Margaret Hagan is a third year law student at Stanford, interested in how design and technology can improve access to justice, as well as how it can undermine constitutional rights. She is working on two design research projects this school year.
The first, Surfing While Muslim, investigates whether government surveillance has chilled Muslim Americans' First Amendment rights online. Particularly in the wake of the AP's coverage of the NYPD's massive surveillance campaign of Muslims on the East Coast, a conversation is growing about how this surveillance affects the Internet behavior, as well as the offline lives, of Muslims. This research project aims to provide qualitative research as to what these effects are, and what legal implications they might have.
The second project, Traffick Junction, is an online platform to connect practitioners working against human trafficking. It began as a class project for the Law Without Walls program, and after winning that program's pitch competition, now is growing into a social venture. Traffick Junction aims to let attorneys, social workers, researchers, nurses, and other professionals share information and advice regarding their work on trafficking. The project also has a research component, asking whether and how technology can be leveraged to strengthen professional networks, as well as a broader social movement. As the platform is built and tested, the feedback will provide a rich set of data about how technology and design can be used to improve legal outcomes and access to justice.
Margaret holds an AB from the University of Chicago, an MA from Central European University in Budapest, and a PhD from Queen's University Belfast in International Politics. She is also an avid sketcher and an amateur app-maker.
- Title:Student Fellow
- Links:Personal BlogTwitter
- Contact:mdhagan@stanford.edu
- Focus Areas:Privacy