Introduction to Public Interest Technology

Social Change is a phenomenon we observe over time. Activities that were deemed acceptable or impossible in the past is unacceptable or very possible presently. Societies are dynamic entities that change when the adoption of an innovation triggers a mix of functional and structural changes. Humans have evolved to master both tool creation and usage such that our tools evolve with us. absorb tend to originate from a multitude of causes and with each cause having its own set of preconditions, mechanisms, risk, and opportunities. Activism is the practice of using action to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Supporters of social causes desire to act with direction, magnitude, and intention. In any social cause, we eventually have to answer: How do we get from to ?

represents current society with a social cause you care about and represents a future where the issue's influence is reduced, eliminated, or transformed. Such a change may require massive cooperation or a new technology, either way activists can develop new strategies to galavnizing public support. It is also true that not everyone always agree with activists' tactics, a problem otherwise known as the Activist's Dilemma:

Protest tactics can often negatively impact popular support.^[1]

The Activist's Dilemma negatively impacts the efforts to make measurable social impact when the intensions challenges systems upheld by the ruling class. However, the dilemma is not a road block, it is a description of the terran we all must traverse in order to get from to . Through critical inquiry of the dilemma can show society how to respond to, and at times, steer clear of calamities. Use this calculus^[2] to accelerate your efforts in Public Interest Technology and towards answering the Activist's Dilemma for yourself.

Notable Terms

activism is the practice of using action to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good.

Anti-oppressive Technology is the name of a Theory of Change conceived & developed at Civic Hacker LLC.

calculus is the name of the language used in the critical inquiry of Public Interest Technology. It is a lanuage "superset" that includes natural languages, computer languages, and some mathematical forms.^[2:1]

Activist's Dilemma is the hypothesis that protest tactics can often negatively impact popular support.^[1:1]