Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The public interest suggests a singular approach to a social good, but lessons from history illustrate the nuances of sharing open space, transportation networks, and policy mandates. Serving the public exists across a spectrum of possibilities. In this essay, we consider how the emerging field of public interest technology could learn from previous assumptions about who counts as the public and how benefits or harms can be overly concentrated in certain populations. We situate public interest technology as a growing capability of government public service, an institutionalized professional practice like public interest law, as well as a site of critical inquiry. Our definition of the public interest is motivated by a theory of change that recognizes the strength of inclusion. Punctuated with historic and contemporary examples, this essay argues that by acknowledging conflicts of interest and embracing the marginal, public interest technology could build ethical infrastructures to serve all.
Authors: Anne L. Washington, Joanne Cheung
Institutions: New York University, University of California, Berkeley
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $1,082
Funder: Harvard University
OpenAlex ID: W4403775069