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Research

Daniela Rosner's Research Group Archive

This page contains an archive of the past five years of Directed Research Groups led by Professor Rosner. View her currently offered DRGs »
 

Winter 2025

Afrofuturist Feminism: Using practices of Afrofuturism and Black feminism to develop new technological approaches 

Instructors:
Led by Dr. Brooke Bosley in collaboration with HCDE Professor Daniela Rosner

Nothing has to look or function the way it does. The West man’s freedom, unscientifically got at the expense of the rest of the world’s people, has allowed him to xpand his mind–spread his sensibility wherever it cdgo, & so shaped the world, & its powerful artifact-engines.
Technology & Ethos, Vol. 2 Book of Life by Imamu Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka's Technology & Ethos argues for a new technology not shaped by the West or power but humanistic and grounded in consciousness and spirituality. Looking at Baraka's work and BIPOC Human Computer Interaction (HCI) practitioners like Winchester III, Harrington, Bray, Sherman, Klassen, and others, this research group will seek to answer the following questions: 

  • What forms of theoretical work on Afrofuturism and Black Feminism currently exist in HCI and design?
  • How does one build more humanistic technology and/or technology grounded in critical humanistic modes of inquiry?
  • How can we engage Afrofuturist and Black Feminist theories as we build new technology? 

Students will spend the first half of the quarter reading across areas of Afrofuturism and Black Feminism HCI to understand how those critical humanistic approaches inform technology building. Also, to understand Afrofuturist HCI, students will read a few pieces of literature from Afrofuturist writers such as N.K. Jemisin, Rivers Solomon, and Octavia E. Butler to examine how Black speculative writing is leveraged in HCI theory.

The second half of the quarter will focus on engaging these principles to building new technologies (i.e. healthcare, artificial intelligence, social media service, education, public safety, etc.). Students will consider the challenges of applying these theoretical approaches and how these theories shape new technology. Work from this directed research group will inform a research paper where students will contribute and be listed as co-authors.  

Winter 2024

Generative Cinematography: Critical and Creative Reckonings with AI Filmmaking

Led by PhD Student Brett Halperin with guidance from Associate Professor Daniela Rosner 

In this studio-based DRG, we will reckon with the creative potentials and perils of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for independent/amateur filmmaking. Amid recent advances in large language models such as DALL-E, GPT, Runway AI, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, AI is increasingly generating moving pictures, screenplays, and sounds, as well as supporting post-production. On one hand, AI is threatening to undermine artists and the humanistic craft of filmmaking. From a labor standpoint, Hollywood film workers have striked against exploitative uses of automation. What is more, AI is raising critical concerns around training data ethics, as well as the generation of algorithmically-biased representations, narratives, and sounds. On the other hand, AI might present potential to lower barriers for low-resourced independent/amateur filmmakers. For filmmakers with social-justice oriented agendas, reappropriating AI might offer a way to expose its harms and possibly even generate otherworldly possibilities. As this tension seems to reanimate how the invention of the camera threatened painting, we will work through and against how AI troubles filmmaking, examining who and what gets lost. 

Students will work as individuals or in groups to produce a short film approximately 2-10 mins long. Films can experiment with generative AI to produce screenplays, imagery, and/or sound, as well as support post-production processing. Films can also choose to subvert or resist the use of AI by engendering a social critique about the technology. 

Each student will: 

  • Produce a short film (as an individual or group) that reckons with AI
  • Write a reflection on the role of AI in the filmmaking process
  • Explore, critique, and catalog nascent AI filmmaking tools
  • Share works in progress and participate in critiques
  • Watch, analyze and discuss films made with AI
  • Read relevant literature on generative AI and digital filmmaking
  • Attend weekly meetings/screenings (date/time/location TBD)

The DRG will be graded credit/no-credit for 2-5 variable credits, where 1 credit = 3 hours of work per week (e.g., 1.5 hours of work in class + 7.5 hours of work outside of class = 3 credits total). 

Autumn 2023

Capstone Formations

Capstone is a culminating experience for MS HCDE students. It offers students the opportunity to synthesize learnings from their studies to address real-world issues using human-centered design and engineering. The projects are student-run, large-scale developments that encompass two quarters of student work. In this scope and complexity, capstone differs from most HCDE courses. Students learn to work across peers, instructors, staff, and very often external partners to conduct in-depth research, planning and design that encompass multiple focused cycles of inquiry and intervention. 

