As automated systems become increasingly integrated into society, so do the number of people they impact. This means creators of these systems need to exercise extreme caution when designing, creating, and implementing systems to ensure that it will enact positive change in the community. Last spring, CCC and the MacArthur Foundation brought together activists, non-profit leaders, civil society representatives, and researchers, to discuss these community impacts at the Community Driven Approaches to Research in Technology and Society visioning workshop.
CCC has an extensive history of engaging in many of the research visioning topics topics that were brought up during the workshop like Privacy by Design (4 workshops in 2015/16), Artificial Intelligence for Social Good (co-sponsored a symposium with AAAI and OSTP in 2016), Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern Slavery (workshop in 2019), and Accessible Technology for All (workshop in 2023).
A cross-cutting theme across all of our visioning activities is a sociotechnical, human-centered lens that it is critical to consider the people that will be impacted by the research and technology being discussed, and the larger societal impacts. Another principle of CCC that appears in our Visioning Best Practices document is to have interdisciplinary participants in all of our activities. When putting together a proposal for a CCC visioning activity, “the goal is to have as many stakeholders at the table as possible.”
The Community Driven Approaches to Research in Technology and Society visioning workshop report will be released next week, and provides ideas for research directions, mechanisms for effective community-driven collaborations, and recommendations for researchers, funding agencies, and individuals that engage in community-based research. Keep an eye out for this important report!
