Tech Solidarity Lab

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <title>Tech Solidarity Lab</title> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"> <meta name="description" content="The Tech Solidarity Lab at Carnegie Mellon University seeks to open new opportunities for community-driven technology development through design inquiry and participatory research."> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Tech Solidarity Lab" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="The Tech Solidarity Lab at Carnegie Mellon University seeks to open new opportunities for community-driven technology development through design inquiry and participatory research." /> <meta name="twitter:image" content="" /> <meta name=" twitter:image:alt" content="" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://techsolidaritylab.com" /> <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Tech Solidarity Lab" /> <meta property="og:description" content="The Tech Solidarity Lab at Carnegie Mellon University seeks to open new opportunities for community-driven technology development through design inquiry and participatory research." /> <meta property="og:image" content="" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://techsolidaritylab.com/"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/css/main.css"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/assets/images/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/assets/images/favicon-32x32.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/assets/images/favicon-16x16.png"> <link rel="manifest" href="/assets/images/site.webmanifest">  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.typekit.net/whf3miq.css"> <script src="https://kit.fontawesome.com/94f64d7e45.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>  <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/animate.min.css" type="text/css">    </head> <body data-bs-spy="scroll" data-bs-target="#navbarSupportedContent"> <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light p-3"> <div class="container-fluid p-0"> <a class="navbar-brand" href="#"><img src="assets/images/wordmark.png" width="306" height="108" alt="Tech Solidarity Lab Wordmark"></a> <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span> </button> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent"> <ul class="navbar-nav ms-auto px-3"> <li class="nav-item"> <a class="nav-link" href="#about">About</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a class="nav-link" href="#work">Our Work</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a class="nav-link" href="#team">Team</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a class="nav-link" href="#contact">Work With Us</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <main role="main"> <header class="container px-5 pt-5" id="about"> <div class="row align-items-center g-5 flex-wrap-reverse flex-lg-wrap"> <div class="col-6 offset-3 offset-lg-0 col-lg-5 mt-0"> <img src="assets/images/garden-bg.png" class="d-block mx-lg-auto img-fluid" alt="Tech Solidarity Lab Logo that shows a green and gold motif of a flower garden" width="700" height="500" loading="lazy"> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-7 mt-5"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3">About Our Lab</h1> <p>Tech Solidarity Lab seeks to open new opportunities for community-driven technology development and extend theoretical frameworks that further our understanding of design, politics, and justice. We draw together techniques of design inquiry and participatory research to respond to systemic inequities embedded in emerging technologies and collectively imagine more accountable and liberatory alternatives.</p> <p>The Tech Solidarity Lab is a part of the <a href="https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/">Human-Computer Interaction Institute</a> at Carnegie Mellon University.</p> </div> </div> </header> <section id="work" class="bg-alternate px-5 py-5"> <div class="container py-5"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3 mb-md-5">Our Work</h2> <div class="row g-5"> <div class="col-lg-4"> <div class="border border-3 p-4 h-100"> <h2 class="h4"">Futures of Work</h3> <p class="card-text mb-auto">Our work investigates the social, political, and material conditions driving the deployment of AI and automation technologies within essential sectors (waste, care, hospitality, and transportation), with a focus on how such decisions affect frontline staff.</p> </div> </div> <div class="col-lg-4"> <div class=" border border-3 p-4 h-100"> <h2 class="h4">Emergent Mobilities</h3> <p class="card-text mb-auto">We examine the impacts of emergent mobility technologies on sidewalks and public transit, and contribute to the design of community-driven transportation systems infused with access and equity.</p> </div> </div> <div class="col-lg-4"> <div class="border border-3 p-4 h-100"> <h2 class="h4">Community Governance of Tech</h3> <p class="card-text mb-auto">Public technology cannot be designed or implemented in a way that is purposeful and ethical without meaningful community involvement. Our work seeks to define design and regulatory strategies that ensure equitable outcomes over the long term.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section id="publications" class="px-5 py-5 bg-white"> <div class="container pt-5"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3">Recent Publications</h1> <div class="row mb-2"> <div class="col"> <ul class="px-0 list-unstyled"> <li class="mb-3">Akridge, H. et al. <a href="assets/pdfs/Akridge et al. - The Bus is Nothing Without Us - CHI 2024.pdf">"'The Bus is Nothing Without Us': Making Visible the Labor of Bus Operators amid the Ongoing Push Towards Transit Automation."