Dissertations and Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/15695

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Data Literacies in Informal Settings
(2024-02-12) Cheng, Ruijia; Hill, Benjamin Mako; Turns, Jennifer A
As data becomes an integral part of our daily lives, the general public increasingly needs to actively engage with it to understand everyday lives, support personal goals, and engage with social issues. Formal data science training, however, remains out of reach for most people and does not cater to the diverse needs associated with data. Emerging informal settings, such as online social spaces and community workshops, offer accessible platforms for diverse and meaningful data interactions. However, current research on data literacy does not fully capture the diverse ways the public interacts with data in these informal environments. The dissertation presents four studies exploring the ways people interact with data in informal settings, examining the challenges and needs emerging from these engagements. These findings can guide future research and shape the design of tools to foster data engagement in diverse informal environments. Study A illustrates a mixed method analysis of 400 Scratch forum discussion threads and more than 240,000 user-made projects that involve data, unpacking the benefits and drawbacks of interest-driven participation in a large online community. Study B presents a semi-structured interview study with 14 Kaggle users on their collaborative and communicative practices in working with large datasets, highlighting the needs and challenges in conveying procedures to a varied audience and fostering collaboration among users of different experience levels. Study C contains a theory-driven quantitative analysis of a large collection of Twitter messages that involve discussions about COVID-19 vaccine data, identifying features that differentiate critical engagement with data from conspiracy discourses. Study D presents a constructionist system that scaffolds novices to programmatically analyze and visualize data, as well as the insights from the user study workshops that showcase the diverse range of concepts, perspectives, and practices that the system can support. Together, these studies reveal a pluralism in people's competencies and epistemological pathways concerning data engagement—what I refer to as "data literacies"—that should be accounted for in the design of technologies and research for data literacies. This dissertation contributes rich empirical knowledge on the public's engagement with data in a range of informal settings, various design recommendations for informal environments to support data literacies, a call for acknowledging of the pluralism in data literacies in the design of tools and interventions, and a sociotechnical framework for conceptualizing and designing to support data literacies in informal settings.
Exploring How the Exercise of Power Contributes to Creating More Inclusive Spaces in Engineering Education
(2024-02-12) Mejia, Kenya Z; Turns, Jennifer
Engineering Education in the United States has been trying to address its problem with underrepresentation of minoritized student groups for decades. In recent years, the engineering community has shifted its focus from solely diversity efforts to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts that focus on structural barriers to representation. The work of this dissertation looks to examine efforts to create more inclusive spaces, starting with exploring the educators' perspective followed by collaborative research methods including both faculty and student perspectives. The aim of these co-design efforts is to explore the space of power as it contributes to exclusion. Through co-design workshops, students and faculty discuss experiences of exclusion, reflect on their privileged and marginalized identities, and finally discuss opportunities to create change. Findings from this work re-iterate that doing work to create inclusive spaces is hard, both for students and faculty. Doing this work has both individual components, such as learning about the history and culture of engineering and reflecting on one’s identities, and also community-centered work as people learn from each other’s experiences, acknowledging that intersectionality creates a multitude of ways one moment in time can be experienced based on the different identities one holds. Using Patricia Hill Collins’ Domains of Power, this work dissects how different moments of inclusion are made up of interpersonal, structural, cultural, and disciplinary domains of power. This dissertation concludes by offering two steps the engineering education community can continue to take as we work to-wards creating inclusive spaces. The first is to accept and appreciate the hard work of doing this work. Hard means it is a slow process. It means one must take time to learn and process the learn-ing. Hard means having to reflect on the learning and how one’s identities privilege us at times and marginalize us at other times, based on the context and who is in the room. But hard also means taking action to “move the needle” forward. Second, one should not do all of it alone. Have conversations with others. Use conversations to process what one is learning. To seek advice. To learn from others’ experiences. And to apologize when one has made a mistake. Engineering has a long history, and with that history comes many entrenched norms that are not always beneficial. But as a discipline, engineering prides itself in solving problems and impacting the world for the better. Let’s move forward focusing on our aspirations to make the world a better place for everyone.
Technology Support for Online Science Communication
(2024-02-12) Williams, Spencer Russell; Hsieh, Gary; Reinecke, Katharina
As researchers, we have an obligation to share our scholarship and act as advocates for scientific knowledge. Participatory platforms like social media have become an important way for researchers to connect with the public, but the shifting affordances, audiences, and roles on these platforms make such public engagement difficult. In my dissertation work, I make three primary contributions. First, I contribute the results of qualitative and quantitative studies to understand how the structure of social media platforms affects the flow of scientific information. Second, empirical knowledge showing that an analytics tool to help researchers understand their audiences better can motivate them to improve the framing of their work, and to make more informed decisions about how (and whether) to use Twitter. Third, methods of communicating large-scale, metascientific information to skeptical audiences online, an issue of pressing concern highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, I discuss future directions for researchers, designers, and policymakers in this space. Ultimately, I show how understanding the dynamics of online platforms can lead to better technology support for various stakeholders in the science communication process.
