HCC Seminar Series: Leveraging the Strengths of Communities: How We Engage Users in Technology Design

Abstract

Emerging technologies allow designers to explore different possibilities of technology-mediated solutions that improve users’ health and wellness.  However, many technologies have been designed to resolve the deficits of users by providing general services, such as translation, or more health information, rather than building upon the culture and strengths communities already possess; as a result, many existing products are not fully integrated into users' everyday lives. As we introduce more advanced technologies into various domains, including healthcare, it is important to understand how we engage community partners from the early phase of technology development, and how designers can leverage users’ experiential knowledge and strengths in design. In this talk, I will introduce some of my previous work, exploring how participatory design can be used with various communities, including immigrants, and reshaping the designers’ existing perspectives to view underserved communities. This talk will highlight the importance of partnering with communities, designers, and engineers to advance the involvement of participants as co-designers of technologies.

Biography

Ji Youn Shin is an Assistant Professor in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. Ji Youn’s research is primarily in human-computer interaction (HCI) and design, focusing on how people experience and use technologies in their everyday health and wellness management. Her projects often involve participatory design approaches with various communities (immigrants, caregivers of patients with chronic conditions, etc.) inviting end users of technologies to join in the design process. By providing participants with more control, she explores opportunities to design technologies built upon users’ existing practices: leveraging strengths rather than fixing deficits. Ji Youn’s research outcomes have been published in CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), DIS (Designing Interactive Systems), and CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work). She received her Ph.D. in Information and Media at Michigan State University.