Considering Intersecting Social Factors in Designing New Technologies

People have overlapping characteristics - including gender, race, age, abilities, etc. Ignoring intersecting social factors in designing new technologies can lead to product fails; from pulse oximeters that don’t work for people with darker skin and can be inaccurate for women; to virtual assistants that don't understand local dialects and reinforce negative cultural norms. In this class, we will explore intersectional design in the development of more inclusive technologies. Together with partners from industry and research you will analyze specific technology products. You will work in teams to generate intersectional design concepts and questions, prototyping ideas and creating your own design workshops to facilitate more inclusive design processes and thinking. This class will provide you with an introduction to concepts and theories from intersectional design innovation in combination with an immersive and critical design thinking experience.

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