College of Information Studies
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1631
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item TRANSITIONING VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS TO UTILIZE ACCESSIBILITY TECHNOLOGY(2024) Jo, Hyejin; Reitz, Galina; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In a world increasingly driven by visual information, this research develops the Transition Experience Interface (TEI), dedicated to supporting individuals adapting to visual impairments with advanced accessibility technologies. TEI features a user-centric design with a mobile user interface that includes tutorials, updates on new features, a voice command guide, and a progress dashboard. These components aim to reduce dependency on visual cues, enhancing digital inclusivity and promoting independence by encouraging the use of built-in accessibility features on smartphones. TEI educates users on their devices’ capabilities and fosters habitual use of these features, preparing them to rely less on vision and more on voice commands and other settings. This proactive approach helps users operate their smartphones confidently and independently as their visual function changes, bridging the gap between traditional tools and user needs, and highlighting the potential of inclusive design.Item Personal Objects as Design Materials(2024) Elsayed-Ali, Salma; Chan, Joel; Bonsignore, Elizabeth; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While Participatory Design focuses on inclusion of users, in practice, Participatory Design may often fall short of its inclusive ideals. This is problematic as it could lead to disempowerment, inactive participation, and alienation of users. An important avenue for inclusion is to enable users, particularly those who are marginalized, to enact aspects of their identities and lived experiences in design. Materials, both tangible and intangible, are an important way that this enactment may be accomplished; yet materials are often overlooked and imposed on users in design. This can be problematic as the materials selected may not be relevant or useful to users’ situated contexts or goals, or, at worst, could lead to exclusion. My dissertation seeks to understand how we might support users to enact core aspects of their identities and lived experiences in Participatory Design. To do this, I propose an approach that shifts control of design materials to users by inviting them to bring in personal objects from their lives. Using Research through Design, I developed a sociotechnical system called Talisman consisting of techniques to scaffold users’ selection and interaction with their personal objects in the design process. Over the course of a year, I collaborated with three distinct communities to embed Talisman in co-design workshops alongside young adults who are underrepresented in STEM education. These communities included: 1) A STEM education nonprofit based in Chicago focused on creating youth-led “Safe Spaces;” 2) A high school summer internship program based in Baltimore focused on Environmental Justice; and 3) a faculty-led research project at the College of Information Studies focused on redesigning undergraduate programming education to support diverse learners in light of Generative AI. I share direct observations and accounts from young adults into their experiences bringing in and engaging with their personal objects in the design of solutions for their communities. Afterwards, I present a cross-case analysis of the three case studies in which Talisman was deployed and discuss its implications for Participatory and Assets-based design practice within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).Item Show and Tell: Exploring how audio narratives can complement visualizations of stroke survivors’ personal health data(2023) Shettigar, Aishwarya; Choe, Eun Kyoung; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Wearable technology in healthcare could give individuals awareness and independence in rehabilitation. In this qualitative work, I investigate how using speech-based, audio narrative summaries alongside graphical visualizations affect users’ understanding of their personal data. I conducted this work in the context of stroke recovery, where stroke survivors experiencing hemiparesis can monitor their physical progress using a wearable ring sensor. Using a co-design approach, I engaged with stroke survivors and their caregivers to elicit recommendations for multimodal (speech/visual) feedback of the wearable ring data. Reflexive thematic analysis of the sessions showed that multimodal feedback can potentially lend therapeutic support for stroke survivors. Audio narratives helped to reinforce the visual feedback, and positively framed narrative content that was reflective, motivational, and suggestive was able to support stroke survivors as they navigate their independent recovery journeys.Item The People's Choice: PAIRing User-Centered Design With Crowdsourcing To Combat Misinformation on TikTok(2023) Grover, Saransh; Hassan, Naeemul; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Social Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok have created a rampant increase in user-generated content online. Moderation and validation of misinformation on these platforms are still significant challenges. One approach to address misinformation on social media has been to crowdsource the validity of content through the platform users. However, research conducted on crowdsourced fact-checking has focused largely on traditional and text-based sources. In addition, it has yet to focus on user-centered design to understand how users of platforms would create tools to mitigate misinformation. This thesis addresses these knowledge gaps by understanding approaches to using crowdsourcing