Sep 6Everyday Speculations for Social ChangeThis post is based on an article I wrote for the European design journal, Temes de Disseny. The article can be found here, with free, open access. I. Realistic and far-future Have you envisioned the very long-term outcomes of your fight for change? Imagining, creating, and sharing what success looks like in advocacy and…Social Justice3 min readSocial Justice3 min read
Feb 17What is your theory of change?The magnificent Indigenous researcher Eve Tuck shines her insights into how we all have theories about how change happens (2009). But these change theories become a problem when they remain unsaid, unshared, and unexplained. Taking the time to reflect and tell others how we believe changes are most likely to…Changemaker3 min readChangemaker3 min read
Jun 4, 2022Advocating for Better Futures: 5 actions to make your vision realAs advocates for social justice, we know that a better world is possible. But many people lose energy and commitment when faced with so much uncertainty. How can we share visions for a better world in ways that motivate people to stay involved? Ideas of what we would gain and…Future4 min readFuture4 min read
Jul 23, 2021Instructions for a Future-Backwards activity: Backcasting to shift the status quoHere I provide instructions for an activity of backcasting called Future-Backwards. Imagining a path backwards can be a powerful tool to inform strategies to move forward. Future-Backwards uses ideas about long-term futures as a creative — rather than analytical — assessment. Future concepts are vehicles to explore, generate, and engage…Future5 min readFuture5 min read
May 12, 2021100 Social Justice audio books available from your public libraryI keep recommending that friends download and use their public library card to listen to audio book for free (!) on the Libby app. So I thought I’d share a list of the books I’ve been inspired by. Because it can be hard to figure out which books are actually…Racial Justice5 min readRacial Justice5 min read
Apr 8, 2021Five orientations to envision and evoke better futuresFor my Design dissertation, I am exploring the idea of clarifying and engaging people in the long-term outcomes of social justice work — visions of the worlds we can achieve. Walidah Imarisha (2010) writes about this as she defines Visionary Fiction. In Design we want to make these visions tangible…Future9 min readFuture9 min read
Aug 12, 2020Anti-Oppression Actions for Designing in Collaboration“The more we understand about our histories of both oppression and resistance to it, of injury and resistance, the better we come to know our real capacities, and the better able we become to act powerfully and build real alliances.” (Morales, 2019, p. 65) A new paper, Anti-Oppression Mindsets…Design Thinking4 min readDesign Thinking4 min read
Jul 10, 2020Member-onlyApproaching Everyday Racism through Fiction in Co-Creation WorkshopsEveryday racism is entwined in the technology that we design, yet we have few tools and techniques to engage participants in solutioning. Participatory Design is an ideal method for bringing people from marginalized positions into the design process. It is a powerful way to imagine solutions with those directly involved…Participatory Design6 min readParticipatory Design6 min read
Jun 9, 2020Diversifying your Design Syllabus: Recommended Readings by Women, Non-binary, and Culturally Diverse AuthorsMy PhD dissertation is focused on anti-racism and design, so people sometimes ask for advice on more diverse or socially-oriented readings for course planning. As a student in the classroom myself, I have felt the frustration of a syllabus filled primarily with white men. It is especially painful as our…Design9 min readDesign9 min read
Published inTransition Design: Racial Inequity in Pittsburgh·May 11, 2020Designing System Interventions for Racial Equity in PittsburghTransition Design Approaches — Written by Team Resilience: Hillary Carey, Alex Klein, Nandini Nair, Yuchuan Shan Racial Inequity in Pittsburgh, Transition Design Seminar 2020, CMU Hillary Carey is quarantining in Oakland, California. She has now completed her first year of the PhD in Transition Design at CMU. She is focused on bringing anti-racism and…19 min read19 min read
