Gorbunova, Maria V

Agyeman Boateng E., Bilal M., Pandapas C., Singappuli N., Yohay E., Ismael A., Cote D., Krueger R.

Abstract This paper describes how our team took waste plastic and coconut fibers to create a composite strong enough to be used for roof sheathing in West Africa. Part one details the necessary background and literature review, our research design, and findings from lab work conducted in the summer of 2023. In part two of the paper, we describe a pilot test of reproducing our results outside the lab in a rural Ghanaian community. Through a co-design process, the team worked in a peer-to-peer relationship with community members of Akyem Dwenase in Ghana’s Eastern Region to test the process of transforming waste plastic into roof sheathing using technology designed in Ghana. The project was borne out of a MS project in Science and Technology for Innovation in Global Development and supported by a team of undergraduates who, under the supervision of faculty, worked for seven weeks in Ghana to develop and test the prototype. The paper concludes with areas for future work.

Picón R.O.

Abstract Scholarship about the effectiveness of programs related to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in college suggests that increasing the presence of marginalized students does not necessarily result in producing inclusion and a sense of belonging in science. Recruiting and retaining marginalized students in science-related fields and comparing them with students from dominant groups is assimilationist because the presence of different people does not inherently create a diverse school setting. The central goal of this viewpoint paper is to propose a holistic view of diversity at the university level. Particularly, I discuss a conceptual framework that frames diversity as a process that entails inducing, orchestrating, utilizing, valuing, and honoring the heterogeneity of ways of thinking, doing, and being of individuals to learn. To translate commitments to enact diversity in daily teaching practices, specifically in the chemistry classroom, I analyze culturally relevant pedagogy as a productive tool to encourage students and instructors to develop and leverage a robust repertoire of thoughts, practices, and identities to learn disciplinary concepts and solve problems that matter to students. To support the operationalization of diversity in science classrooms in higher education, researchers and practitioners should identify and value the coexistence of different thoughts, practices, and identities in the school to create a safe and intellectually challenging learning setting where thinking, doing, and being different is an asset toward learning.

Robinson K.P., Garvin M., Eglash R., Robert L., Guzdial M., Bennett A.

Abstract Search engine algorithms are increasingly subjects of critique, with evidence indicating their role in driving polarization, exclusion, and algorithmic social harms. Many proposed solutions take a top-down approach, with experts proposing bias-corrections. A more participatory approach may be possible, with those made vulnerable by algorithmic unfairness having a voice in how they want to be “found.” By using a mixed methods approach, we sought to develop search engine criteria from the bottom-up. In this project we worked with a group of 16 African American artisanal entrepreneurs in Detroit Michigan, with a majority female and all from low-income communities. Through regular in-depth interviews with select participants, they highlighted their important services, identities and practices. We then used causal set relations with natural language processing to match queries with their qualitative narratives. We refer to this two-step process-- deliberately focusing on social groups with unaddressed needs, and carefully translating narratives to computationally accessible forms--as a “content aware” approach. The resulting content aware search outcomes place themes that participants value, in particular greater relationality, much earlier in the list of results when compared with a standard Web search. More broadly, our use of participatory design with “content awareness” adds evidence to the importance of addressing algorithmic bias by considering who gets to address it; and, that participatory search engine criteria can be modeled as robust linkages between interviews and semantic similarity using causal set relations.

York E., May C., Breneman D.L., Yanacek H., Klevickis C., Conley S.N.

Abstract This case study describes an experimental initiative at James Madison University funded by a National Science Foundation grant in Fall 2021 that aimed to support interdisciplinary collaborative pedagogical development related to Science, Technology, and Society (STS) with a particular focus on ethics and justice. The case study argues that creating infrastructure to cultivate and sustain small teaching communities of practice that include faculty from humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields, can support the challenging and necessary work of developing integrated STS-informed pedagogies across the curriculum. A flexible framework is examined through multiple lenses, including perspectives from each faculty participant, representing teaching departments of Biology, World Languages & Cultures, Integrated Science and Technology/Biotechnology, Justice Studies/Disability Studies, and Integrated Science and Technology/Public Interest Technology and Science. Authors provide key insights about what enables and sustains an interdisciplinary community of practice.

Zarei Ardestani Z., Mao E., Krueger R.

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword around the globe. For many, AI was once contained in high-tech labs and has now been released out into the world for the rest of us to use. Generative AI, which is what Microsoft, Apple, and OpenAI have recently offered, is only one version of AI – probably the one with the most ‘curb appeal’. In fact, AI dates to the 1950s and has offered much more banal – by today’s standards – innovations. This case study represents an effort to demystify popular notions of AI and take a first baby step toward developing AI literacy among international development practitioners. We offer two cases of courses that we developed to build appropriate bridges to the future, to show AI is not like the discovery of fire – a gift from the gods – but rather a technology that is a baby step forward in data analytics.

Huet P.

