CS 4784 Fall 2015

HCI Capstone Course: Designing for Equity

Deborah Tatar

Computer Scientists build systems to change things.  Think about it:
why build a system unless there is something that you want to change?
Thus, system building is an exercise in power.

That is, we believe that systems have the power to influence human
affairs, for example, by changing the distribution of knowledge.  As these
systems touch more and more people around the world, and more and more
aspects of life, we have to consider their power to bring about states
of more or less equity.   This is a project-based class, like all CS
capstones, but in this HCI Capstone course, we will (1) consider the
nature of equity, (2) the history of attempts to create more or less
equity in the world through design, and (3) engage in design to promote
equity.  What does it mean to promote equity in the face of economic,
gender, and ethnic inequality?