By Danny Spitzberg
Working in tech is a mix of privilege and pain.
Each week, we struggle with how our values fit in our workplaces and platforms.
We’re a group of tech workers and allies who see how the tech industry shapes our lives and data, and how it is complicit in forms of oppression, including racism, classism, sexism, cisgenderism, homophobia, and xenophobia. We believe there are alternatives, through equitable ownership and control. That’s why we’re organizing “User, Worker, Owner! Bringing Democracy to Work.”
Our goal is to imagine a tech industry working towards non-exploitative, joyful, and humanizing futures. What would this industry look like if it was a part of the movement? How would decisions in companies get made, and who would have power? This gathering is for us to define problems in our workplaces and platforms, expand our imagination, find peers, get tools, and eat ice cream.
Come be part of our gathering on May 2, 2018 5-8pm at VSCO (1500 Broadway, Oakland)
Join people from Tech Workers Coalition, Reflex Design Collective, CoLab Cooperative, and other groups to explore tech and equity:
- 4:30pm – Doors open
- 5:00pm – Welcome and opening remarks by CoLab coworker Danny Spitzberg
- 5:15pm – Talks on cooperative alternatives by digital labor researcher Niloufar Salehi, co-op scholar Nathan Schneider, and employee ownership specialist Camille Kerr
- 6:00pm – Pizza from Arizmendi and kombucha from Lev’s
- 6:15pm – Pitches for simultaneous workshops and group discussions
- 6:30pm – Featured workshop, on how democratic governance works, by Harmonize founder Simon Mont and Reflex Design Collective co-founder Pierce Gordon
- 7:30pm – Reflections from workshops, peer connections
- 7:50pm – Ice cream and closing remarks
RSVP to join us here. Tickets are $15, light food and drinks provided. Nobody turned away for lack of funds. To request free tickets, or to help sponsor the event, email danny@colab.coop. Far away? Sign up for the livestream here.
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