Creating Effective, Usable Tools for the Community, Digital Bias and the Need for Equality
The conversation gets deeper as we discuss the Stumble Safely project.
“The Stumble Safely site lets users plot a safe way to stumble home after an excessive evening by combining freely-available government data on liquor licenses, crime reports and subway stations.”
In short, drunk people are supposed to be sober enough to map a safe trip home. Riiiiiight!
Check out our conversation as we discuss the personal and cultural disconnects between the people creating these good Samaritan tools based on “sounds good” versus “is good.” We also talk about digital bias and how real world bias is definitively reflected in the digital arena.
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Me:
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May I digress for a moment.
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Ashley:
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lol sure
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Me: |
I just read your comments to that stumble safetly mapping project. REALLY?
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Latoya: |
what? oh yeah |
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Me: |
Your comments were great! Insightful and I think they helped to put our missiion in focus. Not just mapping for the sake of mapping, but creating mapping tools that actually help the people they’re created for! |
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Ashley: |
yeah i was like…who are people creating these projects for? clearly not our community |
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Me: |
A drunk person mapping their way home, really?
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Latoya: |
so it would be a spot that they would designate to avoid yeah seriously I don’t know what drunk means to them |
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Me: |
LOL!
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Latoya: |
but to steal a line from Tucker Max, it means “too drunk to read” |
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Me: |
Again, great theory, but they’re so missing the application thereof. They clearly didn’t survey some drunk people. LOL! |
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Ashley: |
people can barely find their phone let alone think about navigating a map |
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Latoya: |
you know and I’m just saying Who’s trying to stumble home in neighborhoods they don’t know safety |
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Me: |
okay, thanks for entertaining my digression! |
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Latoya: |
no but I’m serious I am thinking about putting up a speech on digital bias I give sometimes because it seems like folks really ain’t thinking it’s not just about new and cool it’s also about usability and usability among multiple populations |
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Ashley: |
Absolutely |
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Me: |
Right. but that comes with accountability, which a lot of people don’t want to be a part of. |
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Ashley: |
true bc technology can often become another tool for segregation class, color, etc |
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Me: |
Indeed. d. boyd’s research shows that the segregation that exists in the world is mirrored in online spaces. and since technology and access to is dictated by finance, the have nots will have not. |
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Ashley: |
forreal is the mtg at 10 tomorrow |
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Latoya: |
i dunno we have no email |
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Me: |
good question. |
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Latoya: |
and I heart danah she’s my friend, but she is on some serious digital equality grind |
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Ashley: |
can we get real world equality! i kidd i kidd |
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Latoya: |
we cant get nothing |
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Me: |
We need some advocates…we also need more of us in that discourse |
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Latoya: |
but we have a better chance in the new, forming digital world its one in which we are constantly making and shaping and the pace moves faster than our world so things that are considered crazy originally are normal in the span of a decade think about cell phones and the internet |
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Me: |
True |
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Ashley: |
that’s very true |
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Latoya: |
adoption rate on that was quick |
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Latoya is typing… |
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Latoya: |
as opposed to say, civil rights which we are still struggling with 50 years later |
Check out Real Conversations: Latoya, Ashley and Je’Nein – Part 1 of 3
Real Conversations: Latoya, Ashley and Je’Nein – Part 3 of 3
Author’s Note: For the most part, I left in spelling errors, chat language and English dialects to maintain the essence of the conversation. I also didn’t edit out much for the following reasons.
- I want you to experience the diversity in our personalities.
- I also want to point out how new media can connect people from around the world. Ashley was in Italy on vacation. Latoya was in DC and I was in Maryland.
- That said, I also wanted to share our dedication to this project. We have jokes! But more importantly, we have passion.
Please leave any questions or comments.
