Despite the continued push to automate and digitize agricultural work in the Salinas Valley, certain crops, like romaine lettuce, are not suitable for harvesting automation due to their delicate nature, highlighting the continued importance of farmworkers. In this essay, 2024 Data Fluencies Grantee Summer Sullivan examines the history of Silicon Valley’s influence over California’s agricultural sector as well as the work farmworkers do out on the lettuce fields.

The recent increase of airborne hazards—caused by, for example, wildfire smoke or industrial pollutants—has coincided with the proliferation of access to air quality monitoring data. However, having access to this data and, in particular, the air quality index (AQI), does not necessarily mean we understand the information given. Here, Just Tech Fellow Todd Whitney provides a guide to better understand air quality data and how to make it work for you.

Meet Danielle Wood, one of our 2024–2026 Just Tech Fellows. An associate professor in the Program in Media Arts & Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, Wood also holds a joint appointment in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics. At the Media Lab, Wood is the founding director of the Space Enabled Research Group, which seeks to advance justice and promote sustainability on Earth using designs enabled by space. Among others, Wood has also help positions at NASA, Johns Hopkins University, and the UN.

Generative AI is becoming more ubiquitous across industries and services, including mental health and crisis counseling. Here, 2024 Data Fluencies Grantee Stephen Neville reflects on the proliferation of generative AI in counseling services, which has happened with little public debate or consideration for how it may impact people seeking help. He argues for greater transparency, accountability, and temperance from organizations that provided crisis support regarding their use of AI in counseling.