In this paper, we report insights from the design and delivery of a process that invited distinct groups of citizens to co-develop and apply social impact assessment criteria for the purpose of reviewing research proposals on HCI, social justice, and digital technologies. We describe our process, designed to create dialogic spaces that foster critical engagements with technologies and social issues, cooperation, and peer-support. In our findings, we explore how people defined and contextualised social impact in lived experiences, negotiated and legitimised their role as reviewers, and articulated the value of HCI research for social justice. We reflect on the significance of involving citizens in the commissioning of research that addresses inequalities and social justice in technology design and draw implications for HCI researchers concerned with ethical dimensions of technology. The work contributes to HCI and civic engagement’s traditions to develop effective participatory methods and collaborative processes to produce digital technologies that support social justice.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445113
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (https://chi2021.acm.org/)