Projectss

Summary

Our project: Designing a more responsible data license, is part of Mozilla’s 2024 Data Futures Lab Infrastructure Fund awardees -five ambitious projects building tools that address issues of transparency, privacy, bias, and agency in the data lifecycle.

We will conduct research that addresses the shortcomings of using creative commons licenses in certain contexts (such as reinforcing extractive practices and digital colonialism) and create a prototype for a new data license based on their findings.

Sign up for Dr Okorie’s talk as part of theDFL Speaker Series, which is running through the first half of 2024 and explores fair use and transparency in the generative AI data ecosystem.

Summary

This is the first dimension to a larger project and involves utilising policy hackathons to brainstorm, develop, prototype and pitch creative policy solutions that addresses the intersection between law (privacy and data protection, copyright and other intellectual property rights and contract) and data (access, use, reuse and management) in various fields of AI and data science applications (health, culture and languages, climate, etc.) in South Africa. This aspect of the data, law and society in South Africa combination is promoted by a solution-creation process in generating ideas that enhance or indicate best approaches to implementing statutory requirements (e.g., in privacy and data protection laws, copyright law, contract law, etc.) taking into account the interests and contexts of local stakeholders in South Africa as active, passive and/or consuming participants in AI development and governance.

Each year, we will partner with challenge partners to develop, fine tune and properly scope the challenges/topics for the policy hackathon. Participating teams will collaborate and compete to create policy proposals and analytical tools which will be pitched to organisations and government bodies working towards policy reforms to overcome legal, regulatory, administrative policy challenges to and harness opportunities of data access and use in effecting positive societal transformation.

We have now announced the call for applications to participate in the 2024 Policy Hackathon. Find out more and apply here!

UPDATE: We held the 2024 policy hackathon on 31 July 2024 and the report of proceedings is available here.

Summary

This project involves a survey of all published cases in the field of copyright law decided by the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa and published on SAFLII website and a case-level metadata including a general category label (identification of copyright work), biographical information of the parties, right infringed, how infringement occurred, defence proffered, foreign jurisdiction cases cited and the direction of the decision (affirmation/reversal of the decision of the High Court) of those decision.

Data Science Law Lab partnered with the University of Pretoria MIT808: Big Data Science Capstone Project to present an empirical analysis of appellate copyright jurisprudence in South Africa using data science techniques to model outcome sentiments. The study seeks to determine whether there are any patterns or trends in the outcomes that may be found through quantitative analysis in order to better understand how copyright matters are handled in South African appellate courts. To achieve this, a dataset of selected appellate copyright cases from the South African courts is collected and coded based on various factors, including the nature of the dispute, the legal issues at stake, and the outcome of the case. Sentiment analysis techniques are then applied to the dataset to model the sentiment of the court’s decision in each case using transformers’ pre-trained models, allowing for the identification of patterns and trends in the outcomes. The results of the study provide valuable insights into the nature of copyright jurisprudence in South Africa and demonstrate the potential of data science techniques for analyzing legal outcomes.

Outputs

Funders

University of Pretoria’s Research Development Programme (2022-2024)

Team

Chijioke Okorie (Principal Investigator)

Segopotso Gakeitumele (Researcher)

Mokhusu Mothapo (MIT808 Student researcher)

Matome Ledwaba (MIT808 Student researcher)

Xolile O’Reilly (MIT808 Student researcher)

Kapei Sebesho (MIT808 Student researcher)

Duration

2023-2024

Summary

This was a project commissioned through the Academic Network on the Right to Research in International Copyright following response to a call for research relevant to the development of global norms on copyright policy in its application to research including text and data mining research.

Outputs

Copyright, Data Mining and Developing Models for South African Natural Language Processing, by Chijioke Okorie
Government Role in Realising A ‘Right’ to Research in Africa, by Chijioke Okorie

Commissioning entity

Programme on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (2022-2024)

Team

Chijioke Okorie (Principal Researcher)

Duration

2021-2023

Summary

The project is part of a broader project by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace aimed at amplifying ideas and perspectives from geographic areas that lack strong representation in current global discussions about AI. The project entails a series of papers commissioned from Carnegie affiliates, dialogue with and between affiliates, and follow-on work promoting key ideas to policy audiences.

Data Science Law Lab’s Dr Chijioke Okorie is co-authoring a commissioned piece with Prof Vukosi Marivate providing perspectives on local stakeholders’ priorities for AI, and how these priorities might be informed by, independent of, or in tension with those of supranational bodies, philanthropic organizations, or transnational corporations.

Outputs

Presentation at the Global Technology Summit (India)

Commissioning entity

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2023 – )

Team

Chijioke Okorie (Principal Researcher)

Duration

2023 –

This is a new network that seeks to bring together final year and postgraduate law students from all parts of the African continent undertaking, or interested in undertaking, legal research with emphasis on intellectual property law and policy and law and technology, broadly defined. The network aims to provide a forum for learning, dialogue and collaboration on law and policy research, and at a broader level promote directed legal scholarship in Africa.

The network’s initial plans include operating a mailing list for information sharing, as well as co-ordinating virtual events comprising presentation of individual approaches to conducting legal research and building a successful career in legal research.

Please visit this link to join the network. The information you provide will be used to add you to the network and provide you with details of the network’s activities and related updates.

Do share this link with anyone you know who might be interested in being part of the network.

Summary

This project commissioned by the Competition Commission of South Africa as part of its multidisciplinary research grant programme seeks to explore approaches for efficient and effective regulatory collaboration and coordination but also overarching competition promotion and enforcement relating to the activities and power of digital platforms for South Africa’s context.

We are empirically mapping the emergence of the regulatory field of digital platform regulation in South Africa by examining and exploring regulatory/public enquiries and issued reports (collectively, dataset).

Outputs

Ongoing

Commissioning entity

Competition Commission of South Africa (2023 – )

Team

Chijioke Okorie (Principal Investigator)

Segotpotso Gakeitumele

Abiodun Modupe

Duration

2023 –

Summary

This is the third dimension to a larger project funded by Meta and involves a triple helix approach to dialogue. Within this dimension, Data Science Law Lab intends to create space for, contribute to and facilitate regular engagement between our researchers, other researchers, private sector and government/policymakers. Our goal is to use these dialogues to increase coherence and understanding between these stakeholders for AI development and governance in South Africa and also across Africa. As developments in AI and emerging technologies proliferate, bringing the South Africa and Africa context to inform AI development and governance may entail recognition that the research community across the African continent should cooperate with government and industry by means that include cross-border (and intra-African) exchanges.

2024 Policy Hackathon to be launched soon.

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