Freedom of Speech* is a web project that helps users to understand the First Amendment right to freedom of speech through interactive visualizations of Supreme Court verdicts that have expanded or contracted the definition of “free speech” over the history of the United States. The project aims to dispel misconceptions about the First Amendment (specifically its blanket protection of freedom of speech) as static and limitless, and to illustrate how historical circumstances, diplomatic relationships, or the realities of race, class, religion, and other aspects affect whether and how free speech has been protected by the U.S. government.
We’ll focus on an effective combination of clean user interface and an entry-level approach to the gargantuan field of Supreme Court case precedent within the issue of First Amendment freedom of speech in order to capture a user’s attention for educational purposes. With those two foundations -- clean UI and digestible content -- in mind, this web project aims to offer a humanistic inquiry of the sticky relationship between the letter of the law and the cases that define its actual implementation through a robust, beautiful, functional, data-driven web app. Its focus on the goal of improving critical thinking skills, and fostering a better-informed civic populace around a topic that is today largely synonymous with social media, makes it poised to be an effective Digital Humanities tool.
As the U.S. comes to terms with what free speech means in the internet age, a baseline literacy and understanding of the concept becomes increasingly important; leaving the populace with a question that this project will be built to answer: What does ‘freedom of speech’ really mean?