International Digital Self-Determination Network

Data is changing how we live and engage with and within our societies and our economies. As our digital footprints grow, how do we re-imagine ourselves in the digital world? How can we be supported to determine ourselves in our data-driven spaces?

In the context of data access and protection, emerging debates about autonomy and communal responsibility highlight a pressing imperative to re-imagine "the self" in digital spaces.

The Berkman Klein Center is a founding partner in the International Digital Self-Determination Network, a collaboration that is defining the concept of digital self-determination and working to ensure that people everywhere are legally, socially, and technically empowered to participate in the digitally connected world.

The other founding partners of the network are Directorate of International Law, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs; the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Data Governance at Singapore Management University; the Global Tech Policy Practice at the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology; and The GovLab at New York University.

These founding partners also participated in the 2021 Digital Asia Hub/BKC research sprint on digital self-determination, which brought the context and complexities of the topic to a network of early career scholars from around the world.

Each network member is developing a use case on digital self-determination in a different sector, from finance to migration to tourism. BKC's efforts, led by Lis Sylvan, focus on digital self-determination for students and educators in school environments.