Designing for ‘Seeing Across Projects’ Based Learning
(2024-02-12) Shroyer, Kathryn Elizabeth; Turns, Jennifer; Atman, Cynthia
Design thinking is an important skill in engineering practice, but it is difficult to teach and learn. The primary means of teaching design is by engaging students in project-based design experiences. In addition to supporting students in having design experiences, there is a need to help students get more out of the design experience they are already having. This gap presents a design research opportunity for which there are many directions to explore. The variation theory of learning posits that people learn through exposure to certain patterns of variance and invariance across instances of a concept. However, there are few systematic curricular efforts to help students learn by seeing across collections of personal or community design experiences. This work explores the design research problem and opportunity of “how might we design environments that support learning from seeing across individual design experiences?” A three-phase design research approach was used. First, the iterative design of several learning environments and activities over four years was framed as a series of research through design (RtD) inquiries that all addressed the same broad design research question. This resulted in over fifty learning activities (RtD artifacts) named ‘seeing across projects (SAP)’ activities. Second, these artifacts were synthesized using the annotated portfolio methodology. Two Annotated portfolios were created, the first focused on breadth, and the second focused on depth. Variation theory was used as an analytical lens to provide insights on what was made possible to learn in the enacted learning environment annotations. These two portfolios resulted in a model that describes the five key elements of the analyzed SAP activities. This also resulted in the identification of three key properties of SAP activities (content, source, and selection), their values, and some potential implications they have for learning and the feasibility of implementation. Finally, the model resulting from the annotated portfolio was aligned with the key principles of the variation theory of learning to create a framework for designing SAP activities grounded in a learning theory. Overall, the results of this work are the proposal and initial investigation of a new, but complementary, pedagogical direction for engineering design education called ‘seeing across projects’ based learning.
Measuring Distributed Mentoring in an Online Fanfiction Community
(2023-08-14) Frens, Jenna; Aragon, Cecilia R
This dissertation approaches questions about how creators informally learn from their online networks using a human-centered data science perspective. Over the past few decades, participation in online communities has become a staple piece of how people engage with mainstream media, produce narratives, and develop creative skills. Informal exchanges of knowledge, feedback and support across networked spaces are key in the creative process and growth of today’s creators. Distributed Mentoring provides a theoretical framework for how individually brief exchanges among a network of media producers and consumers may sum to a greater whole of mentorship. This dissertation expands on the rich lineage of ethnographic research in this area by contributing new quantitative analyses that model distributed mentoring in a large fanfiction community where millions of writers have participated for decades. In addition to contributing new findings about the structure and effects of distributed mentoring in the fanfiction community, this work demonstrates an interdisciplinary, human-centered approach to conducting data science for the purpose of studying online informal learning. I conclude with implications for effective feedback exchange and network growth in creative communities, such as addressing socio-emotional needs, signaling interests and identities, supporting authentic relationships and designing inclusive and safe feedback environments.
Transforming Queer Health Technologies Through Community-Based Systems Design
(2023-08-14) Liang, Calvin Alan; Kientz, Julie A; Munson, Sean A
Technologists are often motivated to do good in the world, laying out grand visions for how to optimize systems, automate tedious tasks, and expand what is possible. However, these innovations can create or exacerbate inequities, foregoing the needs of marginalized people in favor of novelty for those who already enjoy certain advantages. This tradeoff between innovation and fairness, however, is a false dichotomy. Through this dissertation, I argue how technology designers can carefully consider the impacts on marginalized people and the harms that can occur when systems are poorly designed, built, and evaluated and that, in turn, this attention can actually drive innovation. To this end, this dissertation compiles together queerness, health, and computing to develop a framework for designing health systems that counters structural oppression. As I witness, a queer praxis expands the domains of health and computing by confronting their respective and overlapping histories of mistreatment of marginalized people, opening up new paths for co-development in research. My investigation to accomplish this consists of two parts. First and more broadly, I outline an approach to working with marginalized people in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research by identifying four inherent tensions that researchers must attend to—exploitation, membership, disclosure, and allyship. By discussing what makes each tension difficult as well as actions that researchers can take to mitigate harms, I underscore the value of working with marginalization in the face of complexity. I then apply these lessons of conducting HCI research with marginalized people into a specific case study of co-designing a health technology for and with trans and queer youth, known as Project Online Interactive Sex Education Tool (OISET). Here, I report on two studies that uncover crucial needs of this tool: first, high-level design needs related to inclusion and safety, and second, privacy and security concerns and requisite design-based mitigation strategies. By connecting these two sections across multiple chapters, I exemplify how HCI researchers can integrate intersectionally holistic conceptualizations, community-based participatory values, and systems-level thinking into their own approaches and research contexts. Grounded in this analysis, I build up to six commitments for HCI researchers invested in designing sociotechnical systems for health equity. With these commitments in mind, I illuminate a path forward and demonstrate that an equitable and liberatory future of technology development is not only possible but within our reach.
