Speculative Activist Technologies

Abstract

This paper explores the specific needs activists have of the technologies they use to manage their operations and promote their causes. To begin this exploration, we conducted two critical making workshops with participants who self-identified as activists and used craft materials -such as cardboard, color markers, pipe cleaners, etc.-to create speculative technologies to find commonalities across different forms of activist work, be it technological, organizational, or procedural. The needs and concerns expressed in the workshops were articulated through the participants' designs; they materialized their critiques, reflections, and explorations through their crafted prototypes. These prototypes point to opportunities for creating new design interventions to address the challenges and needs unique to activist organizations. The work suggests the need for more value-sensitivity and context-appropriateness in the design of interactive systems.

A Qualitative Exploration of Perceptions of Algorithmic Fairness

“…More contemporary participatory initiatives have taken up concerns outside of work or governmental contexts, from exploring alternative food systems [23,24] to understanding how to promote play among neurodiverse children [80]. Still others have developed the design workshop as a means of examining critical theory through material practice like making and tinkering [70] or used craft to imagine alternative near futures that might yield more equitable social arrangements [3,75].…”

“…2 The second scenario was about results of predictive search (a feature which suggests possible search terms as the user types into a search box) that could be interpreted as stereotyping Black men and children as criminals. 3 With the third and final scenario, we asked participants to consider a practice of excluding businesses in neighborhoods with high crime rates from an online restaurant reviewing and map application. 4 After we completed all three scenarios, we concluded the workshop with a broad group discussion reflecting back on ideas that had emerged throughout the day and the experience of the workshop as a whole.…”

“…Inspired by[20], which reported an experiment in which simulated men visiting the Times of India website were more likely than simulated women to see an ad for a career coaching service for $200K+ executive positions 3. Inspired by[62] 4.…”

From Her Story, to Our Story

“…Whilst much work has gone into passively observing how social movements use digital technology, other scholarsparticularly within HCI -have explored how expert designers can actively support activist communities to more efficiently appropriate existing technology, or to create new technologies that directly address their goals and needs [7,32,76]. Within traditional academia, particularly in quantitative paradigms, objectivity has historically been considered the gold standard [72].…”