Research and Creative Scholarship
Kyla Williams Tate conducts independent research at the intersections of digital equity, artificial intelligence, emerging technology, data governance, and cultural memory. Her work examines how technological systems, policy frameworks, and community knowledge shape access to opportunity, representation, and power in the digital age.
Drawing on methods that combine policy analysis, narrative inquiry, and creative practice, her research explores issues ranging from digital infrastructure and AI governance to archives, storytelling, and the preservation of community narratives. The projects below highlight selected research initiatives connected to fellowships, collaborative research efforts, and scholarly presentations with institutional partners.
Black Archival Ethics of AI
Black Metropolis Research Consortium
This project explores how artificial intelligence and archival practices shape the ethical afterlife of Black data. Drawing on Chicago’s Black archival collections, the research proposes a framework called Black Archival Ethics of AI, grounded in community consent, transparency, and collective stewardship. The paper will be presented at the Black Metropolis Research Consortium’s 20th Anniversary Symposium on Black Chicago, June 17–18, 2026.
Verse, Voice, and Virtual Archives
Black Information Futures Symposium
Delivered at the inaugural Black Information Futures Symposium at the University of Washington iSchool, in partnership with CALMA and convened by Tracie D. Hall, this presentation introduced poetry as a methodological tool for imagining and shaping Black information futures. The research continues to explore how spoken word can function as a form of inquiry and documentation within Black digital humanities, archival justice, and critical information studies.
Illinois Coalition for Data Disaggregation and Equity
Black Researchers Collective
Kyla Williams Tate is a member of the Illinois Coalition for Data Disaggregation and Equity within the Black Researchers Collective. Her work focuses on safeguarding state and local data ecosystems from manipulation and erasure while advancing equitable data practices. She serves as a committee lead contributing policy recommendations for Illinois state, county, and municipal agencies through the War on Data policy brief initiative.
Digital Determinants
Equitable Broadband in Urban America
The Equitable Broadband in Urban America Research Group is a multi-city, multi-methods project that offers actionable insights into how broadband service in urban America can be improved. The $42.5 billion investment into broadband infrastructure under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is expected to be largely directed to rural communities where infrastructure needs are more starkly apparent. The work of the Urban America Research Group will ensure that urban broadband needs are better understood and addressed.
Researchers explore how state and federal policymakers, local governments, and digital equity champions contribute to digital equity in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Seattle. They delve into the specific dynamics and challenges to reaching universal broadband and digital equity in their cities.
Chicago
Kyla Williams Tate studies the relationship between trust, digital discrimination, and digital adoption among the descendants of the Great Migration.
From The Great Migration to Digital Equity: Superdeterminants, Systems, and Shared Power (Part 2) (December 2025)
From the Great Migration to Digital Equity: Trust, Discrimination, and Adoption (Part 1) (August 2025)
From Exodus to Access: Unraveling the Great Migration's Connection to the Digital Divide (March 2024)
Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fellowship
As a 2024–2025 Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fellow, Kyla Williams Tate was part of the Benton Institute’s Equitable Broadband in Urban America research initiative examining digital equity in cities shaped by the Great Migration. Her work explored how digital access, community knowledge, and storytelling intersect in communities navigating long-standing structural inequities.
Through the Digital Determinants project, Kyla documented community perspectives on technology access and opportunity using narrative research methods, policy analysis, and creative inquiry. The project produced a ten-episode podcast series, research publications, and a set of policy recommendation cards informed by community knowledge and lived experience.
Digital Equity Recommendations