Design and Implementation of Conversational User Interfaces for Health
(2023-08-14) Langevin, Raina Hope; Hsieh, Gary
Conversational user interfaces (CUIs) have the potential to support users across varied health domain areas. Yet barriers remain to the implementation and adoption of CUIs, such as lack of trustworthiness and consideration for cultural context. There exist a number of conversational-based interventions that have been proven to be usable and effective in addressing health conditions. However, there are still few conversational-based health interventions implemented and studied in real-world settings. My dissertation research examines the design and implementation of CUIs for health interventions, where I integrate human-centered design (HCD) and implementation science methods to understand stakeholder needs and optimize implementation strategies. Drawing from methods and frameworks in HCD and implementation science, I explore CUI design considerations and challenges in two health contexts: 1) social needs screening in a large public hospital emergency department, and 2) breast cancer screening outreach for Black/African American women. First, I adapt human-centered design approaches to improve the design of CUIs by developing and validating heuristics for conversational agents. I conduct this research to demonstrate that conversational user interfaces require unique design guidelines and considerations. Second, I deploy a conversational user interface in a real-world context to evaluate its effectiveness in supporting patient engagement. Through such deployment, I highlight implementation challenges to integrating a social needs screening chatbot into an emergency care setting, as well as individual, contextual, and intervention-related factors that may influence engagement in CUI interventions. Lastly, I engage in multidisciplinary design work to integrate methods from HCD and implementation science to improve CUI design for health interventions. I describe the development of a chatbot intervention aimed to facilitate breast cancer screening outreach. In summary, my dissertation demonstrates that adaptation of established usability heuristics for conversational user interfaces can lead to improved usability and engagement. I also discuss how an integrated approach of human-centered design and implementation science methods may combine the strengths of both disciplines in the design of chatbot implementation strategies. My dissertation makes (1) methodological contributions through the development of usability heuristics, (2) artifact contributions through the development of CUIs and through the design recommendations that arise through real-world deployments, and (3) empirical contributions through studying how CUI design components relate to engagement.
Designing to Support Sense of Agency for Time Spent on Digital Interfaces
(2022-09-23) Lukoff, Kai Hermes; Munson, Sean; Hiniker, Alexis
App designers often exploit psychological vulnerabilities to maximize clicks, views, and time on site. When people attempt to resist such media use, their failure rate is higher than for any other temptation in everyday life. Consequently, users often report feeling dissatisfied and regretful of the time that they spend in apps. In response, concerned design practitioners and researchers have innovated ‘screen time tools’ that let users track and limit the time they spend on digital devices. Yet users report that reducing screen time is a poor proxy for their actual goals, that they are concerned with not only the quantity but also the quality of the time they spend online, so the problem persists. In this dissertation, I investigate how to respect the user’s time and attention by designing digital interfaces for a greater sense of user agency, i.e., the experience of control over one’s actions and their outcomes. My research on the YouTube mobile app, a common site of problematic use, finds that a majority of user goals are about shifting the quality of the content they consume on smartphones, not the quantity. Through a survey and co-design activities, I identify specific features that lead users to feel more or less control over how they spend their time on YouTube. Based on these features, I design and develop the SwitchTube mobile app, in which users can toggle between two interfaces when watching YouTube videos: Focus Mode (search-first) and Explore Mode (recommendations-first). In a field deployment of the SwitchTube app with 46 U.S. participants, I find that Focus Mode helps them realize a greater sense of agency without reducing their time spent in the app. My work highlights the need to think beyond ‘screen time’ and advances sense of agency as an alternative lens for addressing user frustrations. I highlight how the design community might identify and call out ‘attention capture dark patterns,’ conceptualize and measure sense of agency, and how flexible interfaces might adapt support for sense of agency to suit different use cases. Ultimately, sense of agency is not only associated with positive technology use outcomes, but also matters to users in its own right as a basic psychological need.