Abstract Since the start of the last decade of the 20th century, the application of digital technologies with the potential of making substantial contributions to a community’s welfare have led to the creation of the literature of Public Interest Technologies and reinvigorated many areas of focus in the social sciences. A relevant subfield of this literature has been the application of new technologies to education to increase social public benefits. The traditional literature on higher education seems to agree that the expansion of this good throughout a society is desirable because it generates direct and indirect individual gains, as well as aggregate level social benefits in the form of positive externalities. However, some authors have argued that the acquisition of postsecondary education has its own drawbacks: unwanted intellectual influence of instructors on students, barriers to access for students of historically vulnerable sociodemographic groups, as well as students’ perception of a reduced pay-off from going to college. While there have been some indices that online higher education could abate many of these issues, there has been relatively little formal research to test this tool’s impact. Using a quantitative approach, via cross-section and time-series data analysis, the text finds some evidence that online higher education could solve many of higher education’s drawbacks, while also being a feasible approach given the current technological environment of the United States. The text concludes outlining future research using a mixed-methods approach that could be highly valuable to acquire a more comprehensive view and robust evidence of online higher education’s potential of expanding social public benefits.

Gran B., Bryden A.M.

Abstract Public Interest Technology is an emerging paradigm, scholarly domain, and potential contributor to reducing barriers, mitigating discrimination, and promoting human rights of people who have disabilities. Employing data from individual interviews of people who have experienced spinal cord injury and their support persons, this project identifies obstacles and barriers these people experience when seeking technologies needed for rehabilitation and reintegration. This article discusses these individuals’ experiences in light of how public interest technology may be a game changer for people who have experienced spinal cord injuries.

Campbell S.E.

Abstract This study explores the intersection of public interest technology (PIT) and K-12 Black-oriented educational technology (EdTech) platforms in addressing educational inequities and racial biases. Despite the increased adoption of EdTech in K-12 settings, it often perpetuates racial biases, marginalizing Black students. Conversely, Black-oriented educational technology has been established to counter the marginalization of Black students by centering Black culture and realities in educational content (Young, P.A. 1999. Roads to travel: a historical look at African American contributions to instructional technology. University of California, Berkeley), emphasizing principles of ethical, accessible, and impactful technology use aligned with PIT. However, research on these digital platforms is limited. This study employs multimodal critical discourse analysis to examine three K-12 Black-oriented platforms – KaiXR, Reconstruction, and TunTimo – developed by Black women, to understand how they address technology inclusion and counteract racial biases in mainstream EdTech.

Ismael H.

Abstract As diffusion models emerge as a new frontier in generative AI, requiring vast image databases as their inputs, the question arises: how should regulators approach policies concerning the collection and utilization of these images? Though generative image models currently interpret the data they scrape as public, regulatory bodies have yet to confirm this as a viable understanding. This paper explores the current public/personal distinction of data as well as the respective legal standards for both categories in both the American and European context. This paper acts as a guide for regulators seeking to understand monopolization and privacy implications of confirming the validity of using open sourced images versus imagining a reality of curated or licensed datasets amidst outrage from artists over a breach of an expectation of collection/use to their artwork. Though arguments have been made regarding using copyright to protect artists, this paper seeks to explore other pathways for regulating generative image models under our current conceptual frameworks of privacy.

Quarkume A.Y.

Cruz Zuniga M., Santrac N., Kwiatkowski A., Abood B.

Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming different aspects of the economy and society of countries. There are diverse effects when comparing the impact in developed versus developing countries. In the educational sector, efforts to incorporate AI have largely ignored the input from those directly impacted by it. This document presents results from a survey about AI to university students in Latin America. The information presented comes from a survey conducted in November 2023 to college students with ages between 18 and 25 years in four Latin American countries: Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador. The results indicate that, in general, youth have a positive view about the potential of AI, though limited knowledge in the topic. Moreover, university students in the region do not want to be passive recipients of AI. They want to participate directly in conversations about this very current topic and have concerns about different aspects of AI implementation in the region. These findings highlight the need for universities, governments, civil society and international organizations and the private sector to work together to create spaces for inclusive dialogue where the youth could directly participate in conversations that crucially matter for their lives.

Washington A.L., Cheung J.

Abstract The public interest suggests a singular approach to a social good, but lessons from history illustrate the nuances of sharing open space, transportation networks, and policy mandates. Serving the public exists across a spectrum of possibilities. In this essay, we consider how the emerging field of public interest technology could learn from previous assumptions about who counts as the public and how benefits or harms can be overly concentrated in certain populations. We situate public interest technology as a growing capability of government public service, an institutionalized professional practice like public interest law, as well as a site of critical inquiry. Our definition of the public interest is motivated by a theory of change that recognizes the strength of inclusion. Punctuated with historic and contemporary examples, this essay argues that by acknowledging conflicts of interest and embracing the marginal, public interest technology could build ethical infrastructures to serve all.

Barrick A., Hoang T.

Shulruff T.

Abstract Trust and Safety work mitigates certain social risks and harms of digital technologies. In a landscape that is only slowly establishing regulatory oversight mechanisms, Trust and Safety work performs a type of internal governance by attempting to mitigate disinformation, online harassment, extremism, and other harms accelerated or amplified by technology products and services. With origins in content moderation, Trust and Safety work now also includes product advice for online services and IRL (in real life) products. Attention to Trust and Safety work can complicate a monolithic view of what tech work is and who does it, as well as point to locations for intervention as we seek to promote Public Interest Technology in globally impactful sociotechnical systems.