When I present on panels about equitable and inclusive design, there are two areas I emphasize; as both a social scientist and tech ethicist, these are the areas where we, as humans have the greatest opportunity to bring about transformative change. The first and most fundamental tool we have within our arsenal is the call-in. The call-in is the seed from which the best accessible, equitable, and inclusive products and processes take shape. Who am I designing this for? Who am I designing it with? If they are not one and the same, we must go back and begin again. …
In as many years, 3 Black men have had their lives upended by wrongful arrests. Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, and Nijeer Parks were misidentified by facial recognition software, arrested, and held under suspicion of crimes ranging from petty theft to assault of a police officer. For Parks, who was accused of the more serious crimes of assault and eluding the police, the fight to clear his name went on for the better part of a year. Before his case was thrown out of court, and his name cleared, Parks would go on to spend 10 days in jai,l all due to …
I recently sat down with a group to discuss the pros and cons of emerging technologies from my perspective as both anthropologist and ethical technologist; specifically, smart lock systems. For those who may be unfamiliar with smart lock systems, they are a relatively new technological advancement that uses image and facial recognition software to enable users entry to businesses and residences thereby eliminating physical keys; this technology is believed to increase safety and ease of accessibility. No more misplaced and lost keys, costly locksmith services, and the ease of allowing temporary and/or limited access to vendors, guests, and service providers. …
[…] “digital blackface” is used to describe various types of minstrel performance that become available in cyberspace. Blackface minstrelsy is a theatrical tradition dating back to the early 19th century, in which performers “blacken” themselves up with costume and behaviors to act as black caricatures. The performances put society’s most racist sensibilities on display and in turn fed them back to audiences to intensify these feelings and disperse them across culture. Lauren Michele Jackson-Teen Vogue For those of us at the forefront of the fight for liberation, the obstacles seem endless. It would appear that every facet of our daily existence …
At first, you might be thinking, what does design have to do with liberation? You might feel a tinge of discomfort come over you, and a sigh of, “Is nothing safe from ‘wokeness’?” You’d be partially right. As our critical thought processes evolve, as binaries and ceilings become more expansive, we are forced to reckon with the pervasive, insidious nature of the oppressive, exploitative, white supremacist, capitalist, heteronormative, patriarchal structures we have all been indoctrinated into, voluntarily… and not. “Liberatory Design is an evolution of the design thinking methodology. It’s an approach to problem solving that helps people translate their …
One of the biggest misconceptions about tech is aptly summarized by Hessie Jones, “[Tech is]afforded a supremacy that humans feel comfortable not questioning. And yet, technology isn’t just a neutral tool.” As AI/ML continues to become rapidly enmeshed in our daily lives, so have discussions of ethics, and the lack thereof, in tech. The dangers of the myriad intersectional biases in tech design have made their way from the confines of esoteric spaces into broader mainstream discussions of diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethics. Although many big tech companies are hiring in-house DEI consultants and broaching the topic of more equitable …
It’s been over three decades since law professor, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality. The phrase was coined to—rather aptly—describe the ways our social identities overlap. “It’s basically a lens, a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.” Kimberlé Crenshaw, Time: Inequality in America In her groundbreaking 1989 paper, Kimberlé Crenshaw pointed to the problems with considering racism and gender-based discrimination only as separate systems. In a recent TedWomen Talk, Crenshaw recites, unbeknownst to the audience, the names of male victims of police violence. She requested only that audience …
What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important Read More »
I was only five years old the first time I mentally code switched and went into another person’s experience. My father was never able to handle the pain caused by the sickle cell anemia I was born with, and it was in the throes of a painful sickle cell crisis that I learned he couldn’t cope with hospitals. Children are very perceptive to their parents’ emotions, and in that moment I could feel his terror and helplessness pulsing within me as if it were my own. During that experience I decided that I had to be strong for the both …
As a Black Woman, I’m Either Hyper Visible or Utterly Unseen Read More »
2015 brought us #OscarsSoWhite shedding light on the absence of BIPOC voices and representation in the Academy Awards; “an award given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry”. 2018 brought us another hashtag: #WellnessSoWhite. #WellnessSoWhite began making its way into the discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in health and wellness via popular social media platforms and has resulted in small, albeit marked changes in the United States’ multi-trillion dollar industry. “Wellness is about making healthy lifestyle choices and maintaining one’s wellbeing both physically and mentally. In recent years, more people around the world have begun to recognize …
“Race-norming”— also called “race correction,” “ethnic adjustment,” and “race adjustment” — refers to the adjustment of medical test results or medical risk assessment algorithms based on a patient’s race, the practice however, can and often does, include additional factors such as age, assigned sex at birth, and pain tolerance. Race-norming is believed to have been integrated into clinical risk assessment tools in 1981. Similar to the “soft-bigotry of low expectations” the practice is predicated on othering BIPOC communities, and most adversely affects Black people. “Race norming” was first used by the Carter Administration and then further implemented and extended by …