Lessons Learned in
Building Tech For Good
Nina Kin
My Background
Government (14 yrs)
Volunteer work�(6 yrs)
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Institutions vs Volunteers vs Community Orgs
| Tech Capabilities | Subject Matter Knowledge | Impact on Community |
Institutions (government) | Legacy, outdated | Lots | Direct impact |
Community Orgs | Little | Lots | Direct impact |
Techies (volunteers, others) | Lots | Little | Good intentions |
Danger!
When your focus is on the tech and not the people you’re serving, any project can run into the danger of…
Not So Great
Crowdsourced public art adoption website, built by volunteers for a government agency. The idea was to improve engagement with public art and help monitor the art for graffiti, rust, etc.
Better
GetCalFresh - an online tool that replaces a paper-based application process for food assistance from California’s SNAP program (state-supervised, county-operated).
Sustainability requires the right resources
2) Build what the community wants/needs
Not So Great
“An app like Yelp, but for homeless people that tells you the best soup kitchen to get food at.”
Better
An LA non-profit agency that works to connect people with housing. Single-occupancy housing is less cost-efficient than shared housing but matching people together is a tricky and manual process. They want a tool to help their caseworkers match people based on needs and constraints.
Who is already doing the work? Amplify them.
3) Think about the potential
negative impacts
Not So Great
A crowdsourced map of “unsafe” areas to avoid walking in.
Better
Mapping Feminist LA’s Angelena Atlas - goal is to build a crowdsourced map of intersectional feminist resources, services, and events across LA.
Who are you building for, and who makes the decisions?
Practices from the tech world
User-Centered Design
Your assumptions will often be challenged when you talk to actual users!
Who you think your users are may also change!
Iterate
Validate with your users early and often!
You may have to change course if your original assumptions are wrong!
Build with, not for.
A constant reminder:
Check Your Privilege
The REAL problem is rarely
just tech
Example: NY Times Headline
N.Y.’s Vaccine Websites Weren’t Working. He Built a New One for $50. (link)
Thinking Critically
Volunteers are making it easier to get vaccine appointments - sounds great, right?
Sometimes the messaging (from journalists, from institutions) would rather hype the quick solution without touching the deeper questions of whether or not it helps the people most severely impacted.
Who is not helped by this website, where is the GAP?
The Gap
Marginalized communities:
Solutions that address the gap:
Thinking Critically
If you put up this website, and that is the extent of your work… who are you benefiting and who are you hurting?
Who benefits?
Talk to the impacted communities to understand their realities, their needs.
“I did some vaccine outreach with a local mutual aid group this weekend and based on the conversations I had I don’t think we’re going to see a big increase in vaccine uptake in low-vaccination neighborhoods until there are visible, daily walk-up vax centers embedded in neighborhoods.
Also there needs to be much more emphasis on how the vaccines are FREE. “How much does it cost?” is a question people are still asking, because in our healthcare system it is so unusual for anything to be free.
Vaccine flyering is super-old school but it’s really important to remember that “29 percent of households in the city still don’t have broadband.” That figure is even higher in BK, Queens & the Bronx.”
Both institutions and volunteers can fall into the same traps.
Tech is a tool,
use it strategically.
Contact Me!
Bonus! More Resources