Margaret Jack

This paper contrasts the consolidation of the American mega-logistics industry with homegrown logistics operations based in neighborhoods of New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. We offer three cases: a community of immigrant street vendors in Corona, Queens; a theater-turned-food-pantry in the Lower East Side of Manhattan; and the city-wide network of mutual aid organizations. We note the ways these alternative forms of logistics stitch together technologies, delivery processes, and social networks-often quite creatively-to get food and other resources where they need to be, when they needs to be there. These logistics networks are locally-oriented, fit to specific requirements, and made up of tailored, ad hoc activities. They demonstrate flexibility and skillful work in a crisis and bring together volunteers, entrepreneurs, and necessary resources with a community-at-need in horizontal governance. In doing so, they model forms of supply chains that improve social welfare and offer alternatives to the growing consolidation of mega logistics. We identify opportunites for CSCW scholars to use insights from the field including theories of infrastructure and technology and social movements to support the further development of such supply chains.

The use of digital technologies in grassroots community organizing has multifaceted implications. It has extended the scope of sharing information and experiences, building solidarities and coordination, and fostering common identities to enable participation and amplify the voice of diverse actors in social movements. However, the rise of surveillance technologies, computational propaganda and internet shutdowns are creating novel barriers to democratic action, particularly affecting the participatory parity of marginalized grassroots groups. This one-day hybrid workshop will invite conversations on the complex interrelation between ICTs and social movements and devise ways to support grassroots movements by bringing together HCI researchers, activists and designers. We invite formal position papers to participate in workshop and encourage participants to ideate and contribute to creating zines that can serve as a helpful resource for supporting grassroots movements.

This workshop explores the role of healing ourselves as a key aspect for transformative social change. It brings together social justice and community based work in HCI that engages with healing and joy to expand on current methodologies such as autoethnography, somaesthetics, and embodied design which aim to describe different ways of knowing and describing and living experiences as inputs for design futuring. Our concern of interest is the ways in which all of us have lived through continuous community grief and loss due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a continued climate crisis; and the resulting symptoms like anxiety, depression, body pain, and scattered focus. We believe that we must acknowledge these experiences and feelings about these events in order to effectively work towards more optimistic futures. This workshop takes the space and time to consider our recent collective traumas and explore how to integrate them into futures that support the development of futures that fit our emotional, ethical, social and physical needs. Our aim is to build a greater understanding of how the CHI community can integrate healing in support of social change.