Personal Data and Team Dynamics: Tracking Technology in U.S. College Sports
(2022-09-23) Kolovson, Samantha; Munson, Sean A; Starbird, Kate
My dissertation focuses on coordination around personal data and human-data interaction in a high-stakes, high-performance environment: college sports. In the last decade, wearable tracking technologies—e.g., FitBit, Garmin, Catapult, Whoop, Ōura Ring—have introduced new data streams, such as heart rate and sleep measurement, which college sports teams hope to harness to improve performance, prevent injury, and gain a competitive advantage. Sports teams, journalists, and entrepreneurs are all asking what can be done with tracking technologies? Their excitement about the potential of these technologies and the data they collect is shared by sports science and engineering researchers. However, when sports teams go to adopt these technologies, they face a myriad of options for tracking technologies and data management systems—all sold with the promise that tracking data could be used to keep athletes healthy by preventing injuries and overtraining and improve the team’s overall performance to win more competitions. It is possible that none of the options available are what teams need, but the promise of tracking technology has lured the sports community nonetheless. Drawing on socio-technical perspectives from Drawing on socio-technical perspectives from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Information Science and Discursive Design, my dissertation takes a critical approach to the promise of tracking technologies. Instead of asking how tracking technology can be designed and used, I aim to shift the conversation to ask how tracking technologies should be designed and used? I examine how the adoption of tracking technologies may be disrupting current coordination between roles and explore how this disruption could make room for improved coordination and how the design and use of tracking data can support the needs of different roles at play in college athletics.
Salmon on the run: Practicing scale in the study of wild Alaska salmon
(2022-07-14) Inman, Sarah Catherine; Ribes, David
Modern scientific research infrastructure has eclipsed the importance of scaling when understanding ecosystem change. Scale is the lens through which scientists parse complexity. Although scale is central to scientific practice, modern research infrastructure has replaced the importance of scale with a focus on scalability in data. This dissertation engages the topic of scale in an ethnographic study of the State of Alaska’s Salmon and People (SASAP) project, a 3-year initiative designed to investigate how data science can aid natural sciences. Through the synthesis of three empirical studies, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework that brings the extant theorizations of scale into conversation with the theorizations of scale in ecology. This study explores scale in three different cases: 1- a data science application for ecological data synthesis; 2- a field program focused on collecting and storing data in the long-term; and 3- a participatory modeling initiative instrumenting the local. As such, this thesis articulates how research practitioners reconcile issues of scale in wild Alaska salmon research and offers general insights about how to define scale. Building on prior work in infrastructure studies, this dissertation also provides methodological contributions for the ethnographic study of contemporary data initiatives. In conclusion, this research offers insights into how scientists define and instrument scale, methodological contributions for conducting studies of large-scale data initiatives, and a general language for working with scale.
Noticing and Enacting Equity Across Design Sites of Knowledge
(2022-01-26) Roldan, Wendy; Turns, Jennifer; Yip, Jason
Our commitments influence the narratives we center, the technologies we design, and the knowledge we create. Yet, little scholarship exists that documents the lived experience of enacting our commitments in practice. I propose that there is a unique opportunity to explore how individuals notice how they enact equity in their everyday. In doing so, I build on the theory that social change can be achieved by individual people making contributions toward larger equity movements. In this dissertation, I ask: How might we conduct research projects across sites of knowledge that both generate localized knowledge and center equity? And What does the process of documenting the development of an equity praxis across sites of knowledge uncover? To answer my first research question, I weave together three projects where I produced scholarly contributions to HCI education (Site 1), learning sciences (Site 2), and computing education (Site 3). Collectively, these three sites make visible the critical implications of what it means for people to notice their actions and how those actions contribute to the collective movement of creating equitable spaces. To answer my second research question, I document my process to reflexively develop my equity praxis that was informed by theory, iteratively developed, and grounded by my research sites. My dissertation offers an expansive view of noticing and enacting equity that deepens our understanding of the multiplicity in approaches and the propagation of our actions to enact social change across sites. I argue that naming an equity praxis transforms the researcher as well as their relations with others; a process of action and reflection of agentic people upon their world to transform it toward creating equitable futures.
Community Safety Together: How Reflection and Radical Imagination Can Help Us Build the Worlds We Need
(2021-10-29) Drouhard, Margaret; Haselkorn, Mark; Rosner, Daniela K
In this dissertation, I explore human-centered design approaches to support community-driven projects that aim to reinforce self-determination and grow networks of support and care. The context in which I approach this work is a collaborative project with a community of legal practitioners working to improve interventions in intimate partner violence. I outline what I consider to be some of the core commitments required for human-centeredness in the context of community-driven projects, and I articulate a framework for community-driven technical practice that situates design of novel artifacts as only one of many pathways to address community needs. In the context of interventions in cases of intimate partner violence, I examine the question “What opportunities and challenges emerge for community-driven technical practice through ongoing reflection on the following four commitments: self-determination; community as locus of power; mutual aid and care; and collective participation in world-building?”. The opportunities that emerged throughout this work have implications for: honoring situated knowledges and invisible work; imagination and emergent infrastructures for safety; “seeing the pluriverse,” or different pathways toward the world(s) we need; integrity and conscious choices; and reflection in prefigurative design.
