There has lengthy been a symbiotic relationship between the open supply software program motion and social justice champions. A latest analysis report, #MoreThanCode: Practitioners reimagine the landscape of technology for justice and equity, provides beneficial recommendation to anybody occupied with leveraging know-how to assist a trigger.
Produced by the Tech for Social Justice Project and co-led by Research Action Design (RAD) and the Open Technology Institute at New America (OTI), along with their analysis companions, #MoreThanCode goals to make use of know-how to make heard the voices of various practitioners working for social justice.
The objectives of the report are to:
- Explore the present ecosystem
- Expand the understanding of practitioner demographics
- Develop and share information of practitioner experiences
- Capture practitioner visions and values
- Document tales of success and failure (focusing totally on practitioners working within the United States)
The report gathers a whole bunch of suggestions from a variety of practitioners and provides focused suggestions for particular audiences: Tech Practitioner Orgs, Other Orgs, Individual Practitioners, Funders, Educators, and Government. It additionally synthesizes all of the responses into 5 key suggestions that apply to all actors within the ecosystem:
- Nothing about us with out us: Adopt co-design strategies and concrete group accountability mechanisms
- From silver bullets to helpful instruments: Change the narrative, lead with values, and acknowledge a number of frames and phrases throughout the tech for social justice and equality ecosystem
- Real variety numbers: Adopt confirmed methods for growing variety and inclusion
- Developers, builders, builders?: Recognize the totally different roles and experience in tech work and assist various pathways to participation
- Co-ops, collectives, and networks: Support various fashions past startups, authorities places of work, and integrated non-profits
I don’t stay within the United States, however the report reveals sufficient similarities with my expertise within the United Kingdom to counsel that it is usually beneficial for practitioners exterior the US.
You could also be tempted to learn solely the chief abstract, however the full report will enable you higher perceive the reasoning behind the 5 key suggestions. One chapter that notably caught my eye was Stories of Success & Failure, as too typically the non-profit sector is reluctant to confess failures, even when sharing the teachings discovered is efficacious. If you are interested in know-how for social justice and equality, the bibliography and appendices present hyperlinks to further analysis that’s value following.
