I have had formative experiences that inform my belief that in both Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, we need to invest in socialware, not just software and hardware. I am so excited that I get to work with Fortune 500 companies and NGOs who share similar beliefs.
For a brief while, I was a tech utopianist. I thought technology could be the answer to almost everything, but then my work proved me wrong.
I spent several years in the early 2000s building technology programs in underserved communities throughout NYC for non-profits. But my programs didn't result in a long-term impact for communities. The entire system of non-profits operated with technological solutionism as a guiding value: they only provided grants to build tech centers and tech skill training programs, but not social and human capital programs to teach youth how to translate their technical skills into the job market. This was my first time encountering a theme that I would continually see in my career: providing technology is not enough. Tech availability does not automatically translate to tech accessibility. And even tech accessibility doesn't necessarily translate to economic and social prosperity. Also, institutions will often make decisions that are totally disconnected and oftentimes harmful to the people they purport to serve.
When I started working in the private sector in the mid-2000s, I saw the same pattern of technological solutionism. It started with Nokia, where I witnessed business leaders over-rely on quantitative data and ignore my prediction that their current business would disappear if they didn't pivot to making smartphones. I recount the takeaways in my talk on TED. I was in a deja-vu. Like the non-profit tech programs I built, Nokia refused to see beyond the numbers.
My experiences of watching the non-profit sector and private industry privileging technology at the expense of human beings have deeply shaped my work. In all of my fieldwork around China, Mexico, and India, I learned about the importance of human desires shaping the way technology is actually used once in the hands of people. In China, I watched people repurposing social media sites to escape the repressive powers of society. In Mexico, I watched immigrant communities redesign cellphones to fit their needs of living in precarious cross-border conditions. In India, I watched women gain power their cellphone ownership in families. All of these stories speak to the importance of the social layer where emergent human behavior happens outside of market or organizational forces.