Comparing Language Communities: Characterizing Collaboration in the English, French and Spanish Language Editions of Wikipedia
(2021-10-29) Bipat, Taryn; McDonald, David W; Zachry, Mark
Is Wikipedia a standardized platform with a common model of collaboration or is it a set of 312 active language editions with distinct collaborative models? In the last 20 years, researchers have extensively analyzed the complexities of group work that enable the creation of quality articles in the English Wikipedia, but most of our intellectual assumptions about collaborative practices on Wikipedia remain solely based on an Anglo-centric perspective. In my dissertation work, I aim to understand how collaboration models on Wikipedia generalize across online language communities. This dissertation extends the current Anglo-centric body of literature in human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) through three studies that mutually help build an understanding of collaboration models in the English (EN), French (FR) and Spanish (ES) editions of Wikipedia. In the first study, I replicated a model by ViÃ©gas et al. (2007) based on editors' behaviors in the English Wikipedia. This model was used as a lens to examine collaborative activity in EN, FR and ES. In study two, I leveraged a collaboration model by Kriplean et al. (2007) that suggested editors used “power plays” – how groups of editors claim control over article content through the discourse of policy – in their talk page debates to justify their edits made on articles. In study three, I interviewed editors from the English, French and Spanish language editions to build a typology of collaborative behavior and understand editor’s perceptions of power and authority on Wikipedia. In the first two studies, two well-known collaborative models discovered in EN were replicated in EN, FR and ES. I show that these models manifest differently across Wikipedia language editions. In Study 1, across all languages, the editor had similar behaviors, but they exist in different quantities. In Study 2, the qualitative coding of a dataset in EN, FR and ES show that these “power plays” still exist and no new ones were discovered in any of these language platforms across all three languages. Through the participant interviews, I find that across language editions, editors have different perceptions on the factors that drive consensus on Wikipedia talk pages. I use all of the findings to build a more comprehensive model of collaboration in all three languages. In each of these studies, I demonstrate that Wikipedia is a sociotechnical system – an instantiation of both social and technical processes. To better compare each language edition, I specifically draw out the social and technical processes within each of my studies’ findings to understand the differences in collaboration. Further, in this dissertation work, I introduce the idea that language processes also help play a role on Wikipedia talk pages. The fact that Wikipedia has multiple language editions shows that language may have a relationship with broader social issues. Essentially, language and language use manifests into new social processes across different language editions of Wikipedia. The differences that might exist in the language processes between editions is an accessible way of understanding the social processes - this has not been adequately represented other research on Wikipedia language editions. The implications of this study are threefold: (1) empirical contribution, (2) methodological contribution and (3) validation contribution. First, this dissertation presents an empirical understanding of peer production collaboration models in three different language editions. Secondly, I demonstrate a clear example of how to conduct research across multiple sites or contexts. Lastly, from a more intellectual standpoint, this work provides a complete replication or validation of a prior study, the synthesis of two models that already exist in EN and the existence of collaboration models in three languages.
Understanding and Designing Health Technologies with Older Adults
(2021-08-26) Sakaguchi-Tang, Dawn Kiyoko; Kientz, Julie A
The population of people 60 years and older has been rapidly rising and will continue to grow. This growth has prompted a turn toward innovations to support age-related decline. While these innovations are necessary, the older adult population is large and diverse. Researchers in HCI have recognized opportunities to broaden the design area to include designing for the strengths of aging and to examine the way we perceive aging and older adults in HCI. Some have advocated for methods such as participatory design to involve older adults in the design process. This dissertation focuses on involving older adults in design work and raising awareness of the differences among those in the aging population, especially in their life situations, health goals, and needs. I grounded my work through a systematic review of the use and adoption of patient portals and electronic personal health records (ePHRs). Through this work, I led a team to identify the barriers and facilitators and gained an understanding of the user experience of patient portals and ePHRs. This review provided a foundation for a study to translate existing study findings into design resources, specifically personas and design guidelines. For this study, I carried out the human centered design approach to create personas and design guidelines that communicate how older adults manage their personal health information (PHIM). We modified the typical persona format and created connected personas to show the complexities of PHIM for older adults and emphasize the importance of relationships with family, friends, and providers. I led focus groups with older adults and design workshops with student designers to gather feedback and iterate the design resources. This work led me to reflect on the evaluative role that older adults played in the study. While this was valuable, I realized a need for higher engagement with older adults to understand their needs and goals better. In my final study, I conducted co-design sessions with older adults and student designers to identify and understand the interactions that contribute to equal collaboration. I also examined the impact of this collaboration on the student designers' perceptions of aging and older adults. The sessions were structured using the human centered design process, and the activities were influenced by the life course perspective. The goal of these sessions was for teams to create a low-tech prototype of a health and well-being technology for older adults. Our work expanded Yip et al. (2017) framework to shift and capture the interactions that occurred in collaborations with older adults. We learned that using the life course perspective for co-design activities led team members to understand each other's perceptions of health and well-being and develop a stronger bond. We found that the life course perspective influenced the teams' design ideas and prototypes. Co-designing with older adults also challenged the assumptions that student designers had about aging and older adults. Across these three studies, I examined the needs of older adults and advocated for their inclusion in the design process. I provided considerations in co-designing with older adults to support equal and equitable interactions. This work encourages designers to reflect on their perceptions about the aging population. It demonstrates the value of exploring personal histories in co-design activities to challenge assumptions about older adults and better understand their health and well-being needs.
