Environmental and climate justice (ECJ) are concerned with the unequal distribution of environmental hazards and climate change. Moreso, ECJ pay attention to how existing socio-political inequities undergird these risks. Frontline communities are the communities already experiencing the first and worst of these effects and actively resisting the conditions that cause these effects, yet often their needs are ignored and silenced in climate data and technologies. Through long-standing and emerging research, CSCW has engaged with participatory research with marginalized communities and climate change. In this workshop, we aim to identify how CSCW research engages with frontline communities around climate change and environmental injustice. We plan to discuss how future research can commit to epistemic justice for frontline communities in designing and maintaining climate data and technology. We aim for the workshop to foster a burgeoning research community of those engaging with frontline communities around ECJ.
The core workshop will be held during the day from 9:00am to 3:30pm with breaks for lunch and other activities. The workshop will be held in person and include activities around creating a common vocabulary for CSCW research engaged with ECJ, and at what scale of ECJ that CSCW research can be helpful. Organizers will supply all required materials (pens, markers, paper, post-its, easel pads, and collage materials) and manage A/V.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 9:00–9:30am | Introductions |
| 9:30–10:30am | Gallery Walk |
| 10:30–10:45am | Break |
| 10:45am–11:45am | Multiscalar Conversation |
| 11:45am–1:15pm | Lunch |
| 1:15–2:00pm | Zine Making Activity |
| 2:00–2:30pm | Share Out and Discussion |
| 2:30–3:00pm | Reflection and Closing |
| After 3:30pm | Optional Post-Workshop Event |
We invite researchers and practitioners working in ECJ, directly with frontline communities, and adjacent topics such as housing justice, mobility justice, equitable transportation, Indigenous sovereignty, food justice, just transitions, among other areas, to our workshop.
We will post more information about submissions soon, but expect them to be approximately 2-3 pages of a research brief or an artwork with 300-500 word statement of interest. Submissions will be due by July 31 AoE (anywhere on earth).
For more information, you may read the accepted CSCW Workshop Proposal for this workshop here.
Our organizing committee represents 8 institutions. We are PhD students, professors, and nonprofit researchers working in this space and seeking colleagues to convene with. You can read a little about us below.
Please contact Amelia for any questions about this workshop. Their email is in the proposal.
Amelia Lee Doğan is a PhD student at the University of Washington (UW) Information School. Amelia's doctoral research focuses on how climate justice activists and frontline communities use, shape, and resist data and technology.
Nino Migineishvili is a PhD student at the UW Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. Nino's research focuses on the intersection of technology and the environment, with a particular focus on understanding, measuring, and evaluating AI-related opportunities and challenges.
Rachel Marston is a research project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund. Her work focuses on the Frontline Resource Institute, bridging frontline community needs and research.
Katlyn M. Turner is an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Information Science, and a research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. Her research focuses on environmental justice, emerging technologies, and complex systems.
Taneea S Agrawaal is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Her research lies at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction, Climate Informatics, and Critical Data Studies to examine and design climate informatics technologies — including the maps, models and data — in the Greater Toronto Area, particularly in applications of climate change and associated risk impacts.
Hongjin Lin is a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at Harvard University. Her research focuses on AI and social impact. She is currently co-designing technologies with communities in Boston to support participation in local collective climate actions.
Ashley Boone is a PhD student in Human Centered Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on how local community-based organizations, including conservation and climate-focused organizations, produce and use data to achieve social change at the local level.
B. Biira is a PhD student at the UW Information School. She researches climate information technologies as constituted through social and institutional life.
Nina Lutz is a PhD student at the UW in Human Centered Design and Engineering. She researches information disorder, such as misinformation, which is increasingly intersecting with ECJ.
Ufuoma Ovienmhada is an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona's School of Geography, Development, and Environment. She conducts multi-method research to understand how geoscience and geospatial tools can support environmental justice monitoring and advocacy.
Benjamin Xie is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Affiliate Faculty of Public Policy at the University of Denver. His research focuses on building youth advocates' capacities to work with environmental data from low-cost sensors and mobile technologies.
Lindah Kotut is an Assistant Professor at the UW Information School. Her work focuses on leveraging storytelling tools and associated technology, especially in the context of resource scarcity, with a focus on Indigenous communities.