Published on September 27, 2011 by Donna Seale
I have technology on the brain these days.
My summer ended with a bang and my fall began with a boom as a result of receiving an avalanche of requests by organizations to conduct investigations for them into workplace human rights complaints. Honestly, I’ve had so many requests for investigation work that it made me wonder whether the summer heat we’ve had in Manitoba this year had an effect on people in ways I never imagined.
But, what in the world does this have to do with technology?
Well, virtually every single complaint that has crossed my desk in the last month and a half has a technology angle to it. Either there are e-mails that form the basis of the complaint or someone was complaining about comments made on a blog, Facebook or Twitter or text messages served to be the chosen avenue for inappropriate comments and discussions.
Now, fortunately, I’m a bit of a techno-geek. I’m always reading about the latest technology companies are pushing us to use. I use cloud-based technology to improve my efficiencies and enhance the level of service I’m able to provide to those who hire me. I’m heavily engaged (well, when I’m not conducting workplace investigations, that is) working on my blog and I maintain a LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter account to connect with my clients and those generally interested in what I have to say on the topic of workplace human rights. As a solo practitioner I’ve spent a good many hours acting as my own IT department. I’m also a mom of twins who works from home and sometimes has to rely on the good graces of pre-teen and teenage sitters who only “speak” to me via text to coordinate child care scheduling. So, I think I’m pretty immersed in this new world of ever-changing and ever-increasing technology that we now live in (check out this post by Nicole Black to get a true sense of just how much the world has changed from a technology perspective in the past few years). And this self-immersion in technology is fortunate given the pattern I see forming in the complaints I’m being asked to investigate — the pattern of technology being used as the vehicle through which people are being allegedly subjected to discrimination or harassment.
The reason my understanding of technology is a fortunate thing for me is because, as a person often called in to conduct investigations into complaints involving the use of technology, I have good insight into the kinds of questions I need to ask to get at the information I need in order to determine whether discrimination or harassment has occurred using that technology. Is your blog private or public? Is your Facebook profile open for all to see or have you established your settings to limit who has access to what you post? Did you make that comment on your Facebook wall or was it in a direct message? What’s your Twitter ‘handle’? Did you @ message that tweet or was it a generalized publication to the twitterverse? Were those text messages tampered with or is what I’m seeing just split messaging?
And these are just examples of initial questions. The answers given will likely lead to more questions. You may need to have a gander at the publicly accessible accounts or you may need to determine if you have authority to request access to those accounts. But, if you then do gain access, do you know how to interpret what you’re seeing? If you happen to be fortunate to work for an organization that has an IT department, don’t think for a moment that what I’m saying does not apply to you. The IT people might be able to extract information for you but you still need to direct them as to what you’re looking for and you still need to be able to examine, understand and interpret the information you’ve gained access to in order to determine how it fits into your investigation and what you can conclude from it.
All of this got me to thinking. Well, aside from the fact that I realize I now speak in a language that results in many people looking at me strangely. How in the world could I possibly investigate these complaints if I did not have this insight into the operation of the technology being used? Frankly, I do not think I would be capable of exhaustively examining the circumstances that form the basis of the complaint. And that would likely have an impact on the conclusions I reach on the evidence.
And, then this got me to thinking again. (Yes, I’m in a reflective phase at the moment. Just chalk it up to the after-shock of the volume of complaints I’ve been contending with of late. Well, either that or the summer heat has gotten to me too). How in the world would people like those of you reading this blog and who may well be responsible for conducting investigations internal to your organizations handle these technology-laden situations if you did not have this same technology background I do? In all honesty, I think you would be tremendously disadvantaged in the investigation process. Your ability to ask the ‘right’ questions and get at the best information would be hampered. And any time you are hampered in how you can conduct your investigation the overall quality of the evidence you ultimately gather is weakened. And weak evidence leads to poor conclusions. And poor conclusions lead to bad decisions. Bad decisions lead to liability. And you know I don’t want that for you!
So if you do happen to find yourself investigating workplace complaints from time-to-time and you happen to be the type of person who is generally averse to using technology or you are one of those individuals who thinks that Facebook and Twitter are a complete waste of time, I’m going to ask you to strongly consider dipping your toes into these new technology waters anyway. Open up a Facebook and Twitter account. Friend some friends. Find some people to follow. Get on LinkedIn and connect with colleagues. Read a few blogs. And, not just those written by professionals (like this one) but have a gander at the ones written by Jane and Joe Public to get a real flavor for what people are saying on the internet. SMS (text) or BBM (Blackberry Messenger) your partner or spouse. Heck, text your kid even if it’s just for fun (you’ll either totally creep them out or you might actually get them to talk to you!).
See how these technologies operate in the real world.
And prepare yourself for the day you’ll be faced with your own avalanche of technology-laden complaints to investigate. Because that avalanche is coming. Even at the end of a long, hot summer.
Image above by wagg66.
Published on August 8, 2011 by Donna Seale
Twitter has been a great source of information in the past couple of weeks on a wide range of workplace human rights issues. Here’s my list of recommended reading for the period ending August 6, 2011:
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Donna M. Seale B.A., LL. B.
Human Rights Lawyer
and Educator
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