Civic Tech Field Guide

Reset Resident Fellowship

Resident Fellows seek to advance society's understanding of surveillance capitalism and change the way Reset works by embedding within Reset to produce creative research and technology outputs.

Digital Lab Fellowship at Consumer Reports

The Digital Lab Fellowship is a paid, non-resident opportunity to uncover and address emerging consumer harms in the digital world. The Fellowship may be of interest to engineers, computer scientists, information security professionals, independent researchers, academics, social scientists, and others.

The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP)

New York University, New York, NY, USA

S.T.O.P. at NYU fights to end discriminatory surveillance.

Media Monitoring Africa

Africa

A non-profit organisation that promotes democracy and a culture where media and the powerful respect human rights and encourage a just and fair society. MMA acts in a watchdog role to promote ethical and fair journalism that supports human rights.

human rights

Data Ethics Decision Aid (DEDA)

DEDA helps data analysts, project managers and policy makers to recognize ethical issues in data projects, data management and data policies.

Ethical tech and responsible tech

Due Process Clinic at Cornell University

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

The Digital Due Process Clinic provides high-quality, pro bono services to those affected by these systems.

DigitHarium by ICRC

A global forum to discuss and debate digital transformation within the humanitarian sector, with a focus on data protection laws and humanitarian protection, policy, ethics and action.

Coded Bias

Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life.

Dark Patterns Tipline

Report a dark pattern today. It will help us fight back against companies usingmanipulative dark patterns to take our private information, money, andtime. You deserve respect, online and off.

Ethical tech and responsible tech

Defund Big Tech, Refund Community report

In this report, we dive into the history of public investment in technologies at the foundation of Big Tech, and the imbalances between these investments and the returns to the public sector.

reports

The Should This Exist? podcast

Hosted by Caterina Fake, Should This Exist? is a show that takes a single technology and asks: What is its greatest potential? And what could possibly go wrong?

Collective Action in Tech

A media and research project to advance the tech workers movement.

labor

The Policing Project

New York City, NY, USA

The adoption of policing technologies must be guided by democratic legitimacy and an imperative to minimize harm.

police violence

Justice tech

The Unseen Teen

Data & Society Research Institute, West 20th Street, New York, NY, USA

THE UNSEEN TEEN: The Challenges of Building Healthy Tech for Young People a report by Data & Society

youth

Ethical tech and responsible tech

Digital Equity Laboratory at The New School

The New School, East 13th Street, New York, NY, USA

The Digital Equity Laboratory uncovers and addresses structural inequities that persist and evolve as technology transforms our cultural, social, and political systems.

Reset Australia

Australia

The unregulated attention economy driving social media is fraying our democracy, threatening our mental and physical health, and exposing our children to violent and disturbing content. Our limited attention has become the most valuable resource on the internet and it is captured and manipulated via the rampant and unregulated collection of our personal data. This is surveillance capitalism at work - a relentless assault on our private data that provide intimate insights which are sold to the highest bidder, with next-to-no awareness or control. We are told that having our data taken is the price we pay for the “free” use of digital services. But this system places the priorities of corporates ahead of the social good while it manipulates our social perspective, drives division and isolates us from each other. There are few practical ways to opt out of the attention economy that depends on pervasive surveillance. And even if you manage to on an individual level, the real world impact of this data-driven social manipulation is impossible to avoid. Big Tech controls a global audience of billions with a market power that is unprecedented in the history of media. Yet they have almost no oversight and reject liability for the harms their products cause.

Ethical tech and responsible tech

UnBias

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

UnBias aims to provide policy recommendations, ethical guidelines and a ‘fairness toolkit’ co-produced with young people and other stakeholders that will include educational materials and resources to support youth understanding about online environments as well as raise awareness among online providers about the concerns and rights of young internet users.

Gov.UK Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework for Automated Decision-Making

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

This 7 point framework will help government departments with the safe, sustainable and ethical use of automated or algorithmic decision-making systems.

