We believe that a principled approach is vital in order to achieve digital justice and use community technology to heal communities. This principled approach allows us to reflect on our progress and determine whether or not it’s aligned with our purpose. This way, we are reminded that relationships and not technical structures are at the center or our work.

CTC Principles 

The CTC recognizes the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition’s principles of access, participation, common ownership and healthy communities as foundational to our work. We are also grateful to be able to build off of basic principles from other projects like the Equitable Internet Initiative.

These principles were developed over a series of conversations and interviews conducted by the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition in order to guide their approach to community technology. The interviews explored how coalition members were using media and technology for community organizing or grassroots economic development and to describe their vision for "digital justice" in Detroit.  In addition to DDJC’s foundational principles the CTC has appended our own principles reflecting  Click the links below to see each set of principles, and read more about the process for the creation of the Detroit Justice Coalition principles here.

  • ACCESS: Digital justice ensures that all members of our community have equal access to media and technology, as producers as well as consumers. 

  • PARTICIPATION: Digital justice prioritizes the participation of people who have been traditionally excluded from and attacked by media and technology. 

  • COMMON OWNERSHIP: Digital justice fuels the creation of knowledge, tools and technologies that are free and shared openly with the public. 

  • HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: Digital justice provides spaces through which people can investigate community problems, generate solutions, create media and organize together.