Designing Engaging Conversational Interactions for Health & Behavior Change
(2021-07-07) Kocielnik, Rafal Dariusz; Hsieh, Gary
The recent popularity of chat and voice-based conversational interactions fueled by advances in natural language processing (NLP) has opened up opportunities for re-imagining user interactions in health & behavior change as conversational experiences. Prior work has indicated that a well-designed conversational approach can be more engaging, motivating, natural, personal, and understandable. It can also mimic the properties of some of the most successful human-led interventions, such as coaching and motivational interviewing. However, designing conversational interactions poses numerous challenges. Efficiently creating conversational content that is diverse, relevant for the context, and sounds natural is challenging. Furthermore, balancing the still limited AI capabilities with user expectations requires careful problem scoping and other design considerations. Finally, the mechanisms in which a successful conversational interaction can help improve user engagement are still not well explored. In this dissertation I propose 4 different conversational systems that address some of the fundamental health & behavior change challenges. In Chapter 3 to address the intrinsic challenge of user boredom and engagement loss with repeated interactions - I propose a conversational system with value-based conversation topic personalization and diversification. In Chapter 4 to address the challenge of engaging users in mindful self-learning from their behavioral data - I propose conversational systems supporting structured reflection on physical activity and on professional development at work. In Chapter 5 to support health data collection, especially to improve user comfort in sensitive topics and understandability among low-literacy populations - I propose a system for conversational survey administration. Finally in Chapter 6, to lower the effort involved in designing good quality conversational systems, I propose a tool for automated conversion of form-based surveys to a more engaging conversational format. My work identifies and provides evidence for several benefits of the use of conversational interactions in health & behavior change. Among others, I demonstrate the benefits of increased engagement in interaction, improved motivation for performing activities, accessibility benefits related to familiarity, ease of use, comfort with sharing, and an ability to guide the users in the behavior change process via dialogue. I also identify several important challenges: perceptions of artificiality, managing high expectations of contextual knowledge, and social intelligence, as well as lower efficiency that could negatively affect the experience for some user groups. I further investigate the concrete links between conversational design elements and these benefits and challenges. My thesis demonstrates various design processes and automation techniques that can lower the effort of designing conversational experiences. As technology progresses conversational interactions can offer valuable support complimenting the existing automated tracking and the efforts of human health coaches. My work offers an important contribution to our understanding of how conversational interactions can play such a beneficial role.
Understanding the Structure and Dynamics of Multi-platform Information Operations
(2021-07-07) Wilson, Tom; Starbird, Kate
Information operations—efforts to distort the information ecosystem through methods such as the dissemination of disinformation in efforts to influence opinions or actions of individuals, governments or publics—are long-established methods of intelligence agencies and the military. However, the advent of social media has led to an era of renewed opportunity: the features and affordances of social media platforms, such as the interconnected social networks, abundance of user data, ability for any user to produce and disseminate content, and algorithm-driven feeds means that they are easier to deploy, and to deploy at scale. Disinformation (and information operations as the process of disinforming) disrupt decision-making, erode trust in institutions such as the media and government, and cumulatively undermine democratic processes. Recent conceptualizations of information operations as they occur on social media, such as the Russian Internet Research Agency’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 US Presidential Election, focus on the explicit coordination of inauthentic accounts. However, in this dissertation I will demonstrate that information operations are more complex—the distinction between the explicitly coordinated and organic aspects are blurred and the activities far more nuanced. Furthermore, despite increasing awareness and recent research there remain gaps in our understanding, including how strategic information operations and disinformation campaigns leverage the wider information ecosystem, taking shape on and across multiple websites and social media platforms. From a perspective of human-computer interaction (HCI), and in particular computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), this dissertation aims to contribute to this body of research by presenting four distinct but related studies that collectively build a comprehensive understanding of the structure and dynamics of multi-platform online information operations, including the integration of government-controlled and alternative media, the roles of different social media platforms (i.e. how they are used in complementary ways), and the online collaborative ‘work’ that brings these aspects together and sustains the information operation over time. Across the studies I adopt a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research techniques to ask questions of digital trace data (evidence of online user activities and interactions) collected from Twitter. I systematically examine both the online conversation on Twitter plus the wider ecosystem of news-publishing websites and social media platforms linked-to in tweets. The broad contribution of this work is the revelation and exploration of online information operations, specifically how information operations take shape on and across multiple websites and social media platforms, and the collaborative ‘work’ required to sustain them. Theoretically, based upon the empirical findings presented, I reconceptualize information operations as not solely the product of inauthentic coordinated behavior (orchestrated bots and trolls) but as also involving authentic (as in real, sincerely participating) actors that loosely collaborate in the production, synthesis, and mobilization of contested narratives that serve the strategic goals of the information operation. Methodologically, I contribute to a growing body of work in the area of disinformation and online activism that utilizes a mixed-method approach to research. And, based on my examination of a multi-platform information operation, I end with implications for social media platform policy.
