Building Tech That Shifts Power

• In Event: From Data to Impact: Developing Research and Tools to Inform and Improve the Application of Sociological Methods

Abstract

Much of today’s workplace technology is designed to monitor performance, optimize productivity, or extract data. Rarely is it designed to shift power. What would it mean to build technology using sociological frameworks, attentive to inequality and collective identity?

This lightning talk examines how participatory research principles can shape the design of digital organizing tools. Drawing on my work at The Workers Lab, a labor-focused nonprofit, I describe how frontline workers are engaged as paid collaborators in the development of tools that support documentation, analysis, and collective action around workplace conditions.

One example is Breakroom, a platform that enables workers to document unfair workplace experiences and identify patterns across worksites, transforming isolated incidents into shared evidence. Other tools include systems that help labor organizations aggregate issue data for campaigns and platforms to support enforcement of existing labor laws. Across these projects, workers contribute to the design, structure, and language of products.

Rather than beginning with technological capabilities, this approach begins with sociological questions: Who holds power? Who controls the data? How might a tool foster connection rather than isolation? How do design decisions reinforce or disrupt institutional hierarchies? During the talk, audience members will see a brief demonstration of these tools, seeing firsthand how sociological questions shaped their design.

For sociologists working across sectors, this talk gives a concrete model for applying sociological thinking to technology design.

Author

• Shelly Steward, The Workers Lab