computer as culture
This strategy is about creating space to talk about the impacts of the use of computers that don't fit neatly into the containers of law and policy. The reason for creating this space is that many of the impacts of the use of computers don't match the binaries of right or wrong, legal or illegal, security compliant or non-compliant.
Using this strategy is particularly important when it comes to widening the scope of a conversation so it can travel beyond the ideas of privacy, surveillance, and safety. One of the consequences of using computers in ways that have been developed for commercial purposes is that we often talk about them as consumers rather than as a society.
In the same way that no is a complete sentence, "I don't like this" is a complete response to the proposed use of a computer. In keeping with efforts to reduce the mystique and confusion that computers create, making space for preferences about computer use is a necessary intervention when designing conversation.
A few examples of computer as culture:
In many organizing and workplace environments, a norm of using computers to record and transcribe communication has taken hold. This norm has some benefits when done consensually and with purpose. But creating persistent surveillance as a default, particularly in contexts where sensitive and difficult decisions are being considered, can create a chill on speech. It can also install more weight or importance to words that are taken out of context. At a point in time where resilience and adaptation and discomfort are necessary components of many decision-making processes, there is benefit to tending more intentionally to the environments where we have conversations.
In a large city, the transportation system purchased an app that riders can use for safety, allowing them to connect with the transportation authority via a mobile app if and when they are uncomfortable or feel unsafe. There are well-known and established methods for bystander intervention that could also be used in many of these cases. Rather than develop this capacity within the ridership as part of a campaign, a technical solution was implemented.
In a neighborhood association or a condo group, the decisions to organize discussion using computers impacts the relationships within the group. People have varying degrees of comfort with computers, and by narrowing how people can interact as a group, there are exclusions and amplifications. This is an equity issue, one that gets compounded by people fearing judgement by speaking up about their discomfort.
Framing discussions about computer use as culture can help shift the focus from the more technocratic realms of regulatory compliance and safety towards preferences and plurality. When we get into the tactics half of the handbook, we'll look at some approaches that refuse the either/or binary of computer use and consider redundancy and pluralism - in short, having multiple ways available to do the same thing.