SCULPTING REALITY FROM OUR DREAMS: PREFIGURATIVE DESIGN FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty by Mariam Asad In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Digital Media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Georgia Institute of Technology [# MONTH YEAR of GRADUATION] COPYRIGHT © 2019 BY MARIAM ASAD SCULPTING REALITY FROM OUR DREAMS: PREFIGURATIVE DESIGN FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Approved by: Dr. Christopher A. Le Dantec, Advisor Dr. Jill Dimond School of Literature, Media, and Sassafras Tech Collective Communication Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Carl DiSalvo Dr. Eric Gordon School of Interactive Computing Department of Visual & Media Arts Georgia Institute of Technology Emerson College Dr. Nassim Parvin School of Literature, Media, and Communication Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: # [Month dd, yyyy] For everyone who has fought before me and to everyone who’ll be fighting after me. And for Scout. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Please forgive me for leaving out names here; one page is not enough. Thank you to Ms. Shedra, Ms. Robby, Fiezi, Paul, Amanda, Andy, Kitty, Neesha, Aimée Josiane, Rosa, Suhaib, Christopher, Gav, Malik, Yacin, Carter, Carl, James, Will, Kieran, Sasha, Tad, Vera, Sarah, Eva, Ify, Jessie, Zahra, Nedra, Suzie, Dianna, Sam, Tracy, Belly, Kara, K, Lori, Jen, Filomène, Kitty, Melsy, Nikko, Tash, Shady, Jennifer, Hira, and Glenn. Thank you to YUKONS, El Myr, 529, The EARL, Aurora, Charis, UNIFORM, Solar Flower, Tears for the Dying, Riboflavin, Nurse, Rapturous Grief, Mutual Jerk (RIP), Art School Jocks (RIP), Rug, Haint, Muddle (RIP), Bitter, Farrad Thomas, Trashcan, Kibi James, Josh, Ryan, Wigs, Brannon, Nag, Predator, GHB (RIP), and Slugga (RIP). Thank you to Andrew W.K., Hearty White, Sleep, SunnO))), Earth, SZA, Yaeji, Spellling, Fucked Up, Minutemen, Earl Sweatshirt, John Maus, SubRosa, Japanese Breakfast, Danny Brown, Witch, OM, Suburban Lawns, X-Ray Spex, Clipse, Desperate Bicycles, The Raincoats, Shopping, Propagandhi, Ghostface Killah, Frank Ocean, Empress Of, Bedouine, Ana Roxanne, Solange, Mitski, Lizzo Beating, Big Freedia, Um Kalthoum, Outkast (hootie hoo), and Das Racist. And big thanks to Stefania and Sarah and Tyler and Blammo. Thank you to Walidah Imarisha, adrienne maree brown, Mia Mingus, Warsan Shire, and Ijeoma Umebinyuo. Thank you to Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Andrea Lawrence for paving the way for so many of us. Thank you to Dr. Lynn Dombrowski, Dr. Sheena Erete, and iv Dr. Jill Dimond—my academic aunties. Thank you to Melisse and Sidrah, my two sisters from two different families. And, as always: thank you Scarlet and Dan, my hearts and my home. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS x SUMMARY xi Introduction 2 1. Problem Statement 6 2. Research Questions 9 2.1. R1. How are democratic ideals embodied by existing forms of civic engagement? 10 2.2. R2. What are alternate forms of civic engagement that emerge from similar democratic ideals? 10 2.3. R3. What is the role of prefiguration in design research? 11 2.4. R4. What are the limits and opportunities of prefiguration in design research? 12 3. Contribution: Prefigurative Design 13 4. Dissertation Overview 17 4.1. Dissertation Structure 18 2. Related Work 24 2.1. Democracy and HCI 26 2.2. Deliberative democracy 28 2.2.1. Liberal democracy as deliberative governance model 31 2.2.1.1. Justice as fairness 32 2.2.1.2. Pluralism and stability 33 2.2.1.3. Public reason 35 2.2.2. Representative democracy as deliberative democratic mechanisms 37 2.2.2.1. Voting 37 2.2.2.2. Public assembly 38 2.2.2.3. Majority consensus 38 2.2.3. Digitally mediated “status quo” democracy 39 2.3. Radical deliberative democracy 40 v 2.3.1. Anarchism as deliberative governance model 42 2.3.1.1. Non-hierarchy 43 2.3.1.2. Anti-oppression 45 2.3.1.3. Autonomy 47 2.3.2. Direct democracy as deliberative democratic mechanisms 50 2.3.2.1. Solidarity 51 2.3.2.2. Direct action 54 2.3.2.3. Prefiguration 55 3. Methods 59 3.1. Methodology 60 3.1.1. Participatory Design 61 3.1.2. Action Research 64 3.1.2.1. Insider/outsider dynamics 66 3.1.2.2. Justice and democracy 68 3.2. Methods overview 70 3.3. Introducing Prefigurative Design 72 3.3.1. Researcher self-disclosure 73 4. Fieldsite: Cycle Atlanta 75 4.1. Site 76 4.2. Method 78 4.3. Approaches to Issue-Oriented Advocacy Work 82 4.3.1. Advocacy Work through Identity 83 4.3.2. Advocacy Work through Infrastructure 84 4.4. Prototyping Digitally Supported Advocacy 86 4.4.1. Geolocation to Improve Visibility 86 4.4.2. Feedback Loops for Improved Safety 88 4.4.3. Community Annotations for Empowerment 89 4.5. Designing for Digitally Supported Advocacy 91 4.5.1. Connecting Resources 92 4.5.2. Connecting Identities 93 4.5.3. Connecting Issues 95 