The Responsible Computing for Just Futures Initiative (RC4JustFutures), an initiative of the Responsible Computing Challenge housed at Penn Carey Law, has ambitious plans for the mindset with which the next generation of UPenn students will engage careers at the intersection of law and technology.
Led by Miguel Willis, Innovator in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Future of the Profession Initiative (FPI), and Lecturer in Law Claudia Johnson, RC4JustFutures is taking an active role in socially responsible computing and critical computing approaches in undergraduate curricula, reimagining how to address areas of new technology, policy, and community in undergraduate education while exposing students to a host of different careers possibilities in those spaces.
Miguel Willis and Claudia Johnson
“At the heart of our rapidly evolving technological landscape, where artificial intelligence and digital innovations are shaping every aspect of life—from healthcare to education, and employment—lies a crucial intersection between technology and social justice,” said Willis. “As a passionate advocate for leveraging technology to improve access to justice for marginalized communities, I have dedicated my career to ensuring that justice and equity are embedded within the very fabric of technological design, development, and application.”
Knowledge + Ethical Grounding
As one of the newest cohorts of awardees to emerge from Mozilla’s Responsible Computing Challenge (RCC) last fall—receiving a grant typically given to engineering programs—RC4JustFutures is already building a unique foundation at Penn. The Initiative recently launched a new website after a successful Spring kick-off with two community-centered events.
“The next generation of technologists must be equipped with the knowledge and ethical grounding to anticipate the social implications of their work,” said Willis. “This belief drives my commitment to Penn, where we are nurturing the future leaders who will be making critical decisions in the tech industry.”
Through the RC4JustFutures program, Willis and Johnson aim to support the next wave of technologists who will think more critically about the design and use of technology, recognize when and how technology work may perpetuate inequality, and create visions for more equitable systems across the technology sector and in related fields to build more responsible and ethical tools, applications, platforms, policies, and social norms.
“True Justice, the type of justice that lifts our democracy, economy, and society, requires multidisciplinary approaches and so much more than lawyers and those who are on top of the legal system,” said Johnson. “True Justice requires interdisciplinary approaches and must be centered on the communities that end up bearing the impact of unethical, non-transparent, and biased yet profitable advanced computing tools.”
Johnson says with the rise of AI and Big Data driven decision-making becoming commoditized on rendered services—including everything from medical expense coverage and job applications to public benefits approval and even legal services—RC4JustFutures seeks “to redress the harms of AI, capitalize on its opportunities, and shape a better future.”
“As the government and nonprofits move to adapt tech tools, they need to be able to rely on ethically designed systems, representative-using databases, and tools tested with consent of the pilot users, ensuring that as a product is developed there is no human experimentation happening with vulnerable groups on behalf of those with asymmetrical power and decision-making authority, including courts,” she said.
Justice + Community
Willis stresses the importance that justice and community equity be central tenets in the development of public interest technologies or technologies that limit or prevent access to critical resources or public services, which can begin in undergraduate coursework.
For example, a primary goal of the initiative is to support the conceptualization, development, and piloting of curricula that empowers students to think about the social and political context of computing, through fostering collaboration across disciplines, leading inclusive and dynamic programming on and off campus, forming strategic alliances with external partners, and transformative learning experiences.
The Initiative also plans to undertake research to better understand how concepts of justice and equity are currently integrated into computing curricula across various disciplines. By examining existing educational approaches at Penn, the research aims to identify gaps and opportunities to foster greater equity and access to meaningful computer science education.
Ultimately, the findings would inform strategies to improve and expand the teaching and learning of computer science in ways that promote justice and equal opportunities for all students, particularly those from historically marginalized communities.
“Imagine if leaders like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk had taken courses on responsible computing during their university years,” said Willis. “Would they have been better equipped to anticipate the consequences of Facebook on elections or other societal impacts?”
“Anticipation is key in technology, especially when it intersects with areas like worker rights, credit systems, and even local justice systems. For instance, in Philadelphia, companies have started using court data to make decisions that could deny housing security to those facing eviction—a clear example of how technology can exacerbate social inequalities if not carefully managed.”
In late March, Willis and Johnson gathered fellow scholars, students, technologists, activists, and West Philadelphia community members for a workshop that planted the seeds for RC4JustFutures’ work moving forward.
Key discussions centered on the public interest technology field at large, as well as the roles technology can play in accountability of government services like SEPTA and public benefits, digital surveillance trends and its intersections with public transit and criminal justice, and how algorithms affect housing justice.
Philadelphia Social Justice Hackathon
Following the success of the workshop, RC4JustFutures co-sponsored and advised on the second annual Philadelphia Social Justice Hackathon from April 5-7, hosted at Drexel’s Kline School of Law.
Based on the blueprint of a similar event Willis founded as a student at Seattle University, the ongoing hackathon series brings together all the law schools of Greater Philadelphia, civic and legal tech groups, and community legal providers, with representatives from Drexel’s Thomas Kline School of Law, the Philadelphia Chapter of LegalHackers.org, Code for Philly, iLIT at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, Villanova’s Charles Widger School of Law, and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.
This year’s event saw more than 80 attendees, comprised of faculty, programmers, public servants, “civic-minded hackers,” and community members gathered to design creative solutions in response to specific justice needs of Philadelphia residents and neighborhoods most impacted by social, economic, and environmental injustices.
Seven enterprising teams worked consistently over the two-day competition to present their solutions to a panel of judges. Projects ranged from tools to combat unethical practices in housing and protection from construction damage, to web apps to help Philadelphia students explore career pathways and make informed decisions about reproductive healthcare.
Initiatives like the hackathon provide experiential education opportunities that Willis calls one of the cornerstones of RC4JustFutures’ approach.
“I strongly believe in giving students the opportunity to engage directly with the communities they will serve, particularly in West Philadelphia,” said Willis. “Historically, decisions about what technologies to build have been made by experts—academics and researchers—without sufficient input from the communities affected by these technologies. To rectify this, it’s essential to elevate community voices and ensure they are central to the decision-making process.”
Both events helped set a foundation for RC4JustFutures to continue to build on its approach to rethink undergraduate curricula, especially in fostering community partnerships while driving interdisciplinary collaboration in finding real solutions to looming technological threats.
To that end, the RC4JustFutures Community Advisory Board (RCCAB) aims to engage stakeholders in West Philadelphia to amplify their perspectives to ensure that the design, use, and development of public interest technologies are aligned with community priorities and can sustain inclusive and healthy communities.
“This is not just a law-based project, but an intentionally diverse project reaching into the community to help set priorities and identify needs, and to teach students what they need to know before they move to where the tools are funded, coded, tested, and designed so they can be forces for good,” said Johnson.
Original source can be found here.