Why CAST, Raj? Because I have a clear learning agenda

By: Rajwinder K. Cheema

Last year, I accepted the offer to join the Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST). I applied for the job because I strongly believe we’re experiencing an important moment in the history of the digital world — a moment of deep interconnected scrutiny, long overdue. For some time, I have been feeling that the term justice itself needs to be seen and applied in a much more interconnected way, not solely from a ‘social’ lens or ‘economic’ lens etc. I recently coined the term SEED justice because for me justice today needs to encompass the social, economic, environmental and digital aspects of our lives. I believe these four aspects are deeply interconnected — it seems somewhat naive to focus on one without thinking about the repercussions on the others.

After accepting the job, the responses I received from acquaintances were interesting — they spoke volumes about the socio-cultural expectations we professionally live with. My decision to join CAST was made with a solid underpinning learning agenda based on my curiosity on what it means to achieve SEED justice today given the scale and gravity of the complexities we face. I don’t have as much experience working with technologists so this felt like a good opportunity for me to learn more about the digital world and reflect on how this world interacts with the other aspects of justice. It was not solely made through the neoliberal lens of taking the next step on the job title based ‘career ladder’. I have lots of questions and CAST feels like the perfect place to learn about these.

#1 Understanding the world of digital in our political economy

I have a growing interest in the influence of neoliberalism on social and public policy — along with the other invisible forces we find ourselves grappling with. Some are thinking about what lies beyond neoliberalism (e.g. productivism) — which makes me curious about three questions:

1. How does neoliberalism influence the mindsets, behaviours and practices of those designing and delivering technologies for vulnerable people and communities sitting on the margins?
2. Given the existing level of consciousness on the above, what are technologists already saying and doing about it?
3. What will change in the digital landscape as the political economy possibly evolves? Is this conversation happening?

#2 Co-producing technologies with people safely

I want to understand the nuances of designing, developing and delivering technologies through a coproduction lens. I have to admit my understanding of what power dynamics and decision making looks like in the world of technology is very limited. And this was a key reason for joining the CAST team. The image below outlines my limited understanding of the approaches taken and the questions I want to explore:

I was excited to learn that I’ll be running a programme focussing on technological solutions for the asylum seeking and refugee community. This work gives me freedom to explore the power of co-production in developing technologies for vulnerable people.

#3 Scaling technology ethically

Closely related to the above is the current discourse in the digital world around ethics — how do we develop technologies ethically especially with vulnerable groups and how do we introduce technology by not ignoring the unintended consequences of these new developments? CAST is proactively engaging with these questions and thinking about what it means to scale technologies through open platforms and different forms of ownership. The lawyer in me could not be more delighted! What I’m interested in learning more about is:

1. What is the cost of pace (the constant chase for being the pioneer) without having the appropriate and transparent instruments to address ethics?
2. How do we scale emerging evidence based technologies that are centred on ethics, equity and community ownership?

#4 An addiction to emergence

I’ve got to a point in my professional journey where if the work isn’t complex and doesn’t involve emergence, it won’t engage me. It feels like both a curse and a blessing — the fogginess of grappling with complexity, understanding what this means for carefully considered actions and the excitement of learning about the new. To help me with these kinds of programmes, I’ve come up with a simple framework — it brings together the key competencies that are required for delivering emergent programmes in complex spaces. And I use it when designing programmes in shorter cycles. If there’s a key competency missing, please leave a comment below to help me develop this framework.

They say you have to build a tolerance for ambiguity when working in risk averse areas. I find myself being quite addicted to it. And I’m interested in feeling the ambiguity of the emergence in the design and delivery of social technologies. So my questions here are:

1. What’s different about emergence in the online world in contrast to real time delivery of services?
2. How does this kind of work consider and approach risk and safety?

It’s fair to say there is plenty of learning ahead of me. If you know of any blogs, books or other resources that are asking similar questions, please leave any links in the comments section. On a final note, as the daughter of immigrants, it is my absolute honour to be working with the asylum seeking and refugee communities.I dedicate my efforts in this programme to my late mum and dad — this one’s for you my loves.