Press Release
Contact information
LA Tech4Good
Cindy Lin | cindy@latech4good.org
Karen Borchgrevink | karen@latech4good.org
Release date: November 9, 2023
LA Tech4Good Upcoming Data Equity Skills Workshop
25 Social Impact Tech Leaders to Receive Free Digital Equity Skills Training thanks to a partnership with the Internet Society: San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and Funding from the Internet Society Foundation
Los Angeles CA - HopSkipDrive, a ride share service for vulnerable youth, needed to ensure that the safety of their riders was paramount. Cindy Lin, the Data Product Manager responsible for the organization’s data culture, realized after attending LA Tech4Good’s Data Equity Workshop that data conversations were missing the most important component: the humans being discussed. Through the tactics gained through the workshop, she facilitated cross-company working sessions to identify where the organization’s data fell short, resulting in the implementation of more inclusive data collection protocols and training for new employees that exposed them to data equity and ethics concepts. Since leaving this role, Cindy has carried forward the experiences from this workshop.
“This organization is really special to me because their workshop basically changed my professional trajectory,” says Cindy Lin.
"The Internet is for everyone and we believe the more people who are empowered to have thoughtful, meaningful conversations about data equity, the better. We hope each of these participants will influence and set data policy in their organizations, cities, states, and nation," said Tom Thorley, Board Vice President of the Internet Society: San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. "From large language models built on books whose authors didn't consent to their use to abortion clinics facing police demands for their health records, 2023 has shown us more than ever how important privacy and equity are in data policy."
LA Tech4Good centers those at the margins of our society, focusing on training and supporting people who are often left out of data policy creation and implementation. Theirs are the critical voices needed to restrict exploitation of personal data and, more importantly, employ data as a tool that supports broad and varied social change efforts.
Past participants self-identified as three-quarters being women, 20% queer, 56% people of color, one-third multilingual, one-half immigrants, and14% sharing they have a disability.
“In a world where data and algorithms are increasingly being used to help supplement human decision making, an equity lens is a key to actively offsetting harm and injustices caused or perpetuated through data,” says LA Tech4Good Executive Director Karen Borchgrevink. “We've all heard how algorithms disadvantage marginalized individuals and groups with credit ratings, predictive policing, racist chatbots, candidate scoring, and more. But even more importantly, by employing data through a lens of justice and towards the goal of equity, data becomes an invaluable, even required, means to improve the conditions and lives of our communities and to create the better world that we all want to see. Our workshops give you a basic toolkit that you can use right away!”
The training series will run three Thursdays in January and is totally free to the 25 participants. It will cover equity in data projects, data ethics, and the impact of AI and algorithms in three sessions. In the hands-on sessions, participants bring their own projects and learn to apply the frameworks we teach in class.
If you or someone you know is interested in receiving this training, please read more and register here or email CIndy Lin.
The Internet Society - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
The San Francisco Bay Area Internet Society Chapter is one of the largest Internet Society chapters in the United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley and the rest of California by promoting the core values of the Internet Society. Our goals are to: provide a platform for members to engage in Internet issues that include Internet governance, Data Protection, Privacy, Security, IoT, Internet Technologies, Standards and Access; promote the Internet Society’s core values; interact with other ISOC Chapters and relevant Internet industry groups; disseminate information on the issues of importance to Chapter members. We are always looking for new members, please sign-up here and select “San Francisco Bay Area Chapter”.
More: http://sfbayisoc.org
The Internet Society Foundation
The Internet Society Foundation was established in 2019 to support the positive difference the Internet can make to people everywhere. In partnership with other change makers, the Foundation promotes the development of the Internet as a resource to enrich people's lives and serve as a force for good in society. Focusing in five programme areas, the Foundation awards grants to Internet Society Chapters as well as non-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to providing meaningful access to an open, globally-connected, secure and trustworthy Internet for everyone.
More: https://www.isocfoundation.org
LA Tech4Good
The mission of LA Tech4Good is to foster social change by teaching equitable and ethical data practices. Their vision is to see technology embraced and employed in support of social change, embraced and employed in support of social change, helping address the myriad of critical injustices in the world and creating new solutions. All social change organizations can and should rely solidly on technology to increase their impact and we support this, and we aim to strengthen this broad tech and data “for good” ecosystem.
More: https://www.latech4good.org
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