Apply Now! Summer Undergraduate Fellowships on Ethical Design & Surveillance Technologies
Profs Meg Leta Jones (CCT) and Jonathan Healey (Ethics Lab) are pleased to announce a call for two Undergraduate Fritz Fellowships in support of an interdisciplinary research project concerned with ethical design and surveillance technologies. The project, “From Control to Care: Shifting Sociotechnical Systems Paradigms,” is supported by the Tech & Society Initiative at Georgetown for 2021–2022. The project launches this June and continues through the following academic year.
The Undergraduate Fellows will serve as research assistants to the project, gathering resources and developing annotated bibliographies; documenting the contributing programs’ milestones; and providing support for delivery of a “Hackathon” convening and online project exhibition.
Each Fellowship includes funding for research full-time Summer 2021 and continuing at 10 hours per week through Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. Application submissions preferred by May 9, 2021, and rolling until both positions are filled.
More information describing the research project and Fellows activities below.
How to apply:
This Undergraduate Fritz Fellowship is open to all undergraduate students at Georgetown University.
Please send a cover letter speaking to your interest in the subject matter, as well as any relevant experience, to ethicslab@georgetown.edu. Please include two writing samples, including at least one research paper or brief.
If you have experience designing web pages or interactive digital content, please share your portfolio or links to individual projects. If a paper or project is collaborative in nature, please include a clear description of your specific contributions.
Preferred candidates are able to respond to the following:
Has a demonstrated interest in ethical design & surveillance tech (through coursework, internships, writing, art, design, etc)
Has an active background in or knowledge of social justice practices related to policing, education, labor or health sectors; tech/surveillance law / policy / or ethics a plus.
Is well organized and flourishes in self-directed projects
Experience creating &/or managing web content is a plus.
Project Description:
From Control to Care — Shifting Sociotechnical Systems Paradigms
The design and marketing of sociotechnical systems often interject problematic theories of dominance and control into vulnerable social contexts. A control paradigm can produce social injustices and erode public trust. This project operates at the intersection of surveillance technology, cyberlaw, and design justice to investigate situated case studies in policing, education, labor, and health, and to articulate a theory of care to supplant theories of control currently underpinning digital technologies, policies, and practices. It incorporates design research methodology to ask how we might shift these technologies towards better paradigms.
This research project starts with the questions: How does existing privacy and cyberlaw policy support norms of control in shaping sociotechnical systems, and how might these systems shift in response to a theory of care?
After initial meetings and literature reviews, the Fellows will begin to draft a theory of care in response to the theory of control. The case studies will help refine that articulation. Case studies will be chosen carefully and will benefit from the collaboration of the proposed team.
Final research project outputs are a white paper suitable for policymakers and academics, jointly authored by the Faculty Mentors, Masters Fellow, and accompanied by a multimedia production suitable for the public, educators, activists, and journalists. These final outputs will include an accessible description of the theory of care versus control; case studies analyzing recent examples from policing, health, education, and labor built on a foundation of “control,” and describing how each would be different when approached from a paradigm of “care”; and a “hackathon” convening to identify potential redesigns of sociotechnical systems aimed at illustrating the paradigm shift.
The Undergraduate Fellows will: serve as research assistants to the project, gathering resources and developing annotated bibliographies; document the contributing programs’ milestones; and provide support for delivery of a “Hackathon” convening and online project exhibition.
All fellows will participate in bi-weekly team meetings inclusive of the Faculty Mentors, as well as project/task-based meetings as needed per collaborative workflow. The team will initially begin creating a review of literature supporting a theory of care for sociotechnical systems. The team will then outline a draft theory of care that is accessible to a broad audience. The team will define and refine the case studies across at least four social contexts. By Spring 2022, the Fellows team will have a working theory of care and be able to articulate it through the lens of specific case study examples.