How Public Interest Technology Is Taking Root on Our Campuses

Interest in the ethics and effects of technology – from misinformation campaigns to whether or not ChatGPT has killed the high school English essay – is at an all-time high. We’re in the thick of public debates and conversations that can define the trajectory of our relationship with technology.

With an historic level of federal funding for Public Interest Technology (PIT) such as the CHIPS+ Act, the Federal Customer Experience Executive Order and the Infrastructure Bill, as well as the creation of the new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships at NSF, it’s time to explore an admittedly less glamorous but nonetheless essential aspect of our work: institutionalizing PIT on university and college campuses.

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Those of us who come to technology through public policy and government know that social progress is not free, and it’s not inevitable. To actualize and implement our society’s shared values, we have to create institutions and public policy that ensures they will lead to meaningful, long-term change. When we look at predecessors to PIT like Public Interest Law, we see the importance of creating new, interdisciplinary academic centers, of building institutional capacity to take in federal grants, of funding experiential learning opportunities, and of fostering relationships with employers that can lead to meaningful internships, fellowships, employment, and, eventually, entire career pathways.

Institutionalization entails a process where norms and values take a hold in society, be it through laws, regulations, and of course institutions, that uphold them. The process requires setting up durable and flexible structures so that a movement like Public Interest Technology can survive external changes, like dramatic policy and governance shifts from one federal administration to the next, or misinformation campaigns that direct ire towards public goods. The good news is that the current federal administration clearly values PIT. The bad news is it may not always be this way.

At the Public Interest Technology University Network, our hope is that our 58 member institutions will seize on our current momentum to lay down strong institutional frameworks on their campuses that define PIT’s core principles, practices and career pathways.

One of the most interesting aspects of helping to build a new, interdisciplinary field is that each institution has their own “flavor” of PIT. For some universities, science is their way in, for others it’s law, and for others it’s racial equity, inclusion and diversity. And every campus is approaching institutionalization with a different strategy.

Institutionalization of PIT on minority-serving institutions (MSI’s) is particularly urgent. Doing so can have a big impact not just on diversifying the tech industry, but also on diversifying the values and assumptions underlying technology design, which can lead to the development of technologies that better reflect the multitude of needs and interests within the multicultural society we aspire to live in. We are excited at the creation of new Data Institutes in our MSI’s such as the The Center of Applied Data Science and Analytics at Howard University.

Our annual Network Challenge has become an important catalyst and proving ground for facilitating both supply and demand for public interest technology. Faculty have created new, interdisciplinary courses, universities have set up PIT research labs and funded fellowships, and administrators have facilitated new academic pathways and work opportunities that guide budding technologists towards careers in PIT.

The proof of concept is already in place; now we need to scale it. PIT is attracting public attention, strong philanthropic funding and investments, and perhaps most importantly, students – a new generation of technologists who want social impact to be part of their work.

To learn more about how our network members are leading the charge, check out our March 2023 newsletter on Institutionalizing PIT and be sure to subscribe for updates and expert insights. If you are interested in contributing to our publication, please reach out to our Communications & Events Manager Kip Dooley at editorial (at) pitcases.org.