A Socio-Technical Approach to Public Interest Technology

Presently, there is limited understanding in Australia of the notion of Public Interest Technology (PIT), particularly the manner in which technology and systems can be designed, developed and deployed to serve the public interest. This webinar will provide an introduction to socio-technical theory, as applied to PIT, demonstrating the value of an emergent framework for advancing the design, development and implementation of PIT in a way that is human-centric and emphasises values as core to the PIT research agenda. This webinar will be of interest to people in academia, government and industry who are interested in interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaborations that advance PIT. As part of this, we seek to contribute to a research culture of socio-technical co-design, characterised by genuine collaborations between STEM and HASS academics and between industry and academia. We contend that such research approaches will lead to products and services that are more resilient, and better serve the public interest.