Troubling Matters: Examining the Spread of Misinformation and Disinformation on Social Media During Mass Disruption Events
(2021-03-19) Arif, Ahmer; Starbird, Kate; Turns, Jennifer
Most users want Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and other information streams to be free of misleading content. Whether this misleading content was spread unintentionally (misinformation) or on purpose (disinformation), understanding and responding to its flows has never been more important. This is especially true during periods of collective stress and uncertainty — like large-scale emergencies, disasters, and political protests — where misleading information can have potentially broad-reaching societal consequences. This dissertation aims to clarify some of the dynamics of online mis- and disinformation in such settings. It also seeks to provide insights to help researchers and designers formulate more human-centered responses to the challenges posed by misleading information — i.e. responses that can support human skill and ingenuity rather than rendering them passive. It does this by asking the following questions: Research Question 1: How do well-intentioned members of the online crowd, like journalists and ordinary people, understand their own actions when they unwittingly circulate misleading information on social media while using it for sensemaking? Research Question 2: How do state-affiliated actors opportunistically exploit these sensemaking efforts to spread disinformation? Research Question 3: How do disinformation campaigns invite their audiences to make sense of the information landscape through a lens of suspicion? To address the first two questions, I present three studies that give account of how different groups of social media users enacted the spread of misleading information as they participated in collective sensemaking, which is the process by which people build shared awareness around events that disrupt normal routines. Across the studies, I employ a combination of methods, including computational analyses of large Twitter datasets, interviews with social media users, and a qualitative analysis of alternative media websites. I address the third research question by integrating the findings from these separate studies and drawing on the literary theory of postcritique to unpack the interpretive gestures made by the disinformation campaigns examined in this research. The results of this inquiry yield contributions along several dimensions. Some of the main results illuminate how: i) social media users engage in correcting misinformation and reason about their choices; ii) disinformation campaigns blend their activities with online activism, making their efforts participatory and difficult to isolate; and iii) these campaigns manipulate critical perspectives to foster doubt and division. While making these dynamics more legible, I also draw forward some implications and articulate a design direction to broaden our repertoire of ideas for how we might address mis- and disinformation. In the larger picture, this inquiry makes empirical and theoretical contributions that can help us think about the appropriateness of how issues pertaining to misleading information are being framed, interventions are being shaped, and social and material possibilities are being constrained down the line.
Designing Guided Asynchronous Remote Communities to Support Teen Mental Health
(2021-03-19) Bhattacharya, Arpita; Kientz, Julie A.; Munson, Sean A.
The majority of teens experience challenges with stress and depression in the United States. However, they lack the resources to access traditional face-to-face mental health care and participate in Human Computer Interaction research. Researchers have successfully used Asynchronous Remote Communities (ARC) to study marginalized and geographically distributed adult participants by enrolling them in private online groups and conducting structured activities to understand their needs. To increase access and develop empirical understanding of teenagers’ mental health needs, I led three studies that enrolled a total of 40 teens and 13 clinicians in ARCs to conduct 20-minute weekly activities in anonymous private online groups on Slack for ten weeks. In the first study, collaborators and I elicited current strategies, tools, and unmet needs of teenagers (n=23) for stress management. We found that coping strategies of teens were individual and based on their perception of control over stressors. Teens also wanted support from technologies to support reflection, understand their mood, and navigate boundaries in sharing about mental health with adults and peers. In the second study, we used ARC for ten weeks to understand needs and obtain feedback from clinicians (n=10) and teens (n=8) on adapting the evidence-based practice of behavioral activation (BA) for depression management delivered through online platforms such as Slack. We designed low-fidelity prototypes of BA interventions to support teens in understanding the relationship between mood and activity and learning to practice goal-directed behaviors to improve mood. Based on our analysis, both teens and clinician participants wanted support asynchronous support as a supplement to in-person therapy and most teens preferred to preserve and enhance online peer support. Teens and clinicians also raised concerns about safety, privacy, and moderating the online group which need to be balanced with the potential benefits of learning coping strategies, increased access, and asynchronous human connection. Informed by BA, teens’ design needs, and clinicians’ expertise, we adapted the ARC method in the third study to develop a high-fidelity prototype and evaluate the feasibility of a guided ARC intervention. We designed and developed an app called ActivaTeen on Slack which functioned as an interactive smart diary application that supported BA modules on activity logging, reflecting on upward and downward spiral of mood, and SMART goal planning. We enrolled nine teens and three clinicians on Slack to understand the feasibility of using the guided ARC intervention for eight weeks followed by interviews. We found that engagement varied at an individual level for teens with depression and designers need to account for avoidance, support reflection with possibilities of missing data, and navigate the burden of asynchronous clinical work in using guided ARC. Through my dissertation research, I aimed to understand how the design of remote technology can support teenagers to cope with stress and depression and empower their choice to act on healthy coping behaviors. The main contributions of my work include (1) an empirical understanding of needs to design for teen stress and depression management, (2) design and development of a guided ARC intervention using BA, (3) reflection on lessons learned using the ARC method for engaging with teens and clinicians, and (4) design considerations for using the process of human centered design for teen mental health. This work is a step towards identifying opportunities and challenges in using guided ARC to integrate evidence-based practices in designing for mental health and supplement face-to-face or synchronous online therapy.
