Shift SC is USC’s student-led platform for human-centered and socially responsible technology.

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Our goal is to promote interdisciplinary conversation and action around the social implications and ethical issues of tech.

Shift was designed around four principles:

1. community 🥳

First and foremost, Shift is a space for forming meaningful friendships with others also interested in the intersection between technology and people.

2. human-centeredness and social responsibility 📱

At Shift, we challenge and grow our understanding of the often overlooked social issues stemming from tech.

3. interdisciplinary approach 👥

Shift breaks down silos by bringing together students from all disciplines—designers, policy makers, educators… the list goes on—to think more critically about technology and our role in shaping it.

4. campus-wide orientation 🏫

Through a diverse range of initiatives, we aim to create opportunities for any and all students at USC to engage with ideas related to human-centered and socially responsible tech. At the same time, we also host our own internal workshops and book clubs each semester to dive deeper into particular subfields.

We really love this word Shift

It’s kinda quirky 😮, fits us well 👔, and was chosen for reason 💡

Shift represents a change in direction—a transition from a technology-centered approach of innovation and progress to a human-centered one—a growth in our awareness of the social issues that technology creates and our understanding of how we can steer it for the better.

The two phrases “human-centered” and “socially responsible” represent the core ideals of our organization:
  • placing human well-being 🙂 at the center 🎯 of how we design and think about technology
  • upholding accountability ❗️ for the negative social impacts 🙁 of tech

You might have heard of other awesome tech4good clubs on campus like CAIS++ or Code the Change. Shift SC is unique in a few ways: rather than focusing on social good broadly, we care specifically about the ethics, human values, and social responsibility within tech. Rather than building new products, we put on campus-wide inititatives and host internal discussions. And rather than leaning towards engineers and makers, we’re composed of students of all backgrounds and skillsets.

In this way, Shift provides a balance to the innovation & tech hype at USC. There’s Spark SC and Sigma Eta Pi with their entrepreunerial spirit, there’s Makers and LavaLab which focus on building products, and then there’s Shift SC, oriented towards how all the innovating and building actually affects individuals and society as a whole.

What exactly are these social implications and ethical issues of tech, anyway?

Some areas we care about:

  • Ubiquitous Algorithms
  • Attention Economics
  • Gene Editing Technology
  • AI Governance & Regulation
  • Data Privacy Rights
  • Mass Automation and Meaningful Work
  • Accessible and Inclusive Design
  • Sustainable Growth
  • Ethics Education

This diversity of our interests in technology and social issues is one of the beauties of Shift. Each of us comes from a different academic background and is drawn to Shift for a slightly different reason. What ties us together is our deep interest in technology, our deep empathy for people, and our desire to think deeper about their intersection.

Intrigued? Read more about the work we do or check out what your first semester in Shift might look like.