In the 1980s, the field of Feminist Science and Technology Studies (FSTS) emerged with scholars like Donna Haraway (biologist), Sandra Harding (philosopher), and Evelyn Fox Keller (physicist). The FSTS perspective critiques and embraces science and technology, while recognizing how these institutions produce inequality and social power structures. One crucial FSTS insight is the misconception that science and technology are neutral, value-free, apolitical, and provide absolute objectivity.

 

Donna Haraway (1988, p. 581) put forth the idea that rather than creating scientific knowledge based on the "god trick," the idea that science and technology produce knowledge that seemingly sees everything from nowhere, we should embrace science based on "situated knowledges." The term situated knowledge is a self-reflexive way of thinking about the world and the claims we make about it. In short, the concept of situated knowledge is that we see the world from a particular standpoint based on our background, experience, and socio-political place in the social hierarchy. When we recognize that the way we use science and technology to make claims about the world comes from a partial perspective and that the scientific 'logic' or 'reason' we use may be grounded in a particular way of seeing the world, we can make more responsible knowledge claims about the world.

 

Smart City Game draws on the crucial insights from FSTS about 'partial perspectives' to encourage conversations about how smart technologies have particular values that impact diverse populations in different ways. Our goal is not to abandon science or technology but promote critical reflection on how they affect society, especially for marginalized persons.