When decentered people have the tools to exist, resist, and thrive, so do we all.
The De|Center is the home of the Design from the Margins methodology. We do deep work with decentered communities to make concrete changes to technology tools that address systemic injustice and advance human rights.
Learn more about our work here, subscribe to our newsletter here, or get in touch with us.
NEW PUBLICATION! Now inviting comment.
We are inviting feedback from tech builders—whether in commercial tech, non-profit, or open-source spaces—on our new guide, Design from the Margins: A Methodology to De-weaponize Tech.
It offers a short outline of the Design from the Margins (DFM) framework and is designed for those committed to creating just, and rights-protective technologies that resist being weaponized for surveillance, policing, or harm.
What Is Design from the Margins?
Design From the Margins (DFM) is a design methodology for more just, equitable, safer tech that centers the most impacted and decentered users, from ideation to production.
DFM is grounded in the knowledge that when those most marginalized are designed for, we are all designed for.
Using DFM, we meet people where they are, with the systems they use, basing our approach in harm reduction. Through deep community-focused research, methods, and strategies we work to block extractivism from decentered communities and enforce their power in building better and safer tech.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Who is a decentered user?
Decentered users are the groups most at risk and under-supported in the relevant context. In the DFM methodology, technology design is not separate from the broader historical, political, social, and institutional contexts that surround and impact human interactions. Through understanding and establishing who is most impacted by existing power structures, we can also understand who would most likely be harmed when technology is weaponized.
