Dear friends and donors,
We need to understand the impacts of digital technology on our lives now more than ever. The University of Michigan's Digital Studies Institute (DSI) is a national thought leader in critically investigating the impacts of technology on race, gender, power, and identity. Our world-class faculty and students work together in the classroom and in research groups to confront pressing questions about digital technology's potentials and risks as we strive toward our mission of a more just and equitable technological future. As a newer institute on campus, we need your donations to help us meet our academic mission by sustaining the following activities:
- Curriculum Development Funding–To support faculty in developing new courses and cutting-edge teaching methods for our undergraduate students on relevant digital topics, such as the ethics of AI and chat GPT, the rise of digital surveillance, algorithmic equity, or digital misinformation and disinformation. For example, DSI faculty member Apryl Williams' popular undergraduate course, “Gendered and Racialized Bodies and Technologies” teaches students to think critically about the rise of facial-detection technologies and their impact on communities of color.
- DSI Lecture Series & Programming–To bring visionary thinkers and artists to campus to give lectures on topics at the intersection of technology and social justice, like Catherine Knight Steele whose research highlights the impact of Black feminists' use of online spaces to build community and engage in resistance.
- Digital IDEAS Summer Institute–To support our annual summer training program for graduate students, early career scholars, and practitioners. Attendees participate in lectures, panel and group discussions, methodology and writing workshops, and peer-review networks–learning about emerging issues, like inclusive technology and disability justice.
- Research Incubation Grants–Support for research grants to bring interdisciplinary groups of faculty and students together to accelerate and incubate research around technology and social justice issues, like our Urban Tech Collective which seeks to investigate the digital technologies and digital rights and inequalities in urban cities and spaces.
Many of our graduates go on to work in industry, but with a vital difference: they tell us that their Digital Studies courses and research opportunities gave them a critical eye, which taught them how to envision and work towards a more equitable and brighter technological future. Please consider making a gift to the Digital Studies Institute Strategic Fund.
Your gift will help ensure we offer the highest quality education possible, and help us train the next generation of scholars, technologists, and policymakers passionate about equitable technology.
Ellie Abrons, Director
Digital Studies Institute
