Who Has an Interest in “Public Interest Technology”?: Critical Questions for Working with Local Governments & Impacted Communities

Local governments use a wide array of software, algorithms, and data systems across domains such as policing, probation, child protective services, courts, education, public employment services, homelessness services, etc. A growing body of work in CSCW and HCI has emerged to study, design, or demonstrate the boundaries of these technologies, oftentimes working with local governments. Local governments ostensibly aim to serve the public. So, some prior work has collaborated with local governments in the name of the public interest. However, others argue that local governments primarily police poor, minoritized communities, especially with increasingly limited funding for public services such as education or housing. These tensions raise critical questions: (How) should researchers collaborate with local governments? When should we oppose governments? How do we ethically engage with communities without being extractive? In this one-day workshop, we will bring together researchers from academia, the public sector, and community organizations to first take stock of work around public interest technologies. We will reflect on critical questions to orient the future of public interest technology and how we can work with, around, or against local governments while centering impacted communities.