Liberatory Computing

Computing curricula that motivates and provides students, particularly African Americans, with practical skills to address the racism embedded in society through systems thinking and liberation tools.

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About

The underrepresentation of minoritized groups, particularly African Americans, is the longstanding reality of computing fields. Computing has the opportunity to change the world and is increasingly being incorporated into our daily lives. Computing classes discuss computing as abstract, neutral, utopian and unable to cause harm. While everyone needs to be part of the process of ending a multi-layered system of barriers, we focus specifically on why this goal is of particular relevance to African American students. We highlight El-Amin's "liberation tools," which state how a sound racial identity, critical consciousness, liberation centered achievement identity, collective obligation, along with activism skills are essential to preparing African Americans to "fight for" racial liberation. Given that computing classes teach students critical thinking skills to solve complicated problems, we argue that computing is well-positioned to incorporate "liberation tools". They teach students how to think in terms of systems, which is essential for racial liberation. By expanding the liberation tools, we coin the term, "liberatory computing", to reveal how computing curricula can motivate and provide African American students with practical skills to address the racism embedded in society.

Data Activism Program

Access the Data Activism Curriculum

About the Program

The Data Activism Research Study aims to teach African American high school students in Boston and Cambridge to use computer programming, data science, and art to challenge power inequalities, such as racism. Additionally, the high school students will collaborate with community organizations on their projects that require data analysis. Community partners and students will be part of every aspect of the research project, such as conducting background research about a specific example of systemic racism, finding a data set, and implementing a data analysis. Raechel's research study will evaluate how African American students progress in various liberatory computing tools, such as fostering a sound racial identity, developing critical consciousness, cultivating a liberation-centered academic identity, and honing activism skills.

Overall, the project will introduce students to critical thinking and teach them the computer programming skills required to challenge social injustice. If you're interested in learning about the summer data activism class that was taught in 2022, please read this MIT News article. Additionally, if you would like to see the summer data activism student projects in more detail, here is a link to a brochure of their work for your review.

Also, please watch the video below about the data activism program:

Program Components

  • Foundation Workshops: Critical data literacy, research ethics, and community engagement principles
  • Technical Training: Hands-on sessions with data collection, cleaning, analysis, and visualization tools
  • Mentorship: One-on-one guidance from experienced data activists and researchers
  • Collaborative Projects: Team-based work on real community data challenges
  • Network Building: Connection with like-minded activists and ongoing community of practice
  • Resource Access: Datasets, software licenses, and technical support for ongoing projects

People

RW

Raechel Walker

Founder

A PhD student in the Personal Robots group. Developed the Data Activism Program Curriculum.

MT

Mathew Taylor

Former Software Engineer

CB

Cynthia Breazeal

Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; MIT Dean for Digital Learning

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Other Contributors

  • Brady Cruse (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Samira Shirazy (Undergraduate Research Assistant from University of Washington)
  • Saara Uthmaan (Undergraduate Research Assistant from University of Washington)
  • Eghosa Ohenhen (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Kortni Foreman (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Chase Vanias (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Sophia Brady (Undergraduate Research Assistant from Boston University)
  • Olivia Dias (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Elijah Johnson (Undergraduate Research Assistant from MIT)
  • Lian Liu (Undergraduate Research Assistant from Wellesley College)
  • Zeynep Yalçin (Undergraduate Research Assistant from Wellesley College)
  • Lina Henriquez (Past Undergraduate Research Assistant and MIT Summer Research Program Participant from Florida International University)
  • Raymond Walker II (High School Researcher)
  • Nathan Bradshaw (High School Researcher)
  • Justin Delk (High School Researcher)

    • Publications

    Redefining Data Science: Where Transformative Youth Organizing Meets Arts-Based Abolitionist Education

    Raechel Walker, Brady Cruse, Aisha Cora, and Cynthia Breazeal. 2025. Redefining Data Science: Where Transformative Youth Organizing Meets Arts-Based Abolitionist Education. In Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT 2025). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 78–89. https://doi.org

    Liberatory Computing for African American Students (Awarded Best Position Paper)

    Walker, R., Sherif, E., & Breazeal, C. (2022). Liberatory computing education for African American students. 2022 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), 85–89.

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