ABOUT
I am a PhD student at Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana, USA) studying human computer interaction (HCI).
PERSONALLY
You can find the Internet “me” on Twitter, Facebook or on my blog.
The blog is just starting out (active, as of 7/9/10), but look for content about PhD tips and lessons, my work in HCI4D research, writing, and my general take on things I come across. I hope to generate a complete list of lessons learned as I transition my life into, and eventually out of, being a PhD student.
ACADEMICALLY
Academically, just starting out as a PhD student, I’m going through the process of coming to my own research agenda and problem space. I know I am passionate about HCI4D (ICT4D) issues and the future direction of HCI theories, frameworks, models, methods, and practices associated with the spread of technology to developing countries and cultures.
WHAT I CARE ABOUT
The following is an edited excerpt from my submission to the Doctoral Consortium at DIS 2012.
Technology design and HCI work in economically developing areas of the world—often referred to as ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) or HCI4D–has gained substantial attention in recent years. Much of that attention has been focused on self-critique (for example, [5]) and articulating challenges specific to ICT4D projects (for example, [2]), with particular interest in addressing cross-cultural research and design concerns. Situated in the discourses of HCI’s critical third-wave, some ICT4D contributions reflexively apply a critical lens as a means of moving the sub-discipline toward more nuanced understandings of culture [3]. Methodological critiques and the improvement of methods are of concern to ICT4D researchers. Ethnography (a pervasive ICT4D design research method) is at the center of these concerns [4,6,7], though participatory design methods also represent a significant set of work (for example, [8]). Many (if not most) ICT4D contributions published in HCI community venues—whether employing ethnographic, participatory, or other methods—allocate considerable effort toward explicating methodological concerns and future directions for ICT4D projects.
My doctoral research agenda aims to build upon existing critical contributions and go beyond method modification and critique, taking a closer look at the role of the technology design process as a site cultural production. [1] This study looks at the cultures inscribed into technology and the processes which create it, explored through a set of empirical studies examining the extent of Western influence upon technology design practices in economically and technologically developing regions. More broadly, I aim to raise the question: if the cultural flow reversed, how might design methodologies and practice change?
I anticipate that my doctoral work will have two salient outcomes: (1) anthropological findings about prevalence and role of Western design techniques by non-Western designers, and (2) an empirically grounded theoretical contribution concerning cultural influences upon design methodologies. In these two outcomes, I aim to not only answer disciplinary calls for critical methodological discourse, but through a better understanding of non-Western design practices, empower and add new voices/influences to the HCI/technology design community. To accomplish this, I will intellectually draw from design practice research and science and technology studies (STS); methodologically, my work requires tools from cultural anthropology, all informed by postcolonial studies.
[1] Baaz, M.E. Introduction: African Identity and the Postcolonial, in Same and other: negotiating African identity in cultural production. Baaz, M.E. and Palmberg, M. (eds.). Elanders Gotab, Sweeden, (2001). Citation Link
[2] Ho, M. R. , Smyth, T. N., Kam, M., and Dearden, A. Human-Computer Interaction for Development: The Past, Present, and Future. Information Technologies and International Development 5, 4 (2009), 1-18. Source Link
[3] Irani, L., Vertesi, J., Dourish, P., Philip, K., and Grinter, R.E. Postcolonial computing: a lens on design and development. In Proc CHI 2010, ACM Press (2010), 1311-1320. Source Link
[4] Sandhu, J.S., Altankhuyag, P., and Amarsaikhan, D. Serial hanging out: rapid ethnographic needs assessment in rural settings. In Proc. HCI 2007, Springer-Verlag (2007), 614-623. Source Link
[5] Taylor, A.S. Out there. In Proc. CHI 2011, ACM Press (2011), 685-694. Source Link
[6] Toyama, K. Human–Computer Interaction and Global Development. Foundations and Trends in Human–Computer Interaction 4, 1 (2010), 1–79. Source Link
[7] Williams, A.M. and Irani, L. There’s methodology in the madness: toward critical HCI ethnography. Ext. Abstracts CHI 2010, ACM Press (2010), 2725-2734. Source Link
[8] Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Chivuno-Kuria, S., Kapuire, G.K., Bidwell, N.J., and Blake, E. Being Participated – A Community Approach. In Proc. PDC 2010, ACM Press (2010), 1-10. Source Link
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