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Principles

The Digital Equity Research Center engages in community-based and participatory research to inform digital equity practice and policy at the local, state, and national levels. We work with individuals, organizations, and communities to advance digital equity and social, economic, and racial justice in the Metropolitan New York Region and around the world. The following principles guide both the process and outcomes of this work in a way to which we hope to be held accountable:

Asset Based

Our work focuses on the strengths, rather than the deficits, within communities as defined by community members themselves, including those of which we are a part. This approach guides how we listen, examine, and think about whose knowledge matters and why in our research and practice.

Power Aware

We examine the power dynamics and structural inequalities that impact people’s everyday experiences with technology, including how these experiences are shaped in community settings. We work to shift power through our research and practice with those whom we work, as well as within ourselves and our own communities.

Respect Focused

Mutual benefit, care, and respect are essential to our work. Intersectional care ethics challenges us to think more deeply about who gives and who receives care in community spaces, including public libraries and technology centers. This focus helps to surface invisible labor and address structural inequalities within communities, organizations, and institutions.

Justice Centered

We seek to generate new knowledge in support of racial, social, and environmental justice. The goal of our research and practice is to help create more healthy, vibrant communities, while working to address systemic racism, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression in society.


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This framework was informed and inspired by decades of intersectional scholarship and activism created by black, indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ+ communities, and people with disabilities. Some works have been particularly influential in the formation of these principles. We also acknowledge and bring our own privileges, backgrounds, and communities into this work.

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