Practitioners’ Views on Cultural Adaptation of Web-based Products
(2021-03-19) Yaaqoubi, Judith; Munson, Sean; Reinecke, Katharina
Researchers have repeatedly found cross-cultural differences in how people behave, perceive, and interact with information. However, it is unclear how these findings translate into cultural adaptations in global products - the process of optimizing a technology’s user interface and interaction design to address cultural differences beyond a mere change in language and date/time formats. My dissertation research is the first to explore how the industry does cultural adaptation from a practitioners’ view. It examines whether, and how, engineering teams consider their customers’ cultural differences when working on mature, globally available, digital products. Using interviews, surveys, and two case studies, I investigated what type of cultural adaptations practitioners consider, the challenges they face, and analyzed their use of academic research to inform cultural adaptations through the human-computer interaction (HCI) Translational Science model. My intention is to show the point of view of the practitioners in my study and, through the case studies, to add an ethnographic perspective. By being embedded in product teams of two major technology companies, I was able to gain access often unavailable to other researchers. My findings contribute empirical understanding, an overview of what practitioners in my study currently do to culturally adapt their products and what is left unaddressed, and barriers to the information flow between practice and research previously unknown. I discuss the importance of culture in product development as a matter of social inclusion and why it is challenging to address. I offer next steps, including opportunities for researchers to address concrete challenges, focus areas for educators, and call out the responsibility for leadership teams to foster inclusive product development for users often located in more than 200 markets.
Understanding and Tooling Translational Research in Human-Computer Interaction
(2021-03-19) Colusso, Lucas Franco; Hsieh, Gary; Munson, Sean A.
Successfully bridging research and practice in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) can lead to better products and services that benefit society, as well as refined research questions and theories. However, groups of HCI practitioners and HCI researchers often fail to benefit from each other’s valuable expertise, which led to the use of a “research-practice gap” metaphor to illustrates the hardships of bridging research and practice. Although the research-practice gap has framed and motivated studies and opinion pieces by HCI academics, there is still much to be understood about the relationships of research and practice in HCI. This dissertation investigates the nuances of the research-practice gap metaphor in HCI, and the knowledge exchange and use by different groups in the HCI community. Informed by such nuances, I design tools to bridge research and practice in HCI.First, I investigate the research-practice gap to expose the complexity underlying the stark separation between two groups. I study HCI community members’ current efforts to engage in Translational Research efforts, with a focus on knowledge consumption and utilization as well as barriers for knowledge to flow across groups. As a result, I propose a Translational Science Model using the concept of a continuum instead of a gap, to represent how knowledge flows in the HCI community through multiple gaps. I define and describe instances of Translational Research in the HCI field. In addition, I propose design considerations regarding the creation of resources and design methods to facilitate the translation of HCI knowledge from scientific findings to design. Through these contributions, the HCI community can better understand current practices around disseminating and translating HCI knowledge, and the challenges and opportunities for Translational Research to impact distinct design activities. Second, to help bridge the research and practice gaps, I design and evaluate tools aimed at tackling specific barriers for Translational Research in HCI. Translational Research tools in HCI have been framed around academics’ knowledge dissemination models and needs. In turn, I propose and evaluate tools focused on practitioners’ needs and workflow. In one tool, I tackled the barrier of language by creating learning modules for HCI practitioners to read and understand theoretical concepts. On another tool, I tackled the barrier of applicability and contribute a design method to facilitate the application of existing theories into the design process. Learnings from these design explorations help to further furnish our knowledge on how to effectively implement Translational Research efforts and provide additional nuance on the barriers for knowledge dissemination and translation in HCI. In summary, this dissertation introduces and defines Translational Research in HCI and provides a foundation for the discipline to investigate and design translational processes and tools. Such contributions will hopefully inspire efforts to consolidate a Translational Science in HCI.

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