4.6. Building towards prefigurative design 95 5. Fieldsite: Occupy Our Homes Atlanta 98 5.1. Site 99 5.2. Method 100 5.3. Activist Information Practices 102 5.3.1. Rapid response 102 5.3.1.1. Situating 103 5.3.1.2. Codification 107 5.3.1.3. Scaffolding 110 vi 5.3.2. ICTs for “The Long Game” 112 5.3.2.1. Situating 112 5.3.2.2. Codification 113 5.3.2.3. Scaffolding 114 5.4. Activist Design Orientations 114 5.4.1. Flexibility as an Activist Design Orientation 116 5.4.2. Process as an Activist Design Orientation 117 5.5. Building towards prefigurative design 119 6. Fieldsite: Atlanta Community Engagement Playbook 124 6.1. Site 124 6.2. Method 127 6.3. Designing for Digital Civics 128 6.4. Processes for Friction-ful Community Engagement 131 6.4.1. Solution Session 131 6.4.2. Working Sessions 133 6.5. Early prefigurative design 133 7. Fieldsite: Prearrest Diversion Initiative 137 7.1. Site 138 7.2. History 140 7.3. Methods 141 7.4. Prototypes 143 7.5. Findings 145 7.5.1. Technology: Inconsistent Requirements 146 7.5.1.1. Security 146 7.5.1.2. Sharing information 148 7.5.1.3. Usability 152 7.5.2. Organization: Conflicting Priorities 153 7.5.3. Work: Performing Collectivity 158 7.6. Reflecting on prefigurative design 164 8. Discussion 169 8.1. Research Questions 170 8.1.1. R1. How are democratic ideals embodied by existing forms of civic engagement? 170 8.1.2. R2. What are alternate forms of civic engagement that emerge from similar democratic ideals? 171 8.1.3. R3. What is the role of prefiguration in design research? 172 8.1.4. R4. What are the limits and opportunities of prefiguration in design research? 174 8.2. Contribution: Prefigurative Design 176 8.2.1. Prefigurative design 176 vii 8.2.1.1. Envisioning 176 8.2.1.2. Acting presently 178 8.2.1.3. Counter-structures 178 8.2.1.4. Ideal circumstances for prefigurative design 181 8.2.1.5. Transformative justice as example of prefigurative counter-structure 183 8.2.2. Prefigurative design as design methodology 186 8.2.3. Methodological contributions 191 8.2.3.1. Participatory design and action research 191 8.2.3.2. Value sensitive design 192 8.2.3.3. Critical/speculative design 195 8.2.4. Methodological limitations 196 8.3. Reflections and Future Work 198 8.3.1. Researcher/Participant Power Dynamics 198 8.3.2. Challenging Technocratic Hegemony 199 8.3.3. Prefiguring the Academy 200 Appendix A. Glossary of key terms 201 REFERENCES 202 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 The cycling community was a rich site to learn about digitally 15 mediated advocacy and more traditional forms of civic engagement. Figure 2 Activist practices share with advocates patterns of digital tool use 16 and democratic goals, though use different strategies to achieve them. Figure 3 These design interventions were primarily non-digital to respond 16 to the community's stated needs and practices. Figure 4 The organization was a combination of more radical approaches 17 to social work while trying to affect progressive change within larger, more traditional civic institutions. Figure 5 Under the umbrella of deliberative democracy, liberal democracy 21 and radical democracy (anarchism) have different interpretations of how to govern constituents. Figure 6 The action research spiral is iterative, repeating based on new 55 information acquired through inquiry. Figure 7 While I use different methods depending on the fieldsite, all my 60 research is empirical and relies on design-based methodologies. Figure 8 Three screenshots of the Cycle Atlanta iPhone app. 79 Figure 9 Participants' prototypes were manifestations of how they 82 envisioned the role of design in reconstituting their role as a cycling advocate. Figure 10 I asked each participant to describe their designs out loud as they 83 drew them, which offered insight into their concerns and priorities within their advocacy work. Figure 11 The tweets on the OOHA timeline show how information was 104 intentionally situated for impact. Figure 12 This meme was created on-site at the resident's eviction and 107 scaffolds instructions for how to participate in a phone campaign. Figure 13 I summarize findings from my fieldwork and synthesize them 170 with anarchist principles and practice to produce different core principles of prefigurative design. ix LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS AMC Allied Media Conference BIPOC Black, Indigenous, and People of Color HCI Human-Computer Interaction HDL Housing Defense League HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ICTs Information and Communications Technologies IFTTT If This Then That NGOs Non-governmental organizations OOHA Occupy Our Homes Atlanta PAD Prearrest Diversion Initiative UI User Interface VSD Value-Sensitive Design x SUMMARY At their core, organizing and activist work are about envisioning and working towards an alternative, more just political future.