A Careful Trouble 2023
2023: A Year in Review
Hello! We're sending this out on 20 December, two days before the Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Before you set your laptop aside for 2023, we wanted to share some of our highlights with you, and wish everyone restful festive period.
In this month's edition of Careful Trouble’s newsletter:
Our 2023 highlights
The role of communities in AI governance
Technology and Gaza
A Year in Review
What a year it's been! Rather than making a list of every single project we worked on this year, we've collected our team achievements and external inspiration in this round-up, which features everything from Data Activism and Flemish Scrollers to Marcus Rashford and reforestation. Have a read, and meet the team.
Our Iconic T-Shirts
One of our team hobbies is spotting people in the wild wearing our much-loved "Just enough Internet" t-shirts. We've added another classic and, while a purchase today might be too late for Santa, we're looking forward to seeing you all in 2024 wearing a "Let's make AI work for 8 billion people" t-shirt. All proceeds go to the Save the Children Gaza Relief Fund.
Communities and AI Governance
As we get to the end of 2023, we're also reflecting on the future: in particular how a future Labour government might turn away from the corporate capture of current Conservative tech policy and embrace a more democratic, equitable approach.
Pulling together some of our learning from the Community Tech programme and the AI and Society Forum we've been reflecting on the role of communities in AI governance. To kickstart a series of posts, Rachel has written about the democratic need for appropriate funding for community activity and why public participation and algorithmic auditing aren't enough for robust governance. We want to see community power at the heart of Britain's technology future.
Inclusion Producer Roseanna Dias has also written a round-up of the Community Tech community of practice, which has grown into a vibrant network over the last year.
Technology and Gaza
Communications shutdowns in Gaza are making it difficult for Palestinians to keep in touch with one another and to receive help from around the world. Connecting Humanity are collecting donations for eSim cards; you can donate here.
To quote this open letter, "we believe that technology can serve and uplift society, but only if we are attentive to the harms and devastating impacts emergent from its development and use."
Understanding these harms, and their terrible consequences for people in the Gaza Strip, is an important part of critical engagement with technologies and tech infrastructures, and is something we'll continue to work on as we go into 2024.
Some further reading:
Write-up by Timnit Gebru of DAIR's No Tech for Apartheid event
Palestinians in Gaza using eSim cards to get around communications black out (Guardian article)
It is tough to sign off on such a sombre note, but - through the darkness and complexity - we wish you all a lovely holiday season and look forward to collaborating and learning together in 2024.
The Careful Trouble team
Thanks for reading. If you're a fan of the newsletter, we'd love it if you could forward this on to anyone else who you think might be interested.
If you want to read more from us, take a look at our websites – Careful Industries and Promising Trouble.
