The University of Minnesota in collaboration with the Twin Cities Innovation Alliance, and Racism Untaught and the Science Museum of Minnesota is launching the Digital Justice Interdisciplinary Ideathon, September 24th-25th 2022. Fellows will work in teams to address the impacts of the surveillance of students in Minnesota schools. Each fellow will receive a gift card for participation, and the winning team will receive a cash prize.
Surveillance of students in schools disproportionately impacts BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized students. The COVID-19 pandemic has lead to an expansion of this surveillance, including the presence of software on school devices that is used to monitor everything from student’s web searches to private chat messages. Parents, students, and community members are concerned about the possible negative outcomes of this type of surveillance, including increased exclusionary discipline, police intervention and forced “outing” of LGBITQIA+ students.
Digital Justice will consist of a series of workshops monthly from February-May on algorithmic justice, culminating in a 2-day Ideathon event where teams will work to design alternatives to student surveillance across a variety of fields including technology, legal, social work, education, and more. Winning team(s) will receive a cash prize and will be matched with mentors to facilitate further development and implementation of their proposal.