Building accountability in a digital census
A system of tools created for people taking the census in public libraries and librarians to document and report issues or concerns in order to drive accountability and action in preparation for the 2020 census, the first digital census.
Role: research, strategy, design, testing
Collaborators: Max Stearns, Mohammad Sial
Timeline: September 2019—December 2019
OVERVIEW
The 2020 decennial Census is to be the first digital Census. Given the digital divide that indicates around 36% of Americans don’t have access to reliable broadband, this means that traditionally hard-to-count and hard-to-reach populations are especially vulnerable to not being counted. These populations are encouraged to take their census in public libraries, and take more risk in doing so. Census taking in public libraries involves barriers to access, and a host of issues that may go wrong - census takers may abandon their census, enter personal information on incorrect sites, or be intimidated or interfered from government presence in the form of security.
How might we support an accurate count while ensuring accountability for the people who take risks to participate?
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Our initial research process involved a variety of methods: secondary research, community engagement, qualitative interviews, and ethnographic research. We aimed to understand the infrastructures to determine inhibitors and conflicts in the system.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT + QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
Our hypothesis was that different players might have different priorities and motivations. We attended events and spoke to different stakeholders to learn what concerns were, and actions being taken. Some organizations we interacted with included: the Digital Equity Lab, A Better New York, the US Census Bureau, the NYC Mayor’s Office, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the American Library Association. We used our research process to build relationships with potential parties who could inform our design, and contribute to implementation.
Conducting ethnographic research at Brooklyn Public Library experience the process to apply for a library card, which is a requirement for census takers using library computers to take the census.
INFRASTRUCTURE MAPS & ECOSYSTEM MATRICES
We created a series of infrastructure maps for the ecosystem of the Census, including relationships, currencies, and powers at play between different actors. There was an over-reliance on community conduits, who are typically the closest and most trusted touchpoint for hard-to-reach populations, which filtered down to individuals in those communities who were most at risk for interference of a digital census.
KEY LEARNINGS
There are a lot of unknowns and risks involved in taking the Census for the first time digitally.
There is a universal push, from all parties, for count accuracy. There is a specific emphasis on the need for accurate self-reporting.
We did not identify any means of documenting incidents or repercussions.
There is no clear definition of accountability between actors who all depend on one another.
Individuals (census takers) are being asked to self-respond without full information about risks involved.
Libraries are currently being heavily relied upon as census service-providers.
Emphasis for community members to self-respond to the Census currently takes priority over informing of risks or preparing for repercussions.
FINAL ITERATION
DESIGN CONCEPTUALIZATION
We needed our design to be functional, critical, collaborative, scalar, ensure accuracy and accountability.
The current structure means that information is typically funneled from the government, advocacy group, and “floater” organizations into communities. We wanted to find a way to embed accountability from community and individual level back to government, advocacy, and floaters.
ITERATIVE PROTOTYPING & TESTING
Partnerships were built simultaneously with our design. It was vital that we design
(1) the system in which our design could be situated to be most effective, and
(2) the partnerships and strategy for it to be successfully implemented at the same time.
Our partnership and implementation strategy and prototypes were iterated on along the way, which helped us develop buy-in to see our incident reporting system become embraced by a cross-disciplinary set of stakeholders.
Physical census report card box and poster with spaces for librarians to write safety measures that the library has taken.
IMPACT & NEXT STEPS
We received constructive iterative feedback throughout our process. A subset of the group of organizations we partnered with had begun to come together to form a working group to implement this reporting mechanism at library systems. This effort was derailed due to COVID-19.
We hope that this incident reporting system can serve as a foundation for cases that may come up, such as Center for Popular Democracy Action v. Bureau of the Census.
Read about the project featured by the New School here: https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2020/02/parsons-transdisciplinary-design-studio-develops-solutions-for-the-2020-digital-census/
This project was part of a semester-long project, advised by David Carroll and Sam Haddix.