We live in a fractured world where communities are burdened by differences - so what we ask of you is nothing short of miraculous. — Red Burns
ITP/IMA is a community whose mission is to explore the imaginative uses of emerging technologies — to make people’s lives safer, more just, more beautiful, more meaningful, and more fun. We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.
These Community Guidelines apply to all ITP/IMA community members (faculty, staff, students, residents, fellows, and guests), ITP/IMA physical and digital spaces (e.g. Email listservs, Yorb, and ITP/IMA Discord server), and all courses, events, and projects created at or in service to ITP/IMA.
We are a community of and in solidarity with, people from every gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, language, neuro-type, all visible or invisible disability, body size, ability, class, religion, culture, subculture, age, skill level, occupation and background. As a result, we continually work to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for identities above as well as all levels of experience, education and socio-economic status.
Our student body typically has a large International student presence. We understand that, by the nature of being established in New York, our curriculum and social environment naturally centers events and histories specific to the United States of America. We know that a large percentage of our student body are international and we will continue to incorporate, celebrate and acknowledge events and histories from those countries with respect and an open mind.
We align ourselves with any values in pursuit of equity and freedom for all identities and, by that nature, are in alignment with similar views in International countries as well.
We acknowledge that ITP/IMA is located in ancestral Munsee Lenape homelands. We honor the past, present, and future contributions of the Munsee Lenape peoples. We also believe in the importance of raising awareness of the exclusion and erasure of Indigenous nations and are committed to continuing our learning on this important history.
We recognize that simply being part of the ITP/IMA community places us in a privileged position as we have the opportunity to receive an education from a private, expensive and prestigious university. We know that there are many equally talented students around the world who would like to partake of this community and, due to academic inaccessibility, it is not possible. We know and will continue to acknowledge that our privilege does not mean that we have more value than other people. We acknowledge this inequality and hold personal responsibility to share what we do in the spirit of inclusivity and create access where we can, as often as we can. We will use this privilege as a tool to help those most in need.
We pledge to center creative and ethical uses of technology in our research, teaching, and making. We accept the claim that technology is a reflection of society, its histories, and its politics. We reject the claim that technology is neutral and acknowledge that every technology has the potential to do as much harm as good. We acknowledge that when technologies cause harm, the harm disproportionately affects Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), queer, trans, disabled, femme, low-income, survivors, and all other marginalized bodies and communities worldwide.
With this understanding, it is our responsibility to center these groups when hosting, participating in, or developing events (e.g. workshops or meetings), materials (e.g. courses, syllabi, resources), technologies (software, hardware, tools, etc) and creative applications made at ITP /IMA (e.g. works of art, products, installations, experiments, etc).