Throughout the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab’s Spring ’22 semester, Kenia Hale and I led a group of research associates as we explored liberatory technologies and forms of digital marronage. Recognizing that existing interventions aren’t always successful, we explored how to design technology centered on liberation and digital marronage while honoring community knowledge. We asked: how do individuals protect themselves from the state while also being able to dance in the sun?
Each week, we selected and evaluated different types of technology and collected liberatory forms of that tool in a Github repository. Full of our semester-long analysis, this Github functions as a liberatory technology toolbox for organizers and activists. Our research also culminated in a liberatory technology proposed by the RAs and a zine summarizing our findings.
Payton Croskey 