Digital tech typically reproduces societal injustices, biases, and harms—racism, sexism, ablism, colonialism. A field review from the Social Science Research Council looks at how technologies exacerbate injustice, and identifies two approaches to work toward social justice in design. The paper recommends participatory design and an ethical framework as remedies, suggesting inclusion of more voices in the process to surface biases by making design processes more inclusive and incorporating participatory and codesign methods. It also recommends approaching design as ethical inquiry, so designers can engage with the uncertain ethical outcomes of design choices. Photo by Joshua Smith courtesy of Social Science Research Council.
