IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2020 - 84

Last Word
Christine Perakslis

ublic Interest Technology (PIT) is defined
as " technology practitioners who focus
on social justice, the
common good, and/or the public
interest " [1] or " an emphasis on the
development of technologies and
technical expertise that advance
the public good [2]. Our civic-minded
community brings together experts
with diverse perspectives from a
vast array of disciplines. We unite
to influence the design and deployment of technology to improve the
quality of life for local, regional, and
global communities.
We grappled with civic effects. We
confronted inequality and injustice in
engineering due to racism. The mettle of our moral infrastructure was
roused, and aroused. We appreciate
sagacious methodology to achieve
not only more efficient decarbonized
energy usage, but also aestheticallypleasing designs through community-engaged partnerships to achieve
pride of ownership.
Our community contended with
conflicts at the intersection of culture and technology. Families are
fundamental social units for a sustainable society [3]. We explored cultural impacts of technology on the
social and familial fabric of the Iranian culture. There are consequences
of technology transfer on cultures in
the global periphery; what are the

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2020.3039563
Date of current version: 2 December 2020

Cyberbiosecurity,
Ecopsychology,
and Beyond
Our Formidable PIT Community
aspects of cybersecurity and information systems, data visualization,
handicapped aids, peace and conflict studies, and medical diagnostics. The experts of our community
admirably serve and defend public
value for the long-term. We are a formidable PIT community.

long-term effects of exchanging refuges of peace, tranquility, vitality,
and joy for modernization?
To advance food availability and
food security, our colleagues benchmarked Israel as a global leader
in efficiency, production, and sustainability of dair y farming. We
now discern salient correlations
between sociocultural contexts
and cybersecurity.
Our contributors were concerned
with the well-being of the individual,
as well as the communities in which
we live, work, and play. From earbuds to national parks, we contemplate forfeitures due to technology.
We risk self-absorption and loss of
collectivity when listening to music
in isolation; we deprive ourselves
of ecopsychology [4] if we remain
untethered from nature.
We were educated by experts
who investigate, influence, and implement for the good of society in
such spheres as public domain software, cyberbiosecurity, renewable
energy, critical race theory, human

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

Author Information
Christine Perakslis serves as an
adjunct professor, as well as a consultant for various industries. She
can be reached at perakslis@hot
mail.com.

References
[1] The Ford Foundation. Retrieved from
https://www.fordfoundation.org/campaigns/
public-interesttech/
[2] Arizona State University. Retrieved from
https://pit.asu.edu/
[3] United Nations General Assembly Economic
and Social Council. Retrieved from https://
undocs.org/A/66/62
[4] White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J. et al.
Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature
is associated with good health and wellbeing. Sci Rep 9, 7730 (2019). https://doi.org/
10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3

∕

DECEMBER 2020

https://www.fordfoundation.org/campaigns/public-interesttech/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/campaigns/public-interesttech/ https://pit.asu.edu/ https://www.undocs.org/A/66/62 https://www.undocs.org/A/66/62 https://www.doi.org/10.10387s41598-019-44097-3 https://www.doi.org/10.10387s41598-019-44097-3

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2020

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