How Can We Change the System? Understanding and Addressing Redesign Inertia in Digital Public Services

Abstract

Intersectional design research shows that the lack of decision-making power of marginalized communities in the design of digital public services perpetuates social injustice. Drawing on two ethnographic studies, we analyze two cases of structural inaccessibility grounded in audism and cisnormativity: the absence of closed captions and Danish sign language on the Danish Parliament's online TV, and gender binary input forms in Danish public sector job applications. Drawing on lessons learned from participating in complaint processes as researchers, we introduce the concept of redesign inertia as the institutional and structural mechanisms that reproduce discrimination and disempowerment in the maintenance of digital systems. We extend existing conceptualizations of inertia in sociotechnical systems by centering on how structural oppression shapes inaction. Drawing on critical access studies, we argue that user-centered and accessible complaint processes are essential elements of the co-design and maintenance of a digital infrastructure or public service promising digital inclusion.

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