Author: Amy Sample Ward, Afua Bruce
Publisher: Porchlight
Publication Year: 2022
Summary: The following article discusses building future technology within the social impact sector by developing systems and services where humans are centered and justice is pursued. The social impact sector exists to improve lives and the security and privacy that organizations implement in their program designs that need to be considered in every aspect of the technology design. They discuss “expert” technologists who are used to entering new environments as “tech saviors” who believe that their past experiences will immediately translate into a new space. In their previous environments, speed and immediate contributions were prioritized, with a focus on the prevention of harmful unintended consequences secondary. They also discuss examples of these consequences, such as video conferencing software without closed captioning, making it difficult to use by the Deaf community. They close by discussing “design with, not for,” and how we must go beyond this when developing tech. “Designing with, not for, does not transfer ownership of information and solutions; long-term ownership, with the ability to modify, expand, or turn off the solutions, is necessary for communities to maintain their own power.”
