Dear DJN Members, Signatories, and Friends,

This month we are excited to introduce and welcome a new working group to the network. You can learn a little more about the instructional design working group below and be sure to stay tuned for ways to get involved. We can't wait to see how things flourish. We also held an amazing Member Story Session with members Rene Benavides and Rachael Dietkus. The session began with presentations, flowed into a period of reflection and ended with a Q&A. A recording of this session can be found h ere and the prompts we moved through are included.

We have an exciting DJN connection this month. Victoria had a chance to travel to Colombia and along the way met some amazing communities, organizations and people that align with design justice work.

Remember that you can email us with pictures and stories about connecting with members. Whether you are meeting with your node members, co-facilitating workshops, or just gathering for fun we would love to share. Another exciting thing to check out is Member Story with David Thomas. This interview touches on the artistic approach to inclusive design, cognitive bias and some of the principles that he is sitting with.

The last thing we would like to share is that our principles are now available to view in Romanian. Here is a link to this link. We thank all of those that volunteered on these translations and those that have volunteered on past translations.

Principle Contributors: Irina Niculescu, Louisiana Stoica, Alexandra Bușilă, Andrei Gabriel Nicolae

We would love to hear everyone's reflections on social media using the hashtag #designjusticespotlight and/or on the member slack channel. Interested in translating the principles? The guidelines are posted here.

Taylor Simone and Victoria Barnett, International Network Coordinators, Design Justice Network, and the DJN Communications team!

Email: designjusticenetwork@gmail.com

Instagram: @designjusticenetwork

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designjusticenetwork

Twitter: @design__justice (double underscore)

Web: designjustice.org

"But we can make choices within our sphere of influence about how we run a meeting, who we invite to the design table, or even just the extra steps we take in acknowledging our own identities when we're designing something. Like even at the most microcosmic level, there's at least one step you can take that's different from the way you did it the last time, that’s just a little more inclusive. That gives me hope, that we do know that there are steps we can take at all gives me hope, but I absolutely see that sense of I just don't know what to do whenever I'm giving these talks or just having conversations with fellow designers.”
- David Thomas

KK Naimool, image of them smiling brightly.

David Dylan Thomas, author of Design for Cognitive Bias, creator and host of The Cognitive Bias Podcast, and a twenty-year practitioner of content strategy and UX, has consulted major clients in entertainment, healthcare, publishing, finance, and retail. As the founder and CEO of David Dylan Thomas, LLC he offers workshops and presentations on inclusive design and the role of bias in making decisions. He has presented at TEDNYC, SXSW Interactive, Confab, An Event Apart, LavaCon, UX Copenhagen, Artifact, IA Conference, IxDA, Design and Content Conference, Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise, and the Wharton Web Conference on topics at the intersection of bias, design, and social justice.

This is an interview with David Thomas conducted by Lydia Hooper.
Here is a link to read David’s full story/interview. Thank you!

DJN Connects: Design Justice in Bogotá, Colombia

Design Justice Network’s International Network Coordinator, Victoria Barnett traveled to Colombia, between January 2022 - early April 2022, and she made some connections with various designers, institutions, and community organizers doing important and needed social and design justice work! Here is her #DJNconnects story to share her experiences and photos of her time and connections in Colombia - most specifically in the city of Bogotá.

We hope to develop further international connections and relationships in Design Justice, especially with #DJNconnects in our social media and newsletter!

Read the full story and see photos here!

This section in our newsletter highlights DJN members meeting up in person: whether traveling to meet each other, in-person meetings, or chance happenings! We’d love to feature these stories and we encourage all DJN members and signatories to share stories and images of when they visit and meet each other in person, across cities, countries, and borders! If you’d like to submit some images and a brief writeup or story about your meeting or visit in real life, please email them to us at desgnjusticenetwork@gmail.com - or post on your social media platform - tag us and use the hashtag #DJNconnects

Find events happening this month or go to designjustice.org/events for more. If you have ideas on how our events can be more accessible, please send us an email.

Translate to your timezone using thetimezoneconverter.com or timeanddate.com.

What We Are Sharing:

This month's resource list celebrates the Care Circle for moving through four seasons of offerings. Below you can find links to support the practitioners who moved us through amazing experiences. Thank you Denise Shanté Brown for facilitating this work. You will also find some resources that connect to our Members who participated in this month's member story session. Our conversations were grounded in care, so we thought it was fitting.

Healing by Choice Website Link Here

Meta Physica Wellness Center Website Link Here

Yves B Golden Website Link Here

The Breath Work Lab Website Link Here

Vision to Action (VTA) Collective Website Link Here

National Equity Project Leading for Equity Fellow Website Link Here

Rest as a Practice of Resistance and Freedom by LaShawn Routé Chatmon

Website Link Here

California Healers Network Link Here

A Guide to Organizing A Healers Network To Sustain Our Movement
Healing Justice Tool Kit
Website Link Here

Social Workers Who Care Website Link Here

Have resources, Inspiration, or Ideas for themes you want to share?Email us at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com

Here is a note from our new Instructional Design Working Group!
- Practitioner members of the Instructional/Learning Design Working Group are interested in using design justice approaches to move toward critical instructional design centered around co-designing teaching and learning that is equitable, accessible, and just. Currently, we envision that our work will include:
  - hosting design events for instructional/learning design practitioners to share advice and support for putting the principles into action
  - creating resources such as sample design activities and design outcomes to help designers understand how to apply the principles in practice

We are a newly forming working group and we anticipate that more areas of work will emerge as we grow! You can follow what we're currently up to, and connect with us, on our LinkTree page. The LinkTree can be found here.

DJN Communications Working Group: If you’re interested in supporting DJN newsletters, or social media please get in touch! Read more info on joining DJN Comms!

The Design Justice Principles at Work working group can be reached at designjustice.atwork@gmail.com to get involved and learn more. They host two regular meetings a month, with various sub-groups, so please get in touch if you’re interested.

All of our current nodes and working groups are listed on our website. If you’re thinking of starting your own, learn more about how to organize a local node and read our local nodes zine that was created to support and give guidance to local nodes. (much of it applies also to Working Groups).

If you know of any upcoming opportunities, please email us or share directly in the Design Justice Network #opportunities Slack channel. Wishing you luck as you look for your next opportunity!

Design Justice Network opportunities

Translate the Design Justice Principles
Join or start a DJN Working group
Join DJN Communications Working Group
Would you be willing to share your experiences with the Design Justice Network? There are no prerequisites (including a traditional design background), and past stories have featured members working in a variety of fields such as social work, community organizing, and handicrafts. We make the process easy for you (no writing involved!) and will only share what/how you consent for us to. We are particularly interested in hearing from members outside of Europe and the North American East Coast. If you have questions or interests, please contact Lydia at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

If you’re new to the Design Justice Network, welcome! Here are some resources to help get you started. As we continue to build these resources we welcome your questions and feedback.

Read an overview on how to get involved
Watch one of our Welcome to the Design Justice Network meeting recordings (Nov. 30, 2021 session is now uploaded)
Check out our YouTube channel
Learn how to organize a Local Node
Read about our membership benefits
Receive care in our Design Justice Network Care Circle (a benefit for DJN Members)
Review our finances.
Check out some DJN activities (NEW - these resources are being built)

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