From Control to Care: Ethics Lab Program Assistant awarded Fritz Fellowship

Ethics Lab Program Assistant and CCT graduate student Meera Kolluri was recently awarded a Fritz Family Fellowship for the upcoming year to study ethical design and surveillance technologies. Her work will examine the intersections of surveillance technology, cyberlaw, and design justice in the policing, education, labor and health sectors, with the goal of supplementing theories of control with theories of care. 

“As a surveillance studies student, I know we can’t escape tech, and we need to understand the long-term consequences of having tech integrated into our lives, as well as the long term benefits,” Kolluri says. “The Fritz fellowship seemed like a great opportunity to combine Ethics Lab’s work and my academic focus at CCT on surveillance and monetizing the body. We’re looking at how we can keep systems of power accountable, and how we can transform their practices of control into practices of care.”

The Fritz Family Fellows Program is a joint effort among Georgetown’s three campuses and nine schools to harness technology for the betterment of humanity. The fellowship program aims to cultivate the next generation of leaders with expertise in the social impacts of technology, and build a network of public interest technologists who learn from and support each other’s work. 

“The aim of the Fritz program is to support research,” Ethics Lab Assistant Director Jonathan Healey says, “and so we’re hoping to provide some formative, grounding research to help industries like security and health do better.” 

Kolluri will be a Fritz Fellow for the upcoming year, while Healey and (CCT Professor & Ethics Lab Faculty Fellow Meg Jones will serve as faculty advisors. Two undergraduates will be selected through an application to assist on the project. (Interested students - see information on applying below!)

Their work will build on previous study from Healey, Kolluri, and Ethics Lab Designer Sydney Luken, which they presented at the Relating Systems Thinking and Design Symposium (RSD9) in October 2020.  

At the end of the fellowship, the team plans to release a white paper for policymakers and academics, accompanied by multimedia materials for the public, educators, activists, and journalists, which include an accessible description of the theory of care versus control. They also plan to host a “hackathon” event in which participants identify redesign opportunities to incorporate these theories into design practices. 

“Because of the way technology has developed, we are no longer separate from the product — we are a product in the system,” says Kolluri. “And so how is social justice integrated into that? How is care for humanity, care for our wellness, integrated into that? Innovation is integral, but the wellness and justice aspects of our lived experience need to be included in the work we’re doing.”