequences of wrong answers, quantitative research in human rights demands accuracy—or, at the least, an honest accounting of uncertainty. Yet armed conflicts (like many other human rights crises) are nearimpossible contexts for the collection of comprehensive, or even represen...

2 Exploring Observed Patterns 2 2.1 Observed Patterns Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... more 2 Exploring Observed Patterns 2 2.1 Observed Patterns Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.2 Records in More Than One Dataset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 Observed Patterns Over Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4 Observed Patterns by Union Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Human Rights Data …, 2007

Missing People in Casanare Daniel Guzmán, Tamy Guberek, Amelia Hoover, and Patrick Ball November ... more Missing People in Casanare Daniel Guzmán, Tamy Guberek, Amelia Hoover, and Patrick Ball November 28, 2007 ... Our third regional subset, represented above as “TAU, AGUA, YOP” in shades of green, includes the municipalities of Tauramena, Aguazul, and Yopal (TAY). ...

El analisis cuantitativo del "big data" historico puede contribuir a explicar como las ... more El analisis cuantitativo del "big data" historico puede contribuir a explicar como las practicas de generacion de registros en torno a la muerte facilitaron las politicas de represion y control, escribe Tamy Guberek (University of Michigan).

Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and depo... more Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and deportation. We investigate their technology use, risk perceptions, and protective strategies relating to their vulnerability. Through semi-structured interviews with Latinx undocumented immigrants, we find that while participants act to address offline threats, this vigilance does not translate to their online activities. Their technology use is shaped by needs and benefits rather than risk perceptions. While our participants are concerned about identity theft and privacy generally, and some raise concerns about online harassment, their understanding of government surveillance risks is vague and met with resignation. We identify tensions among self-expression, group privacy, and self-censorship related to their immigration status, as well as strong trust in service providers. Our findings have implications for digital literacy education, privacy and security interfaces, and technology design in general. Even minor design decisions can substantially affect exposure risks and well-being for such vulnerable communities.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and depo... more Undocumented immigrants in the United States face risks of discrimination, surveillance, and deportation. We investigate their technology use, risk perceptions, and protective strategies relating to their vulnerability. Through semi-structured interviews with Latinx undocumented immigrants, we find that while participants act to address offline threats, this vigilance does not translate to their online activities. Their technology use is shaped by needs and benefits rather than risk perceptions. While our participants are concerned about identity theft and privacy generally, and some raise concerns about online harassment, their understanding of government surveillance risks is vague and met with resignation. We identify tensions among self-expression, group privacy, and self-censorship related to their immigration status, as well as strong trust in service providers. Our findings have implications for digital literacy education, privacy and security interfaces, and technology design in general. Even minor design decisions can substantially affect exposure risks and well-being for such vulnerable communities.

This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repres... more This paper investigates how the production of police records was linked to the policies of repression and violence during Guatemala's civil war. We provide empirical evidence from the Historical Archive of the Guatemalan National Police that the police used language, terminology and codes to record deaths in ways that produced silences about the level of violence during the height of repressive military rule. Using a dataset derived from a statistically valid sample of police records together with qualitative archival analysis, we find evidence of profound changes in the terminology used to record and report on deaths—changes that follow a pattern consistent with the policies of information control and concealment of the three different military regimes that ruled Guatemala between 1978 and 1985. We argue that researchers will need to consider the silences created through the selective use of terminology in documents when using archives to produce historical knowledge. Detecting and intercepting silence will be especially important as state records are increasingly sought in service of ongoing pursuits for truth and justice about past atrocities.

This paper describes the sample design used at the Guatemalan National Police Archive (GNPA). The... more This paper describes the sample design used at the Guatemalan National Police Archive (GNPA). The Archive contains millions of documents, which were initially found mixed together and in poor physical condition. Given the Archive size and the lack of a traditional sample frame, we opted for a multi-stage random PPS sample using the Archive's topography for stages 1 and 2. For stages 3 and 4, frames were created on location. The sampling faced several challenges, including movement of the documents as they were being restored and organized, and uncertain resource availability. To manage these difficulties we drew iterative sample waves. After rounds of evaluation, we modified the sampling to reduce one stage, making the sampling more efficient. Over 2 years of sampling, we have selected 20,000 documents. Next, we may use adaptive sampling to search more deliberately and probabilistically for documents of interest.

Statistics, Politics, and Policy, 2010

Lum, Kristian; Price, Megan; Guberek, Tamy; and Ball, Patrick (2010) "Measur... more Lum, Kristian; Price, Megan; Guberek, Tamy; and Ball, Patrick (2010) "Measuring Elusive Populations with Bayesian Model Averaging for Multiple Systems Estimation: A Case Study on Lethal Violations in Casanare, 1998-2007," Statistics, Politics, and Policy: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: ...

A Report by the Benetech Human Rights Program, Feb 10, 2010

Casanare is a large, rural department in Colombia, with 19 municipalities and a population of alm... more Casanare is a large, rural department in Colombia, with 19 municipalities and a population of almost 300,000 inhabitants located in the foothills of the Andes and on the eastern plains. 1 Multiple armed actors in the Colombian conflict have operated there, including paramilitary groups, guerillas and the Colombian military. Many people of Casanare have suffered violent deaths and disappearances.