You are cordially invited to join us via Zoom for the Proposal Defense of Zithri Saleem, to be held on Monday, June 29, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. to noon PDT (U.S. and Canada).

Title: Imagining Inclusive Innovation: Designing Sociotechnical Policies and Interventions in U.S.-European Contexts

Abstract:

The language of "inclusion," which is often accompanied by terms such as "equity," "diversity," and increasingly “anti-racist,” is often used in corporate, government, and public technology and innovation discourses. The value of these discourses is a growing concern for racialized and marginalized communities who question how these “inclusive innovation” leaders shape their work into real-world policy and programmatic interventions. In short, there are looming questions about how might leaders develop technology policy and interventions that fuel “inclusive innovation” while substantively addressing longstanding social inequities? Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and sociotechnical theory, this dissertation will glean insights on how influential stakeholders of a think-tank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, operating in the United States and Europe, conceptualize inclusion in their work on technology policies and interventions. Specifically, through interviews, document analysis, and participatory design (PD) methods, this dissertation will examine how these efforts are supranational, or beyond the domain of any single nation or polity. The focus will be on understanding how the systemic reproduction of colonial values, imaginaries, and relationships might undermine espoused values for both “inclusion” and Liberal democracy writ large. This dissertation will investigate: 1) What is meant by “inclusion” in US-European contexts, and 2) How do business leaders, government officials, and other public stakeholders imagine “inclusion” in an increasingly technology-driven, post-colonial, and pandemic-sensitive world? This dissertation strives to advance knowledge on the development of sociotechnical policy and interventions that might reduce or eliminate social inequities along factors such as race, class, and nationality. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and global protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, this research takes on particular importance.

Supervisory Committee

• Negin Dahya (Co-chair)
  Assistant Professor, Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology & Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
   
• ​​​​​David Hendry (Co-chair)
  Associate Professor, Information School, University of Washington
   
• Michelle H. Martin (Member)
  Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services, MLIS Program Chair, Information School, University of Washington
   
• Dr. Jeffrey Robinson (External member) 
  Associate Professor and Academic Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED), Rutgers University 
   
• Antony T. Smith (Graduate Student Representative)
  Associate Professor, School of Educational Studies, University of Washington Bothell 

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Meeting ID: 948 6889 4786