Privileged
Privileged.tech is a digital implementation of a privilege walk, aimed at reconciling privilege in the technology field. The majority of the project was completed in 24 hours as part of nwHacks 2018, with finishing touches done afterward.
Live App — GitHubContext
24-hour hackathon projectRoles
- Full-Stack Web Development
Tools
- React
- Firebase
- Heroku
The landing screen explains the activity and sets the tone.
Problem
"From Apple to Facebook, the giants of Silicon Valley simply can’t recruit a workforce that represents the array of people who use their products. There are several possible reasons why. Unconscious bias, for example, can affect how candidates are judged before they even walk in the door. The industry, however, likes to blame the pipeline — the supposed lack of qualified and available candidates who aren’t white men."
Privilege in the technology industry has been a topic of discussion for a while now. In order to facilitate education about privilege, we decided to create a digital privilege walk activity intended to be used in classrooms and industry teams.
Solution
The activity was designed to be completed in groups, like an in-person privilege walk. Multiple users can join thanks to the Firebase backend, and when they're ready, start the walk.
The questions in the walk aim to expose the privileges present in the community, and provoke participants to reflect on their roles and social responsibilities.
When the activity is complete, participants can see how many others were afforded a certain privilege. The data is kept anonymous.
Participants then can visualize their position relative to the others, which is the point of both the in-person and this digital activity.
Participants then can visualize their position relative to the others, which is the point of both the in-person and this digital activity.
To end it off, participants are given resources to help them acknowledge and address the privileges they have or to support initiatives with a similar mission.