Who has physical access to your experience/service?

Who does it leave out based upon physiology, age, primary sex differences (e.g., genitalia) or secondary sex differences (e.g., breasts)? Can people who are color-blind use it? What about the hearing impaired?

If your design provides a service, could it result in any unintended discrimination?

Consider how social norms differ across geographic locations and cultural backgrounds. Would a woman in Saudi Arabia use your design the same way as a woman in New York? Would a young gay man on the East Coast of the U.S. use your design in the same way as a straight elderly man in Argentina?

Who might be marginalized within your target demographic?

Have you considered intersecting factors that may reveal sub-group differences between people that would otherwise have been obscured? The elderly? The disabled? Men? Women? Cis? Trans? How might you design experiences and services for them?

Osteoporosis in Men

Key Intersecting Factors: Ethnicity, Gender, Geographic Location, Sex

After age 50, as many as 25% of men will suffer an osteoporotic fracture. When men break their hips, they are twice as likely to die as women.

Osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones, creating a higher likelihood of fracture, has been considered primarily a disease of post-menopausal women, an assumption that has shaped its diagnosis and treatment. Consequently osteoporosis in men remains under-diagnosed.

Smoking and drinking alcohol, behaviors more prominent in men, increase the risk of osteoporosis. An important step forward is “Mr. OS,” a National Institutes of Health study of older men in the U.S., China, and Sweden. Mr. OS examines factors—exercise level, diet, body composition, tobacco use, and alcohol—that often correlate with geographic location, sex, and ethnicity.

Virtual Assistants

Key Intersecting Factors: Gender, Ethnicity, Sexuality

Voice Assistants have primarily been gendered female, reinforcing negative stereotypes of female servitude. In 2019, a group of Danish researchers collaborated to develop “Q,” the first genderless AI voice. The database powering the voice was constructed by combining strands of gender-fluid humans’ speech and reached a genderless range that is difficult for humans to categorize as either female or male. In this way, designers hope to add a viable gender-neutral option for voicing virtual assistants.

For conversational Voice Assistants to avoid bias, they must understand something about users’ gender, age, ethnicity, geographic location, etc. Black English and particularly Black slang, for example, may be filtered out by algorithms designed to detect rudeness and hate speech.

Smart Mobility

Key Intersecting Factors: Age, Gender, Sexuality

Numerous innovations surround safety concerns for women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and older people. One such service is SafetiPin, developed in Delhi, India, in response to the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in 2012. Using crowd-sourced information and safety audits, SafetiPin calculates the safest route between two locations. Safety information can also be shared with city authorities; Delhi, for example, improved lighting in over 5,000 locations in response to user data. SafetiPin now operates in 63 cities across 16 countries.

Implicit Bias in Media

Key Intersecting Factors: Gender, Race, Sexuality, Social and Economic Status

Implicit bias refers to an unconscious tendency to associate particular characteristics with particular groups. While not necessarily conscious or malicious, implicit bias can lead to unintended consequences: distorted news coverage, imbalanced sourcing, and disparate treatment of different groups.

These oversights can have important implications for journalism, as the media industry is challenged with accurate depictions of an increasingly diverse world. Research has documented differences in news coverage of female and male politicians; crime and race; social and economic status; as well as the LGBTQ+ community. More inclusive reporting can improve story selection, transform audience engagement, increase trust, correct for knowledge gaps, and offer broader perspectives.