Community Driven Approaches to Research in Technology & Society CCC Workshop Report

TL;DR

This workshop report discusses community-driven research approaches in technology and society, emphasizing ecosystem mapping, counter-programming, empowerment, and effective collaboration mechanisms to address societal harms and promote ethical tech development.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive framework for community-based research, including practical mechanisms for collaboration and specific recommendations for stakeholders.

Findings

Outlined three research directions supporting community needs

Identified seven mechanisms for effective collaboration

Provided detailed recommendations for community engagement and ethical practices

Abstract

Based on our workshop activities, we outlined three ways in which research can support community needs: (1) Mapping the ecosystem of both the players and ecosystem and harm landscapes, (2) Counter-Programming, which entails using the same surveillance tools that communities are subjected to observe the entities doing the surveilling, effectively protecting people from surveillance, and conducting ethical data collection to measure the impact of these technologies, and (3) Engaging in positive visions and tools for empowerment so that technology can bring good instead of harm. In order to effectively collaborate on the aforementioned directions, we outlined seven important mechanisms for effective collaboration: (1) Never expect free labor of community members, (2) Ensure goals are aligned between all collaborators, (3) Elevate community members to leadership positions, (4) Understand no group is a monolith, (5) Establish a common language, (6) Discuss organization roles and goals of the project transparently from the start, and (7) Enable a recourse for harm. We recommend that anyone engaging in community-based research (1) starts with community-defined solutions, (2) provides alternatives to digital services/information collecting mechanisms, (3) prohibits harmful automated systems, (4) transparently states any systems impact, (5) minimizes and protects data, (6) proactively demonstrates a system is safe and beneficial prior to deployment, and (7) provides resources directly to community partners. Throughout the recommendation section of the report, we also provide specific recommendations for funding agencies, academic institutions, and individual researchers.