Collaborative Research: Engaging Marginalized Groups to Improve Technological Equity

这个合作项目调查了在技术开发和使用中缺乏多样性，代表性数据集和见解的问题。它探讨了差异对技术人员能力的影响（例如，（c）鼓励所有人（包括从业人员、设计师、软件开发人员）开发技术，解决和减轻系统性的社会种族主义以及历史上被边缘化的个人在他们所从事的技术中感受到被看到和被听到的能力。该项目的意义有三个方面：1）通过理解对历史上被边缘化社区的参与和数据贡献影响最大的价值观，支持在技术人员和技术用户之间建立关系; 2）如果能够获得更多样化的数据和见解，该项目为技术人员提供干预措施，使他们能够在实践中利用这些数据和见解; 3）最后，这项工作为那些在工作中已经明确考虑这些问题而没有得到足够支持的技术人员提供了支持和肯定。更广泛地说，本项目的见解可以应用于实践，以促进种族平等，并确保系统性种族主义是一个明确的考虑，在STEM教育和劳动力发展，通过纳入更公平的做法，在技术人员的工作流程。本研究旨在回答三个主要的研究问题：1）什么是参与和放大边缘化的声音在技术空间和数据集的技术人员和用户的障碍？2)在设计和开发以数据为中心的系统时，如何让边缘化群体参与进来，而不牺牲他们的安全性，安全性和信任？3)在不损害边缘化群体的安全空间的情况下，为技术专家提供参与边缘化的干预措施是什么样子的？该项目将采用多模式方法，研究人员和技术人员如何最好地学习以道德和社会责任的方式与边缘化社区进行以数据为中心的研究，以关注社区的权利和价值观。文化相关的方法和接地哲学将推动研究方法和分析。通过调查，半结构化访谈，设计研讨会利用参与式设计和基于社区的方法相结合，以及案例研究分析，以收集定性和定量数据，研究团队将制定一项干预措施，支持技术人员负责任地参与。除了现实世界的实施，该项目将通过学术和面向社区的场所，如期刊出版物，会议演示，专栏，博客，研讨会和社交媒体分享其发现。这个合作项目是通过STEM教育计划中的种族平等（EDU种族平等）资助的。该计划支持研究和实践项目，调查种族平等因素如何影响科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育和劳动力的改善。获奖项目旨在集中STEM企业内受系统性不平等影响最大的个人，社区和机构的声音，知识和经验。该计划符合NSF的核心价值观，即支持来自全国人口群体，地区和组织类型多样性的优秀研究人员和创新思想家。教育大学的各个项目为种族平等项目提供资金，以表彰其项目与董事会四个部门的集体研究和开发目标的一致性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This collaborative project investigates the lack of diverse, representative datasets and insights in the development and use of technology. It explore the effects of disparities on the ability of technologists (e.g., practitioners, designers, software developers) to develop technology that addresses and mitigates systemic societal racism and historically marginalized individuals’ ability to feel seen and heard in the technology with which they engage. The implications of this project are threefold: 1) it supports building relationships between technologists and technology users by understanding the values that most impact historically marginalized communities’ engagement and data contributions; 2) given access to more diverse data and insights, the project provides technologists with interventions that empower them to make use of these data and insights in practice; 3) lastly, the work provides support and affirmation for the technologists who are already making these explicit considerations in their work without the adequate support. More broadly, insights from this project can be applied in practice to promote racial equity and ensure systemic racism is an explicit consideration in STEM education and workforce development by incorporating more equitable practices in technologists’ workflow.This study seeks to answer three main research questions: 1) What are the barriers to engaging and amplifying marginalized voices in technological spaces and data sets for both technologists and users? 2) How can marginalized groups be engage when designing and developing data-centric systems without sacrificing their safety, security, and trust? 3) What does it look like to provide interventions for engaging the margins to technologists without compromising the safe spaces for marginalized groups? Using a multi-modal approach, the project will examine how researchers and technologists can best learn to engage in data-centric research with marginalized communities in an ethically and socially responsible manner that centers the rights and values of the communities of interest. Culturally relevant approaches and grounding philosophies will drive the research methods and analyses. Through surveys, semi-structured interviews, design workshops utilizing a combination of participatory design and community-based approaches, as well as case study analysis to collect qualitative and quantitative data, the research team will develop an intervention that supports technologists in responsible engagement. Aside from real-world implementation, this project will share its findings through academic and community-facing venues, such as journal publications, conference presentations, op-eds, blogs, workshops, and social media.This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.