For the past two decades countering terrorism has been at the forefront of the foreign policy priorities of democracies. This has coincided with the growth of human rights narratives as a fundamental feature of such democracies. However, a number of counterterrorism measures, such as the use of unlawful detention at Guantanamo Bay, confirmation of “black sites” being used for interrogation and extended state surveillance powers, have raised serious human rights concerns.

What does it mean to teach religion in public? Is the task of religious studies instructors different at a public university? The US has decided constitutionally not to define religion—indeed, it is radically indeterminate by design—yet under the free exercise clause the US has decided to protect it, and it must be defined in order to be protected. And while religious studies instructors reflexively understand the words “religion” and “religious” to change meaning over time and place, the law plays a part in the consolidation of those meanings.

In the last 25 years we have displaced much of our culture, labor and recordkeeping into the digital domain. While the digital turn has vastly enriched many lives, it has also amplified divides, accelerated inequalities, elevated the possibility of historical amnesia and brought us new and onerous forms of labor. But it is not irreversible, argues Rick Prelinger, Professor of Film & Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz and founder of the Prelinger Archives.

Latinos shaped this country and its culture even before there was a United States. Historically, however, museums have overlooked the Latino experience despite the fact that Latino history is American history, Latino art is part of the American canon, and Latino research scientists’ contributions are American achievements. What responsibilities do museums have to tell more complete stories? Who should tell them? What changes in institutional culture will ensure programmatic authenticity, accuracy and organizational diversity?

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are designed to support job seekers’ ability to search for jobs, create resumes, highlight skills, and share employment opportunities. However, the benefits of employment tools and technologies are unequally distributed. ICTs lack advantages for individuals with limited knowledge, skills, or experience to leverage them. Without an understanding of how people from low-resource settings use ICTs for job seeking, the same employment inequalities that occur offline will be repeated in online contexts.

Some jobs have relationship at their core, depending upon a personal, emotional connection between practitioners and recipients. Efforts to make such “connective labor” more standardized, predictable, even automated, often depend on the premise that checklists or apps are “better than nothing.” The expansion of data needs shrinks the available time practitioners have to pursue the relationships they view as integral to their success. Yet perhaps surprisingly, low-income people sometimes prefer the alternatives.