Responsible Tech & Imposter Syndrome livestream reflection

Reflection on “Responsible Tech and Imposter Syndrome” livestream by Rebekah Tweed, All Tech Is Human’s Program Director. Connect on LinkedIn or Twitter.

You belong in Responsible Tech. 

Your perspective matters. Your experiences matter. Your voice matters.

The phenomenon of so-called “imposter syndrome” is a broadly resonant one among the All Tech Is Human community – and shared by much of the larger responsible technology community – precisely because our sundry perspectives so desperately need to be included (read: recruited, retained, empowered, promoted) in the notoriously homogenous tech industry; because our experiences are required for more deeply understanding the impacts and more fully mitigating the harms of technology; and because our voices are most salient for effectively aligning the design, development, and deployment of such comprehensively impactful technologies with the wider public interest. 

As data activist Renée Cummings says, we must invite ourselves to the party – and this is exactly what crashing through so-called “imposter syndrome” is about: individually, silencing those voices (internal and external) that tell you that you do not belong in these conversations; organizationally, dismantling the systemic barriers that attempt to keep divergent perspectives outside the gates, and dispelling the tech industry’s collective disdain for outsider’s voices.

It’s not up to anyone else whether or not you deserve to use your voice and exercise your power in this industry. Your lived experiences confer authority on you. Your knowledge base – especially one rooted in the social sciences, arts, or humanities, and particularly through an international lens – confers authority on you. Most importantly, your humanity and concomitant shared stake in our collective tech future confers authority on you. 

This belief is central to *why* we are concerned with making the tech industry more diverse, multi-disciplinary, and aligned with the public interest.

So, how do you deal with “imposter syndrome”?

All Tech Is Human’s Program Associate, Cate Gwin, proposed the idea of discussing imposter syndrome during a livestream after reflecting on her own experiences as well as the steady influx of feedback she received from members of the All Tech Is Human community who have expressed similar sentiments during their 1-on-1 meetings during “Office Hours”. 

David Polgar, All Tech Is Human’s Founder and Director also shared his own experiences and perspective as a convener of various stakeholders, in this livestream from Wed. April 13th.

This livestream came about when Cate noticed during her office hours that people often express frustrations around wanting to build a career in Responsible Tech but not necessarily seeing a spot for themselves.

Cate’s office hours arose after she made the observation that many people with valuable contributions to make might feel uncomfortable speaking up in front of 100 people during our virtual working group sessions.

These virtual working group sessions are so large because David recognized the need for openness and accessibility to include people who might normally be excluded from these conversations.

So much in a nascent space happens through community building, so a lot of the reasons why we even do an open working group…and why in our human rights and ai working group has 312 people…is because those 312 people now can walk away with a bigger network and now can be pointed towards other resources…You don't need a 312 people for the resource — why don’t you have a dedicated team of 15 people — because then you would miss out on almost 300 other people who want to learn from the space. - David Ryan Polgar

“When life happens, trauma happens” - Cate Gwin

Cate approaches office hours as a way to create an open space for people to ask “the dumb questions” and to process what they are learning.

Cate’s background is in family studies and human services, with a Masters Degree from Brandeis University in conflict resolution and coexistence, particularly focused on the impact of social media to enable conflict.

In the livestream, Cate discusses the value of knowledge and expertise and also of the particular identity and various communities that individuals are a part of, before encouraging people to “surround yourself with allies. Surround yourself with people who are there to support you.”

It can be very difficult to find individuals who meet exactly who are you looking for, especially when you are a part of different disadvantaged populations, but…what helps me overcome my imposter syndrome is just knowing I have the support and…I am surrounded by a community that actually supports me. - Cate Gwin

“Nothing that happened over the last decade should have surprised anyone in tech — if it did, that actually means that they didn't have the right people at the table.” - David Ryan Polgar

David emphasizes that lived experiences are crucial if we want to get responsible tech right and if we're really going to align the future of tech with our public interest.

He acknowledges that, as an organization, we tend to include voices that come to us and struggle to seek out new voices that we wouldn't know to seek.

That's the great kind of struggle, if we are trying to greatly diversify this movement. [And] because people are using different terms you actually have…a lot of these micro communities if you will that are circling each other and that are talking about similar issues but they don't usually come together. - David Ryan Polgar

David hypothesizes that we severely lack a certain commonality of space and a certain connected ecosystem where people feel a sense of welcome.

Watch the whole livestream below!