Collective Action in Tech Archive

This project attempts to document all collective action from workers in the tech industry. Contribute to our archive. Currently, there are 506 collective actions documented.

labor

Reset

We want to change the way the internet enables the spread of news and information so it serves the public good over corporate and political interests.

Urban AI

Urban AI is a Think Tank that proposes ethical modes of governance and sustainable uses of urban AI.

cities

Growing Digital Ethics in Practice: an interactive roadmap

resources

Ethical tech and responsible tech

AI Ethics: Global Perspectives

GovLab NYU's Collection of Lectures on the Ethical implications of Data and Artificial Intelligence from Different Perspectives

Technology and Public Purpose Fellowship at Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

The Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for practitioners at the intersection of responsible technology development to explore multidisciplinary approaches to maximizing the societal benefits of emerging technologies while minimizing the harms.   

Technology and Social Change at MIT (2018)

MIT Media Lab

This class uses the idea of values-driven design to help creators consider the politics of the technologies we use and which we bring into the world and teaches methods of research, design and deployment intended to help technologies meet the needs of real-world communities.

Humanitarian Data and Trust Initiative

How can humanitarian organizations, states, civil society, academia and the private sector join forces to maximize the benefits of technology and humanitarian data while minimizing the risks of doing harm?

Access Now

Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of people and communities at risk. By combining direct technical support, strategic advocacy, grassroots grantmaking, and convenings such as RightsCon, we fight for human rights in the digital age.

My Data Rights

South Africa (South Africa, Afrika-Borwa, Suid-Afrika)

A feminist review of AI, privacy and data protection to enhance digital rights

Myanmar Tech Accountability Network

Myanmar (Myăma)

The Myanmar Tech Accountability Network (MTAN) is a network of Myanmar civil society organizations coordinating efforts to mitigate the risk of social media induced violence and political instability in Myanmar.

PIT Lab @Stanford

Stanford University, Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, USA

The PIT Lab is building a thoughtful community around public interest technology at Stanford. Themes include systemic inequities, democratic values, bridging the divide, career pathways.

Rally

Mozilla Rally is aimed at rebuilding your equity in your data. We allow you to choose how to contribute your data and for what purpose.

Mechanism Design for Social Good

Mechanism Design for Social Good (MD4SG) is a multi-institutional initiative using techniques from algorithms, optimization, and mechanism design, along with insights from other disciplines, to improve access to opportunity for historically underserved and disadvantaged communities.

Ethical tech and responsible tech

Permission Slip

Yonkers, NY, USA

One app to take back control of your data

apps

Responsible Data Resource List

This list of resources is curated and maintained by MERL Tech and The Engine Room.

guides

How The New York Times Thinks About Your Privacy

New York Times Building, 8th Avenue, New York, NY, USA

A guide to the news company's data usage

Feminist AI

Feminist.AI works to put technology into the hands of makers, researchers, thinkers and learners to amplify unheard voices and create more accessible AI for all.

'Shared Data,' a short story from an alternate future

A Popular Science piece with key takeaways educational section

Anthem Awards's Responsible Tech categories

Celebrating purpose & mission-driven work from people, companies and organizations worldwide.

AI Ethics Guidelines Global Inventory

A project by AlgorithmWatch that maps frameworks that seek to set out principles of how systems for automated decision-making (ADM) can be developed and implemented ethically

DeepMind Ethics & Society group

London

We want AI to benefit the world, so we must be thoughtful about how it’s built and used

#NãoValeTudo

Brazil (Brasil)

Civil society campaign to discuss ethical limits in the use of new technologies for electoral purposes.

The Digital Public Sphere White Paper Series

Ethical tech and responsible tech

City of Philadelphia Service Design Studio

Philadelphia

Collaborating with Philadelphians to design better City policies and services.

Harvard Democracy and Internet Governance Initiative (DIGI)

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Through public reports and briefings with policymakers, business leaders, and civil society organizations, the Initiative will highlight digital platform reform options, as well as offer expertise on legislative reform proposals and platform self-governance options.