to combat misinformation on TikTok, the fastest-growing social networking site with over one billion monthly active users. By using TikTok as a case study, I conduct a thematic analysis of content on the platform to understand how users currently counter claims and misinformation and then conduct participatory design sessions with TikTok users to identify limitations, improvements, and potential solutions. Based on these findings, I present a set of design guidelines referred to as the PAIR approach that outline key considerations for a crowdsourcing platform combatting misinformation on a social networking site such as TikTok.Item Examining Technology Tools Used in Online Intergenerational Participatory Design Teams(2022) Wang, Ting-Hsuan; Subramaniam, Mega; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many intergenerational design teams were forced to pivot to online sessions and had to rely heavily on technology tools to facilitate these sessions. This thesis examines the technology tools used in two intergenerational participatory design teams and explores how these tools affect design participants (both children and adults) to execute participatory design techniques to their full potential. Through exploratory analysis of data collected from four sources (observation of participatory design sessions, participatory design sessions’ artifacts, semi-structured interviews with adult participants, and expert interviews), this thesis reports on three themes that emerged on how technology tools impact online intergenerational collaboration: 1) social ability online, 2) technical challenges, and 3) power dynamics in online participatory design sessions. To mitigate the barriers caused by technology tools, recommendations on the participatory design processes as well as design of technology tools used in online participatory design work are discussed, with the aspirational goal of achieving equal partnership in the intergenerational design process. The findings of this research would ultimately encourage further meaningful collaboration in online synchronous design teams of all ages.Item HOW DO NONPROFITS INVOLVE BENEFICIARIES IN THE DESIGN OF MISSION PROGRAMS AND SERVICES(2022) DiPasquale, Sarah; Chan, Joel; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Human service nonprofits play an important role in communities across the United States. While existing research has studied how nonprofits engage beneficiaries in the evaluation of services, little research has been done to understand how human service nonprofits involve beneficiaries in the design of services. This research argues participatory design can be used to engage beneficiaries in program design. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with nine human service nonprofit professionals, this research sought to better understand how human service nonprofits involve beneficiaries in the design and development of service programs; and what barriers exist for human service nonprofits to do participatory design. These research findings provide a foundational understanding of how human service nonprofits use participatory design and uncover barriers to help inform the solutions necessary to increase participatory design use at human service nonprofits.Item Alumni Perspectives on their Membership in an Intergenerational Participatory Design Team(2018) McNally, Brenna; Druin, Allison; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Participatory Design (PD) gives technology users an active role in the design of the technologies they are meant to use. PD methods have been adapted for research with children to facilitate the creation of technologies that better meet children’s desires and expectations. While the benefits HCI practitioners receive from working with children in PD can include developing more child-centric interfaces and finding surprising new innovations, research is less clear on the participants’ perceptions of their experience—such as how they perceive matters that affect them or what personal gains intergenerational PD team participants may receive from their participation. Investigating the retrospective perspectives of adult and child members of intergenerational PD teams may enable researchers to improve or develop practices that are better aligned with participant expectations. Recent work has begun to look into the gains adults perceive from their participation on traditional PD projects, and has begun to observe gains to children during their participation on PD teams. However, the retrospective perspectives of adult and child alumni who were members of intergenerational PD teams have yet to be investigated. To understand how alumni of intergenerational PD teams perceive matters that affected their membership, I conducted anonymous, online surveys and follow-up interviews with three distinct participant groups from an intergenerational PD team: child design partner alumni, parents of child alumni, and adult design partner alumni. Outcomes include new understandings of 1) the perspectives of child design partner alumni with regard to the ethics of their previous participation, 2) the gains child design partners experience and attribute to their PD team participation from the perspectives of both child alumni and their parents, and 3) the gains that adult design partners experience and attribute to their PD team participation and their perspectives on membership. Throughout these findings participants describe how participation in intergenerational PD impacted their desire and perceived ability to pursue new goals and activities throughout their lives through the development of new skills, competencies, and mindsets. From these findings, I then synthesize ten recommendations toward the goal of making intergenerational PD better support the people who are involved in it.