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Who is responsible for anti-racist technology?

In this step listen to Abadesi Osunsade thoughts on ensuring how technology is built with anti-racism in mind and share your views.
5.3
<v ->I’d like to think all of us, you know,</v> I would like to say that we can put this responsibility on the teams creating tech, and that’s certainly where my work falls. Putting pressure on tech companies, whether that’s leadership, engineering teams, marketing teams, but the reality is we don’t live in a version of capitalism that’s optimising for equity, or belonging, or anti-racism. We live in a version of capitalism that kind of, really matured on a foundation of the things we’re now fighting against. So, if we want anti-racism to be the default quickly, and I certainly do, I wish it happened yesterday, then I think we also need to take some responsibility as end users and consumers.
48.3
And, I think we have more power than we think, you know?
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Like, 1/3 of a billion people are using Facebook products every few weeks you know, if not like 1/2 a billion every month, like, it’s ridiculous across Instagram, WhatsApp, and all that kind of platforms, there’s a lot of collective power there. If people were to decide to push for greater transparency, push for more work, to challenge the bias within algorithms, and I think it’s really important for us as end users, and individuals, consumers, to do more and more of that if we can.

Let’s get the week started with a discussion. First, listen to this audio clip, in which Abadesi answers the question: “Who is responsible for ensuring that technology is built with anti-racism in mind?”

Considering your own context – maybe you’re building an app, working with a team delivering a product, or maybe you just use technology products and services – answer the following questions in the comment section, and respond to your fellow learners where you can:

  • Who do you think is responsible for ensuring technologies are anti-racist?
  • What different responsibilities do groups such as creators and users of technology have?
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Anti-Racist Approaches in Technology

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