Awareness is growing of "microaggressions," those everyday subtle put-downs, assumptions and comments that can affect marginalized groups. Yet they are often made unintentionally by speakers unaware that they can be hurtful or insulting. 

A team at Canadian agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, who had experienced such microaggressions in their personal lives, created the “Micropedia of Microaggressions," a website modeled on community wikis that's designed to tackle the problem through education and to answer the question: How can we change what we don't know?

Its aim is to help people to “unlearn” their unconscious biases and make immediate changes in daily interactions. 

The online tool, designed and developed with the Black Business and Professional Association, the Canadian Congress on Diversity and Workplace Equity, Pride at Work and Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute, provides definitions, information and real-world examples of microaggressions from culture, media and daily interactions.

Each entry explains how a specific microaggression is harmful in an easy-to-understand, judgment-free way. People were invited to contribute their own experiences, and the site has already received double the number of original entries from users' submissions.

With no paid promotion, the Micropedia has already engaged users from more than 115 countries and is being used as a DEI resource by universities, hospitals, government bodies, media companies, global corporations and other organizations. It will also become a part of the Government of Canada’s federal 50-30 Challenge, a program that seeks to accelerate diversity efforts in workplaces nationwide.