Student Spotlight: Leading Tech Innovation with Heart
Lily Botsyoe, University of Cincinnati second-year information technology PhD student, Research and Knowledge award winner (Ghana) and Presidential Fellow.
Written by Serigne Thiam, Graduate Assistant for the Graduate College
Technology is evolving faster than ever, but for many underprivileged communities, access and education for these advancements lags behind. With innovation increasing, there comes a growing necessity for human-centered thinkers and solutionists to tip the scale. And amongst those pioneers is Lily Botsyoe, a second-year information technology PhD student. She’s a member of UC’s Presidential Fellowship Program, a cohort-based experience that develops doctoral students’ skillsets in and out the classroom through real-world learning and problem solving. Spurred on by the digital inequity she witnessed during her upbringing in Ghana, her mission is clear: innovation should serve people, and technology should work for anyone. In this candid Q&A, Botsyoe shares the moments that sparked her love for technology, the importance of community building, and her vision for a more innovative future.
What made you pursue computer science/information technology? Did you always envision yourself as a technology professional?
Doctors are a big deal in Ghana. I had this [idea] in my mind that since I want to be a doctor, and I’m interested in medical sciences, I should pursue that career. But the year I was entering university, it was very competitive for public universities in Ghana, and I couldn’t get into my first choice of medicine. My second choice was pharmacy, but I didn’t get in. My third choice was computer science.
And first off, I went into a computer science class and thought ‘what exactly am I doing in this class!?’ There were a lot of zeros and ones. And for the first weeks of the class, I contemplated moving into something more biological. My dad saw a lady on the news teaching girls in the slums of the city how to code. Most of those girls live in places that are not privileged, and yet they are finding a way to do something I find very difficult. Maybe I just had to rethink my approach to learning?
At that time, I hadn’t seen somebody like me in the tech space, that I could speak with and share my concerns. My dad put me in contact with Regina Honu, the founder of the Soronko Academy in Ghana, who was doing amazing work with other girls interested in STEM. That was a turning point for me. I got to see that there is something big about mentoring and seeing a model in real life. So in essence, I got the mentoring I needed to stay in technology.
People in Ghana didn’t have access to laptops or computers, so I got to thinking about bridging the gap between access and people. How can we make sure that there is equal access to people passionate about technology. My passionwas pretty much set on fire from then on out. Some of the things I experienced made me think, “This can change, and it has to change.”
Elder participants of the Avondale Digital Skills Workshops.
What does your role in building human-centered technological solutions look like to you?
Technology can send some of what you do farther away from you. You get to interact with people, learn from them, and share your ideas from an interdisciplinary lens. We Presidential Fellows did work around ethics last year, and I learned that with everything we as professionals do in training, we must be able to have the users at the center of what it is we’re doing. So, if you're building software or doing research, whatever it is, it’s going to land in front of a person. And how do you make sure that the technology is maximized and the user can maximize it to their liking? How do you have them in mind when you're building something? And how do you make sure that they're able to even trust the systems they're building. Our ethics work taught me to see that there are so many ways to incorporate ethics into technology, and that it is crucial to think more about people and not just profit and innovation. To do that, you must work with the solutions you create to get a better understanding of user's perspective. That’s why it’s so important to me to share my ideas and solutions, as it gets me to rethink what I’ve done, and re-release it to the people
You're a member of the Presidential Fellowship program. Can you share what this fellowship means to you and how it has impacted your professional and academic journeys?
It is truly an honor to be part of this group. We are in a cohort of six to seven students who work together and discuss the solutions to real-world problems, which allows us to mimic institutions in the real world. I get to learn with all these people in an interdisciplinary way, and aside from that, I'm able to build industry skills to prepare me for the global marketplace. A whole lot comes together to groom you holistically, so by the time you've left school, you don't only know what you can do, but you have the people skills to deliver and implement what you have learned. And so, the Presidential Fellowship has come to help us rethink education in a way that makes us well-rounded people, ready to take on problems, and use what we've done in a way that benefits society. I'm so happy to be part of this program.
Lily Botsyoe (third from right) and UC Associate Professor Dr. Jess Kropczynski (far right) embracing Avondale youths.
Please explain some of your field work in Ghana and Cincinnati.
I always try to see myself as the middle person. If I have access to a resource, I love to share it with others who don't, and that’s where the inclusion aspect of my work comes into play. I call it the “trainer of trainees” approach, which becomes a snowball effect. The people I’ve informed share the resource with others in their community. In Ghana, I worked with the Ghana Youth Internet Governance Forum to increase internet access, with a focus on internet equity that can benefit Ghana as a whole.
Technology problems can be online, but they have roots offline. We conducted community research in Avondale last year and found that lot of people living below the poverty line had tech issues and low digital literacy levels. So in collaboration with the Avondale Development Corporation and Uptown Consortium, we launched our Avondale Digital Skills Workshops. We introduced people to general technology and how to use it well through flashcards and workshops that lasted three months. The flashcards were technology-focused, and participants engaged in web practices like creating a strong password or connecting to Wi-Fi. We also provided tips to operating computers and how to secure their privacy online. To facilitate community bonding, we had some of the younger participants train and work with their parents and elders on digital literacy. Me and my colleagues believe that putting users in control of the technology they use better facilitates community building and transparent technology use. In line with my passion for mentorship, I am also working on a color book titled Stem Girls Picture Perfect, and my hope is young girls interested in stem can read and learn about impactful women in STEM and understand that a STEM professional’s appearance isn’t what matters most, but what they have to offer in STEM.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your graduate studies at UC, and how have you used your education to frame your innovation and inclusivity endeavors?
I love to learn beyond the classroom and my field of information technology because of how expansive the world is. Everything nowadays overlaps with technology. I did not want to only study technology and the know-how behind it, but the human-centered decision making as well. My dissertation is focused on online privacy and how to effectively improve people's situational awareness online. And I’ve actualized my efforts through UC's Civic Tech Lab and helped build technological solutions in the service of everyday people. It’s really exciting for me to interact with different people and work beyond the classroom to leave a lasting civil impact.
Some of the most recent things I’ve worked on is training people on their online situation awareness. I’m focused on how people interact with social media platforms and the number of permissions they allow. Users often have no clue what their data is being used for! I've reflected my research in a situational awareness model that involves three key elements: Users need to be able to perceive what they are doing, comprehend their actions, and contemplate the risks associated with their habits.
Finally, what advice would you offer to aspiring graduate students who are interested in pursuing interdisciplinary research?
Come out, interact with people, and seize opportunities that come your way. I've heard from colleagues and friends that once an opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare. So keep preparing for anything that comes your way. Pursue your passions and be curious. For most people in grad school, we read a lot of research work and leave out some of what’s happening around us. You can have a good balance between what you’re doing in class and what’s also happening in the real world.