interesting read, worth sharing in iLugs
regards
Guru
--
Gurumurthy Kasinathan
IT for Change | Tel:98454 37730
What is Public Software? see http://public-software-centre.org/node/31
U.S. Progressive Technologists Develop Statement of Rights and
Responsibilities at Progressive Techie Congress
Five hour event part of the June, 2010 United States Social Forum in
Detroit, MI
Contact: Alfredo Lopez, [email protected]
At the United States Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan (USA) on June 24,
50 politically progressive technologists came together to make history:
the first U.S. Progressive Techie Congress. The Congress was sponsored
by four tech organizations: May First/People Link, Agaric Design,
Openflows and the Progressive Technology Project.
The Congress is part of an International effort to build discussion,
among progressive technologists, of our rights and reopnsibilities
within the movement for social transformation.
After nearly five hours of collaboration and discussion, the Congress
emerged with a consensus on the following principles:
* Technological decisions have political consequences. These decisions
need to reflect the politics of our movements. Every technology we adopt
has embedded power relations. Technology structures how we are able to
communicate and who is able to communicate. Technology use is highly
influenced by NGO and government procurement, spending, and regulation.
Our movements should work to change policies and spending, create more
transparency, as well as work to develop technologies that are attendant
to our needs.
* Participatory Technology Design. We understand that technology should
be driven by the needs of the movement as a whole. We all have the
responsibility to voice our ideas about socially responsible use of
technology; at the same time, specialized tech skills, like all
specialized skills, create power dynamics that we must recognize. We
must engage in ongoing dialogue as a movement to address the ways that
power structures become embedded in technology, and include everyone as
far as possible in all aspects of technology design.
* Digital Inclusion: Technology should be accessible to all, and the
movement should actively move to break down those barriers to access
including language, hardware and connectivity. We should work on
technology to break down other barriers, and not construct new barriers.
Technologies need to be designed with the end user in mind, this
includes translation, accessibility, youth education, and access to
computing resources.
* Social Sustainability: Technology we build or implement should retain
its usefulness to people and organizations in the movement. It must be
usable and accessible. It should support multiple platforms, open
standards, and data portability. It must be economically feasible for
the organization to maintain. We must include documentation and training
sufficient to give groups control over the technology that serves them.
* Community Owned Infrastructure: Our communities have the right to
design, own, use and control the network, hardware, and software we rely
on. The movement has the responsibility to support and steward this
community-owned infrastructure. Techies within the movement have the
responsibility to explain and advocate for community-owned
infrastructure.
* Data privacy: Our social movements have a right to be free from
surveillance, both governmental and private. We should encourage our
movements to make political choices to protect the privacy, security,
and data of both individuals and organizations.
* As we do tech work with the movement, we must work against systems of
power, privilege, oppression and exclusion. We must work collaboratively
across identities, groups, languages, and borders. We must specifically
commit to strengthen the voices of oppressed peoples including people of
color, women, gender-oppressed people, LGBTQI people, Indigenous
peoples, migrants, immigrants, low-income people, people with
disabilities, and people of all ages, education levels and technological
skill. We must actively engage, train and collaborate to nurture a
movement that celebrates diversity.
--30--
--
Alfredo Lopez
Co-Director
May First/People Link
Growing Networks to Build a Just World
http://mayfirst.or
_______________________________________________
network mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
