Social Justice
Statement of Social Justice
From the beginning of the quarter until now, we have examined many elements of social justice in the technology world. At the start of the quarter, my views on social justice issues were very narrow and only existed within certain problems that I saw in society. Having spent an entire quarter reading and discussing different and varied social justice issues, as well as working with our community partner, I feel that I have a much broader understanding of social justice in our world.
After taking this class, my social justice views have changed to be more diligent with having websites be accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, and encouraging the use of social media as a tool to be more vocal about issues in society. I feel like our work with our community partner in Ladybug House has directly contributed to my new view on social justice. Being able to study ways in which the LBH website could be improved to accommodate those with disabilities as well as view ways social media can be used to help spread ones message has made me more aware of how social justice is fought for in today’s technological world. I don’t believe I would have received the awareness of these elements had it not been for this class. While I certainly knew about ways website can make themselves more accessible to people and that social media is a wildly successful tool to spread ones message, I really had never put my understanding of web development or study social media in this way before. A message from the readings we had in week two which really stood out to me was from Oppression, privilege, and relations of domination that said “men can challenge patriarchy; white people can challenge racism; heterosexuals can confront homophobia” (Pease 2010). While this is more talking about standing up for an individual being oppressed, I feel like this can also relate to the work we are doing for our community partner. We are using what we have learned in school in order to help those who don’t have the same knowledge background as we do, to better our community. But, I also feel that even though we were giving back to the community with the knowledge we have obtained at Seattle U, we also have learned a lot from working with our partner. We were able to learn about what is needed in our community through the message LBH is trying to convey as well as learning about what it is like working for an actual client. I feel that with all these elements we were able to gain a service learning experience from our work in the class by serving our community and also learning from our experiences to help us be more aware of social justice issues going forward. |
Thinking back on the course materials we read over and examined during the quarter, there were several ideas that led to the conclusion of social just use of digital media. The two readings that stand out to me in this regard are from Reeve’s Cyborgs, cripples and iCrip: reflections on the contribution of Haraway to disability studies and Juris’s Networked social movements: global movements for global justice. In the Reeve’s reading it says “People with impairments do not have automatic rights” (Reeve 2012). This is a statement that I feel is really powerful and unfortunately for the most part true. There are so many things within society that are only catered to those who are abled and do not address the needs of those who are disabled. For someone who is abled, they may not realize that the website they are using so easily may not be constructed to assist those who can’t use a mouse or track pad. From the Juris reading it says “Global justice activists alternatively trace their genealogy back to the Zapatista uprising, campaigns against the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) and Multilateral Investment (MAI) Agreements” (Juris 2004). The Zapatistas were a group of activists that used social media to spread awareness of their rights being violated by the potential NAFTA agreement which essentially saved the working careers of many farmers in Mexico from having their land taken away. These examples of using technology such as web development to make websites more accessible to individuals as well as the use of social media to spread the word of injustice that is being carried out to help those in need are ways in which technology use is considered socially just.
Based on the course content that I examined and the experience I gained through working with LBH, I feel that the first and foremost action one can take when producing and consuming digital media is to be aware of how others may be consuming this as well. I think that is easy for us who don’t have to live with a disability or experience inequality to forget about what other people might be struggling with. I think that technology is making it easier for us to be more aware about inequality issues through social media and can also make life easier for someone with disabilities by helping them through everyday life such as a device that reads words aloud for those with vision impairments. By having us learn not only about the technology available to help those in need but also learn to be more ware of those in need allows for us to feel comfortable standing up for those in need. This directly relates to the Seattle U mission statement of educating the whole person because we are not only educating our selves on a technical level but also a personal level. I personally feel like technology is limitless in its potential to help people whether that is on a small or large scale. But, I do feel that unless we continue to stay aware of those in need, we can get off track of how beneficial technology can be to society. As long as we stay aware of those in need and continue to improve technology with those in mind will we be able to reach the true potential of technology. |
Works Cited
Juris, J. S. (2004). 15. Networked social movements: global movements for global justice. The Network Society
Pease, B. (2010). Oppression, privilege, and relations of domination. In Undoing privilege: Unearned advantage in a divided world.
Reeve, D. (2012). Cyborgs, cripples and iCrip: reflections on the contribution of Haraway to disability studies. In Disability and Social Theory. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Juris, J. S. (2004). 15. Networked social movements: global movements for global justice. The Network Society
Pease, B. (2010). Oppression, privilege, and relations of domination. In Undoing privilege: Unearned advantage in a divided world.
Reeve, D. (2012). Cyborgs, cripples and iCrip: reflections on the contribution of Haraway to disability studies. In Disability and Social Theory. Palgrave Macmillan UK.