Clarus: Culture, Bias, Language and Communicaiton in Digital Evidence Investigations

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

This panel will explore the recent findings from the Clarus project, a multi-national, multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research project funded by Horizon Europe (2023-2026). Clarus studies how communication, taken-for-granted ways of doing things, organisational cultures, disciplinary backgrounds or and specific languages can contribute significantly to a context for biased judgements and erroneous decisions at an organisational level. Clarus will produce new knowledge related to issues of communication, language and vocabulary, both within and across borders in the field of forensic digital evidence in Europe and will highlight areas of risk for the execution of unbiased forensic procedures and police investigations. The papers in the panel will present the overall structure and methodology of the project, the findings from our first phase of data collection on standard and informal practice, the second phase on organisational cultures and the third phase on language and communication.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Policing and Law enforcement (Policing WG)

Chair

• Megan O'Neill, University of Dundee

Individual Presentations

• An introduction to Clarus: Culture, Bias, Language and Communication in Digital Evidence Investigations - Megan O'Neill, University of Dundee; Amy Long, Univesity of Dundee

• Informal communication and cultures in Digital Evidence investigations - Amy Long, Univesity of Dundee; Megan O'Neill, University of Dundee

• Examining systemic sources of bias in interaction and communication within organisational cultures - Nina Sunde, The Norwegian Police University College

• Creating a common multilingual lexicon to enhance communication in digital evidence interactions - Duygu Candarli, University of Southampton