Raising awareness about the value of inclusiveness and diversity in Japanese society has been an essential part of DAL’s mission from the beginning.
Guided by the values of inclusiveness, decentralization, sustainability, and diversity, part of our mission is to embrace more sustainable and circular modes of technology development to improve well-being for all people in a globally minded society. We believe that enhancing diversity and inclusivity at the individual level within an organization is essential to fulfilling this vision.
With this in mind, since March 2023 we have been engaged in the “DigitALL” initiative across Digital Garage (DG) to recognize and empower DG employees through the use of technologies. With the support of DAL advisor Sputniko! and chief architect Joi, our aim through this project is to ensure all DG employees are valued for being who they are, regardless of their gender, race, or ethnicity.
We launched the DigitALL initiative on March 8 with an organization-wide celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). We took our inspiration from this year’s IWD theme, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.” This aligns with our commitment to supporting gender equality and empowering all women and girls in the digital age.
We distributed NFT flowers to all Digital Garage employees, approximately 1,000 individuals. The NFT flowers were designed by DALL-E2, based on the prompt:
“Women of different colors and ages standing comfortably and confidently together.”
We also gifted real flowers to anyone who came to the office. (Digital Garage doesn’t intend to encourage employees to physically come to the office—next year we aim to send the flowers to everyone’shomes!) It’s important to emphasize that these flowers weren’t only for women—we wanted everyone who belongs to DG to recognize the significance of celebrating International Women’s Day and to share the celebration with their loved ones, such as by giving the flowers to their daughters.
We discovered that even small gestures like this can mean a lot to some people. For example, a guard at our office asked, “Is that really for me? My family will be very happy.” A recently married colleague also picked up a flower for his partner. Some female employees said this was the first time they had been celebrated and given flowers.
We are grateful that DG has endorsed and supported this initiative. For us, it represents a big step forward.
While we recognize the importance of celebrating this event, we also understand that it should not be a one-time occurrence, but instead an integral part of our ongoing efforts. DAL’s mission is to contribute to a new sensibility, expressed as a new digital architecture in the paradigm shift. We will continue to cultivate a welcoming culture where all members are valued and respected irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, culture, or beliefs. 💛
Daum Kim is the Deputy Architect at DAL (daum@dalab.xyz)
