Troubling Vulnerability

Abstract

HCI is increasingly working with 'vulnerable' people, yet there is a danger that the label of vulnerability can alienate and stigmatize the people such work aims to support. We report our study investigating the application of interaction design to increase rates of hate crime reporting amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people. During design-led workshops, participants expressed ambivalence towards reporting. While recognizing their exposure to hate crime, they simultaneously rejected being identified as victim as implied in the act of reporting. We used visual communication design to depict the young people's ambivalent identities and contribute insights into how these fail and succeed to account for the intersectional, fluid and emergent nature of LGBT identities through the design research process. We argue that by producing ambiguously designed texts alongside conventional outcomes, we 'trouble' our design research narratives as a tactic to disrupt static and reductive understandings of vulnerability within HCI.

A Hauntology of Participatory Speculation

“…I conclude this paper by arguing that speculation becomes effective through its capacity to not just happen once, but to keep happening and to keep happening differently. This paper is itself a repeat performance of events that have been previously reported in a co-authored paper [22]. By reenacting these events we can speculate again, in search of new meanings and readings that allow these events to (re)appear differently [13].…”

Creative Toolkits for TIPS

“…Several of the papers also clearly demonstrate a particular methodological approach within or came out of TIPS related research with particular users groups; 80-somethings and trusted banking leading to a "questionable concepts" approach [41]; investigating older people learning about the potential of digital technologies using props and performance over several sessions [27]; creative making workshops with LGBTQ young people and community police to surface attitudes from both groups to aspects of hate crime and hate crime reporting, to inform on designing for particular groups and needs; workshop outcomes were then adapted as design materials for a public intervention [18]; a generative workshop approach, "Blockit", to support understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrency [22]; socio-material aspects of workshop materials and their interpretation and use (or non-use) by particular groups in building trust, both amongst researchers and workshop participants and between participants and (in this specific case) local officials [10]; didactic approaches to understanding"opaque technologies" [30]; and an illustrated guide approach to supporting people undergoing life transitions [16]. Some of these involve different user groups while others, as with [5] [40] involve conference or university workshops to explore and/or demonstrate an approach for take up and use by others.…”

“…Construction/Drawing Materials For Assemblage and Annotation Card and Cardboard [18] [41] [5] [8];paper [30] [22] [29]; wide use of LEGO bricks [22] [30] [12] [19] [35]; cocktail sticks [18]; masking tape [18]; modelling clay [22]; paper plates [5]; plastic cups [5]; string [18]; paper sorting poles [7]; pipe cleaners [5];foam [35] and; envelopes for covering or grouping together [22].…”

“…Ready to Hand Household or Leisure/Crafting Materials Balloons [18]; sandcastle flags [18]; fly squatter [18]; keys [22]; lights [22]; maps [20]; clothing [10] [26] padlock [22] tokens [22]; transparent containers [22].…”

“…Storytelling and Reflective Annotation Annotation/notes [43] [5] [22] [11]; costume annotation [9]; day in the life exercises [7]; diaries/diary-study [7]; storytelling [17] [27] -timelines [28]; washing line scale [20]; creating story sheet/ storyboarding [11] [22] [21] [35]; fictional narrative [7]; narrative scenario [27]; persona cards [27]; newspaper story [9]; picture book [18]; speculative scenarios [12]; personal narratives [22]; fantasy persona [28]; current experience comic strip (CECS) [25] digital storytelling [22]; envisioning exercise [9]; privacy awareness interventions [10]; think-out-loud technology evaluations [10].…”