Technology is the way humans have found to design their collective existence by rearranging the material world according to intent. Unfortunately, designed technologies often lead to unjust worlds for specific groups of people.
In recent years, the field of design has developed a keen interest in the intersection of design and social justice, as represented in areas such as decolonial design, design activism, anti-ableist HCI, and many others. In this Deep Dive, you will learn about some of these advances and their relationship to emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, biomaterials, ubiquitous media, etc.) You will be sensitized to systemic oppressions that can be leveled through technology design against different groups of people based on gender, class, race, ableness, or other factors. And you will exercise counter-hegemonic approaches to the creation of emerging technologies that can challenge dominant values, principles, methods, goals, and protagonists in design.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Recognize examples of social injustice related to some key emerging technologies.
- Explain the relationship between design, technology, and some systemic forms of social oppression.
- Exercise some counter-hegemonic design approaches to promote technologically-enabled social justice.
The sessions will be moderated by Dr. Fernando Secomandi and Mugdha Patil (DCODE PhD Fellow).