Equity meets Design - Christine Ortiz

Three central beliefs:

1. Learning to See: Historical Context Matters
2. Be Seen: Radical Inclusion: identify barriers that exclude people, welcome different people & experiences, create spaces where everyone bring their full selves
3. Foresee: Process as Product: Live in the future we want, make time for the magic of human connection

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

1. Design at the Margins: marginalized take collective responsibility
2. Start with Your Self: see our own biases
3. Cede Power
4. Make the invisible visible: name bias, dynamics, hegemonic practices
5. Speak to the future: talk about the uncomfortable, unequal, prejudicial conditions & relationships, ambiguity, opportunity to be part of a purposeful structure

MODE 1: META-EMPATHY MAPS

• Indiv: How does my identity impact how I understand my user's experiences?
• Institutional: What are the important customs & practices at play in my user's experience?
• Structure: What are the ways customs & practices work together to include/ exclude my user? 

MODE 2: NOTICE & REFLECT

• Strategic "Equity Pauses" to reflect on our language, ideas, hunches
• Braintstorm (Alex Osborn) with prompts: modify, rearrange, substitute, magnify ---> move to the margin, adjust discourse, invert power
• Test assumptions: A person needs a way to (insert the needs) because (insert the values, beliefs, morals of the person). Surprisingly, (state a fact that demonstrates the intent to meet the need) but (insert an institutional inhibitor or societal obstruction).

We've put the expectations of change entirely on individuals, requiring each person to:

• fully develop their racial identity
• know history & current manifestations of inequity
• be willing to see, call out and fight hegemonic systems

We can do more by:

• create safe spaces
• connect people
• understand role of individuals within systems

Define the problem well

Build sooner to get better feedback

Hold the moral & technical ways of thinking. We think about our moral responsibility, also the outcomes & numbers. And  don't forget the magic & possibility of human interactions!