Using Tech for Social Justice
About Hack the Hood
Examples of sociotechnical problems
Possibilities and Limitations with Tech
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Introduce yourself
Name one app, feature, software or tech device that is most useful, important or valuable to you and why.
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About us: mission, vision and education philosophy
mission
Hack the Hood introduces under-resourced youth of color to tech careers by hiring and training them to build websites for small, local businesses.
We support youth with personal empowerment, further education, meaningful career choices, and improved earning potential while also helping small businesses reach more customers.
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vision
Hack the Hood wants to equip their graduates with the skills and resources to earn an income that enables them to live in the community that they work in.
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education philosophy
Hack the Hood’s philosophy of education is a justice-centered approach to data science education that emphasizes liberation through socio-political action within the tech sector by individuals, for themselves and the community. When equipped with data science knowledge and skills, learners are positioned to continue to upskill for long-term career opportunities in the most in-demand job area across industries.
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what is a
sociotechnical problem?
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Sociotechnical problems are issues that humans face that could be resolved, better understood or caused by technology and computing. These problems exist at the intersection of society and technology.
Data help us identify and measure the impact of these issues.
At HtH, we teach technology as a tool to help us address the problems that face Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities.
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example socio-technical problems and solutions
Why is this an issue for BIPOC communities?
Black and Latinx students seem to be the largest group of students who are suspended from school.
What is the data solution?
We need to determine if the idea that more Black and Latinx students are suspended from school is actually true. If it is true, we need to determine if the scale or proportion of Black and Latinx students being suspended is higher than the scale or proportion of suspensions for students of other races.
Problem: Disproportionate School Suspensions
How did technologists come up with the right solution?
Data scientists, educators, and lawyers collaborated to collect information about the students enrolled in a district. They also collected information about the students who were suspended, how long they were suspended, and for what reasons. By collecting and analyzing the data of over 1.1 million students, they found that 40% were Latinx, 25% were Black and these students made up 90% of the suspensions for all students. With data, lawyers were able to change the law and policies to reduce the number of suspensions of Black and Latinx students.
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example socio-technical problems and solutions
Why is this an issue for BIPOC communities?
Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer later into the disease and as a result, experience a higher death rate.
What is the technology solution?
Using image detection artificial intelligence software, doctors are able to detect breast cancer up to 5-years earlier and the findings are just as accurate for Black women as White women.
Problem: Breast Cancer Detection
How did technologists come up with the right solution?
Technologists used mammogram image data from women of all races over time. Some developed breast cancer and others did not. Technologists trained a model to “look back” in time to see indicators of breast cancer that would not be noticed by the doctor. Now, they can take a woman’s mammogram image and test it against millions of other women’s images to see if they have early stage cancer.
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example socio-technical problems and solutions
Why is this an issue for BIPOC communities?
There are over 900 native and Indigenous languages spoken among North and South America. There are few living speakers and digital records of some languages. Retaining these languages and culture are wanted and needed by the community.
What is the technology solution?
Datasets of indigenous languages were developed and structured to apply machine translation techniques to identify missing words and complete a language guide.
Problem: Technology for Indigenous Language Retention
How did technologists come up with the right solution?
Indigenous technologists and linguists collaborated to understand the range of languages and create a data dictionary to translate indigenous languages. They also work with living speakers of the languages and use any existing written records. There are major limitations with the project, but the group is continuing work and getting more technologists interested in studying the topic.
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example socio-technical problems and solutions
Why is this an issue for BIPOC communities?�Ensuring their children benefit from education is one of the driving factors for many Latinx immigrant families. For some families, language limits parent’s ability to engage with teachers and school staff. �
What is the technology solution?�Technologists developed a chatbot for WhatsApp to support parents ability to engage with teachers and school staff naturally in their native language.�
How did technologists come up with the right solution?�An Ecuadorian computer scientist used participatory research methods to identify and design a consejero automatico (chatbot) for Latino parents with limited English skills to fully engage in their students’ education.
Problem: Language Barriers for Latinx Parents of School Age Kids
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Why is this an issue for BIPOC communities?
Explain briefly how the issue impacts BIPOC communities�
What would help us understand the issue more?
What information do we need to collect to understand the issue? Who do we need to talk to? What data can we collect?
What would a solution look like?
Use your imagination? What would a tech solution look like to this problem? How could you lobby for
what issues do you care about?
Identify the issue in a short phrase.
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what are the possibilities? what are the limitations of tech solutions?
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Let’s talk about what the commonly discussed fields of technology
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what tools can we work with?
Topic areas | Definition | Possibilities & Limitations |
Web development | Using HTML, CSS and apps to create a webpage to achieve a certain communication goal. | |
Software development | Using Python, Java, C#, Ruby, Mern etc. to develop small components of code to achieve a specific goal, or application within or feature of a software package | |
Typical roles:
Example solutions:
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what tools can we work with?
Topic areas | Definition | Possibilities & Limitations |
Data science | Combining domain expertise with mathematical knowledge and computer programming to understand problem, predict future behavior and determine the importance of certain features and | |
Machine learning | Leveraging math/stats to analyze patterns within large amounts of data to apply a predictive or learning pattern on the data. Typically regression or classification data types, may be supervised, unsupervised or reinforcement models. | |
Typical roles:
Example solutions:
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what tools can we work with?
Topic areas | Definition | Possibilities & Limitations |
Artificial intelligence | Programs that behave like human senses when trained on large amounts of data. Speech recognition, visual recognition, simple decisions and translations. | |
Deep learning | Modeling of algorithms to act in ways similar to the human mind from smaller amounts of data. Beginning of drawing inferences | |
Reinforcement learning | Models that are trained to take an action to gain a reward from the environment | |
Artificial general intelligence | A machine that can learn and interact with the world like a human being does with a humanoid like representations. | |
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what should we be careful of?
Race as technology: “consider racism not just ideology or history, but as a set of technologies that generate patterns of social relations that become black-boxed and automatic.”
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Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism is…
“a black perspective on “the politics, aesthetics and cultural aspects” of science, science fiction and technology.
It offers a “highly intersectional” way of looking at possible futures or alternate realities through a black cultural lens. It is non-linear, fluid and feminist; it uses the black imagination to consider mysticism, metaphysics, identity and liberation; and, despite offering Black folks a way to see ourselves in a better future, Afrofuturism blends the future, the past and the present.”
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If we thought about our world and our lives with a broad sense of possibility, what areas of technology would be interesting to learn more about?
Discussion
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Using Tech for Social Justice
Review: Session 1
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Thank you!