</a> ACM CHI’24.</li> <li class="mb-3">Taylor, J. et al. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642494"> "Cruising Queer HCI on the DL: A Literature Review of LGBTQ+ People in HCI"</a> ACM CHI’24.</li> <li class="mb-3">Taylor, J. et al. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3673229">"Carefully Unmaking the 'Marginalized User:' A Diffractive Analysis of a Gay Online Community"</a> ACM TOCHI.</li> <li class="mb-3">Taylor, J. et al. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3648614">"Mitigating Epistemic Injustice: The Online Construction of a Bisexual Culture"</a> ACM TOCHI.</li> <li class="mb-3">Spektor, F. et al. <a href="/assets/pdfs/Spektor et al-Designing_for_Wellbeing_DIS23.pdf">“Designing for Wellbeing: Worker-Generated Ideas on Adapting Algorithmic Management in the Hospitality Industry.”</a> ACM DIS’23.</li> <li class="mb-3">Sum, C. et al. <a href="/assets/pdfs/Sum et al. - Translation as (Re)mediation - CHI 2023.pdf">“Translation as (Re)mediation: How Ethnic Community-Based Organizations Negotiate Legitimacy.”</a> ACM CHI’23.</li> <li class="mb-3">Spektor, F. et al. <a href="/assets/pdfs/Spektor et al. - Charting the Automation of Hospitality - CSCW 2023.pdf">“Charting the Automation of Hospitality: An interdisciplinary literature review examining the evolution of frontline service work in the face of algorithmic management.”</a> ACM CSCW’23.</li> <li class="mb-3">Fox, S. et al., <a href="/assets/pdfs/Fox et al. - Patchwork - CSCW 2023.pdf">“Patchwork: The Hidden, Human Labor of AI Integration within Essential Work.”</a> ACM CSCW’23.</li> <li class="mb-3">Kang, E. and Fox, S. <a href="/assets/pdfs/Kang and Fox - Stories from the Frontline - DIS 2022.pdf">"Stories from the Frontline: Recuperating Essential Worker Accounts of AI Integration."</a> ACM DIS’22.</li> <li class="mb-3">Fan, B. and Fox, S. <a href="/assets/pdfs/Fan and Fox - Access Under Duress - GROUP 2022.pdf">"Access Under Duress: Pandemic-Era Lessons on Digital Participation and Datafication in Civic Engagement."</a> ACM GROUP’22.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section id="team" class="px-5 py-5 bg-white"> <div class="container py-5"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3">Team</h2>  <div class="row mb-2"> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <img src="/assets/images/sarah.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Photo of Sarah"> <p class="text-center py-4"><a href="https://www.sarahfox.info/">Sarah Fox</a> | Lab Director</p> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <img src="/assets/images/franky.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Photo of Franky"> <p class="text-center py-4"><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lx2yVI0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Franchesca Spektor</a> | PhD Student, HCII</p> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <img src="/assets/images/cella.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Photo of Cella"> <p class="text-center py-4"><a href="https://cella.io/">Cella Sum</a> | PhD Student, HCII</p> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <img src="/assets/images/jordan.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Photo of Jordan"> <p class="text-center py-4"><a href="https://jtaylor.gay/">Jordan Taylor</a> | PhD Student, HCII</p> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <img src="/assets/images/shivani.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Photo of Cella"> <p class="text-center py-4"><a href="https://www.shivanikapania.com/">Shivani Kapania</a> | PhD Student, HCII</p> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section id="alumni" class="px-5 py-5 bg-white"> <div class="container py-5"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3">Alumni</h2>  <div class="row mb-2"> <div class="col-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3"> <p>Hunter Akridge | PhD Student in the Department of Anthropology, Princeton University </p> <p>Bobbie Fan | Data Justice Coordinator at the Black Equity Coalition; Board Member of Pittsburgh Regional Transit</p> <p>Esther Kang | Assistant Professor of Design Studies, University of Wisconsin Madison</p> <p>Chinar Mehta | PhD Candidate in the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad</p> <p>Alex Ahmed | Front-end Developer at Sassafras Tech Collective</p> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section id="contact" class="px-5 py-5"> <div class="container py-5"> <div class="row"> <h1 class="display-5 mb-3">Work With Us</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-6 mb-4"> <h3>If you are interested in a research position:</h2> <p>If you are a current student at CMU, you can apply to the lab via this <a href="https://forms.gle/nPcP3PqV9tW4uBXF7">form</a>. If you are interested in a PhD with us, please <a href="https://hcii.cmu.edu/academics/phd-hci/admissions">apply to CMU</a>.</p> </div> <div class="col-md-6"> <h3>If you are interested in partnering in research:</h2> <p>Please <a href="mailto:techsolidaritylab@andrew.cmu.edu">reach out</a> if you have ideas on how our team could contribute research expertise to local grassroots initiatives or broader coalitions promoting more equitable, just, and accessible futures.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </section> </main> <script src="assets/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script> </body> </html>

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Tech Solidarity Lab