The RightsCon Program

Hosted both online and in-person, RightsCon Costa Rica will mark our first hybrid summit. The program will support different session formats intended to foster moments of connection and collaboration, and a schedule which will enable live participation across different time zones.

Rather than create a “one size fits all” approach, our intention is to build a hybrid model based on the needs of our community and develop flexible opportunities for both online and in-person audiences, whether simultaneous or asynchronous.

Organizers can choose to host your session online or in-person. Online sessions are run entirely on our custom summit platform, while in-person sessions are held at our venue in Costa Rica. Our team is also exploring hybrid production elements which promote the principles of participatory design, such as simultaneous video conferencing, mirrored sessions, and replays, and we will communicate with session organizers about specific production requirements in April 2023.

You can read more about our hybrid event model, and the considerations and factors which will inform our approach, in our recent blog.

RightsCon’s program is sourced through an open Call for Proposals. You can choose from a number of formats and submit up to 5 proposals for consideration.

The Call for Proposals is now open until January 12, 2023 at 23:59 Pacific Time. Visit our Guide to a Successful Proposal to learn about our program priorities and policies, and create an account in our proposal portal to get started!

RightsCon equips session organizers to build skills, networks, and strategies for action. You’ll receive resources and training to increase your facilitative leadership, and opportunities to connect with other organizers before the summit starts. RightsCon’s global platform can raise the profile of your work and provide direct access to thousands of participants with the power and expertise to take your ideas to the next level.

The program is broad in scope and supports many topics of continued importance for our community, including data protection, artificial intelligence, privacy and surveillance, content governance, digital security, connectivity, business and labor practices, and cyber norms.

We also look for new issues to prompt exploration. Recent summits introduced program tracks on art and activism, human rights-centered design, and humanitarian action, and intersecting themes on health, environmental sustainability, disability rights, and gender justice.

You can find the list of program categories for RightsCon Costa Rica in our Guide to a Successful Proposal. These categories will inform the final tracks that participants use to navigate the program and find sessions of interest.

Access Now works with a Program Committee to review the Call for Proposals. Every year, we invite academics, technologists, creators, activists, business leaders and policymakers from around the world to chair the Program Committee and help us select proposals based on our core evaluation criteria (relevant, actionable, original, diverse, and participatory). We also look holistically across categories and take other factors into account, such as gender and region, in order to create the strongest and most inclusive program possible.

Access Now works with a Program Committee to review the Call for Proposals. Every year, we invite leaders and advocates from around the world to chair the Program Committee and help us select proposals based on our core evaluation criteria (relevant, actionable, original, diverse, and participatory). We also look holistically across categories and take other factors into account in order to create the strongest and most inclusive program possible.

Click here to see members of the RightsCon 2022 Program Committee.

RightsCon positions our community to secure commitments, develop resources and campaigns, and set standards for human rights. Our summit has launched government initiatives, such as Tech for Democracy and the Technologist Code of Ethics, produced coalitions to fight internet shutdowns and prevent the misuse of digital identity systems, prompted statements from UN experts, and established principles for non-discrimination in AI and the online sale of medicines.

Learn more about RightsCon’s impact in our most recent Outcomes Report.