Social justice and design: Power and oppression in collaborative systems

Abstract

The study of power and oppression is and has always been integral to CSCW research. From studies of less visible forms of maintenance practice to understanding the effects of categorization on users of social media, scholars highlight the ways in which certain publics are marginalized through systems that purport to serve them. Alongside this, researchers taking up participatory action research approaches and interventionist modes of inquiry have begun to question these arrangements, through design oriented projects. This panel brings together CSCW scholars active in theorizations and enactments of design for social justice to examine and debate social change oriented research. Together, they imagine a practice where agendas are made clear and academic institutions, collaborators of field sites, and the scholarly community are mutually responsive and responsible for the outcomes of their research work.