How can online collaboration be used to enhance the understanding and protection of human rights law around the world?  What are some of the challenges involved in forging human rights networks in a virtual space?  What opportunities do ‘new media’ offer academics, researchers and policy makers seeking to transcend traditional geographical and linguistic barriers? How can we ensure that online networks truly are democratic and inclusive, rather than reinforcing of traditional hierarchies and exclusionary structures?

These and other questions were explored in an interactive sessions today facilitated by Laura Hilly (OxHRH Blog Managing Editor) and Meghan Campbell (OxHRH Research Co-ordinator) with students attending the summer session of the International Human Rights Law Masters and the International Human Rights Law Summer School, held in conjunction with George Washington University Law School.

Students were taken on a ‘visit’ to the virtual world of the Oxford Human Rights Hub and then engaged in a lively discussion on the ways that new online networks are changing the way that human rights practitioners, policy makers and academics can interact on a global scale.