Grassroots activism is hard. Can open source help?
About me: Software engineer, entrepreneur, strategist
… and grassroots activist!
Experience includes Stop Real ID Now (2006), Get FISA Right (2008), Voter Supprssion Wiki (2008), co-founder of #p2 progressive hashtag (2009), Indivisible (2017)
Grassroots activism =
people taking action
RESIST sign at SFO #noban Protest, Kenneth Lu, via Wikipedia and Flickr
Women’s March, Washington DC, Brian Allen, via Wikipedia and Voice of America
Indivisible Meeting, Grand Rapids MI, Nina DeSarro, WZZM
Grassroots activism
Today’s focus: progressive and transpartisan groups
Grassroots activism
is primarily about people ...
… but technology matters too
“Technologies reflect �the biases of the makers �and implicit rules of society”
Outline
What do grassroots activism groups do?
For example ….
What tools are most common?
Facebook groups, pages, events
Web sites
Google Docs
Meetup
Slack
Twitter and Instagram
For example: Daily/Weekly Actions
Amplify: an “actions” app from Indivisible SF
People are not satisfied�with the tools they’re using
Challenges with today’s tools
The Facebook dilemma
It’s easy!�
“Everybody” is on Facebook!�
But …
The Facebook dilemma
Most people typically don’t see most Facebook posts
Facebook’s tools suck for activism
Many people aren’t on Facebook
Many people don’t feel safe doing activism on Facebook
Facebook is a panoptic “real names” environment
Facebook is an especially hostile environment for activists
“Technologies reflect �the biases of the makers �and implicit rules of society”
Outline
Progressive and transpartisan groups �
have an additional challenge:
building broad and diverse coalitions
“Our agenda of equity and justice is not in power in government. What we have is people, so we can’t afford to exclude. That’s our strength, and we can’t treat it cavalierly.”
-- Aditi Juneja, in How to Make Inclusion and Intersectionality Real
Intersectionality
Overlapping or intersecting �social identities �and related systems of � oppression, �domination, �or discrimination
Kimberlé Crenshaw
more at http://bit.ly/osb17-inter
Intersectionally-focused groups use similar tools …
but approach things differently
For example: reducing barriers to access
For example
Seattle Indivisible Moderator Training by Rev. Azure Lunatic
Intersectional techniques
details at http://bit.ly/osb17-techniques
Outline
Incremental opportunities
There are some good tools out there!
How could tools evolve?
For example: Slack alternatives
Slack’s not designed for grassroots activism
Zulip, Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Matrix/Riot have Slack-like functionality, decent usability …
How a Slack alternative could evolve for activists
Some specific opportunities for open source tools
A functionality gap: microaggressions
Microaggression: casual degradation of any marginalized group
“You’re so articulate for somebody with a rainbow earring!”
Most microaggressions are unintentional, but ...
Tools could help!
Creating an anti-oppressive network for activists
Transformational opportunities
“Technologies reflect �the biases of the makers �and implicit rules of society”
The software industry’s lack of diversity
is embedded in the processes we use
and the software itself
Software today works best for
people like its creators
Software reinforces power dynamics
Software
People and
Communities
create
empowers
From Supporting Diversity with A New Approach to Software, with Tammarrian Rogers, OSBridge 2016
It doesn’t have to be that way
Techniques for diversity-friendly software ...
Imagine a new platform for activism ...
�Created by diverse teams
working with a diverse community
in a design-led process
using diversity-friendly software techniques
Let’s create a virtuous cycle!
From Supporting Diversity with A New Approach to Software, with Tammarrian Rogers, OSBridge 2016
create
empowers
Diverse, Inclusive
People and
Communities
Diversity-
friendly
software
Grassroots activism is hard. Can open source help?