This new offering of Capstone Formations is designed to help HCDE master's students navigate these developments. We organize Capstone Formations as a four-part event series, with each event dedicated to a capstone-specific concern: 

1. Introduction to Capstone | 10/11/23  11:45 - 1:15 PM

  • What is capstone? How do I plan ahead? What kind of work has come out of capstone?
  • Led by: Daniela Rosner, HCDE Associate Professor and MS Program Co-Director; Guest: Former Capstone Instructor, TBD

Bonus - Capstone Mixer | 10/13/23 4:30 - 7 PM, 4th floor hallway Sieg

2. Team Formation | 10/18/23  11:45 - 1:15 PM, ECE 003

  • How do teams get formed? Who should I aim to work with?
  • Led by: Daniela Rosner; Guest: Members of GSA

3. Project Focus | 11/08/23  11:45 - 1:15 PM

  • How do I decide on a project? What “sponsored projects” are available to work with?
  • Led by: Daniela Rosner; Melissa Ewing, HCDE Outreach and Strategic Partnerships Manager

4. Applications + Milestones | 12/06/23  11:45 - 1:15 PM

  • What are the main applications and milestones I should know about? How (to work with external partners, to receive funds)
  • Led by: Daniela Rosner

This event series is exploratory in character; each week will be organized as a lecture and discussion, offering time for students to form teams, learn about and discuss sponsored projects, and anticipate upcoming milestones. 

We offer this opportunity in line with other HCDE lecture events such as dub—giving course credit to those who sign up for credit (as a DRG), but also giving students the option to attend without credit. Given gaps in the dub schedule this year, we have also aligned this opportunity with the dub lecture series so that capstone students signing up for dub can take this course during the “down” days of the quarter. 
If you have questions or seek course credit (1-2 units), contact Daniela Rosner at dkrosner@uw.edu.

Summer 2023

Elevating Black Corpus and UX in Speech & Language Systems (ASR/NLP)

Led by HCDE PhD candidate Jay Cunningham, with Professors Julie Kientz and Daniela Rosner, this DRG serves as a working-group for a new research agenda to develop equitable, community-collaborative design methods to mitigate racial disparities and performance in automated speech and language technologies for Black language communities (AAVE/AAL).

Overview:
Automated speech recognition (ASR) systems that rely on natural language processing (NLP) techniques are becoming increasingly prevalent in people’s everyday lives. From virtual assistants integrated into mobile devices, smart home assistants, and vehicles; to software tasks such as automatic translation, automatic captioning, automatic subtitling, and even hands-free computing, ASR systems are core components of new devices and applications. However, recent research has shown that with this broadening access comes new fairness-related harms and racial disparities that negatively impact Black speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), leaving AAVE users’ speech less accurately represented, recognized, and processed. 

HCDE PhD candidate Jay Cunningham, with Professors Julie Kientz and Daniela Rosner, seeks to address this challenge by developing and validating collaborative methods for developing more inclusive and equitable automated speech and language technologies for Black speakers of AAVE that are culturally competent. 

Through this project, we hope to further inform how academic researchers and industry practitioners can democratically collaborate with communities to create artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, practices, and policies that enable fair, equitable, and sustainable solutions that ultimately liberate and empower historically marginalized groups.

Student Researcher Involvement:
This DRG is seeking 3-5 dedicated students to collaborate and execute on the research studies outlined for this agenda. 

Participation in this research team will entail conducting and assisting with participant interviews and focus groups, thematic analysis of audio transcripts, analyzing co-design workshop artifacts, and conducting data science on AAVE speech data alongside the graduate student project lead. This also includes obtaining consent and assisting with performing all study procedures. Participants will have had coursework in research methods, complete an orientation to human subjects protections given by the UW, and will receive training from graduate student project lead on obtaining consent and debriefing subjects. 

This will be a 2-3 credit DRG. We will meet no more than 3 hours virtually or in-person each week (twice/week, 90-minute), and students should expect to spend no more than 2 hours working outside of that time per week.

Research will explore the following:

  • What are the strengths and pitfalls of existing ASR/NLP system design processes?
  • How might design decisions NLP/ML technologists make that shape experiences of fairness and bias among underrepresented language variety users?
  • How might researchers from academia and industry develop and employ collaborative-participatory approaches with African American community members — involving their voices and perspectives early and often in the product development process — to address many of the challenges African Americans (AAVE speakers) face when using voice technology?
  • How might community accountability boards serve as means for accountable action and transparency measures toward more culturally competent human centered technologies. 

Summer 2023

Exploring Technopolitical Imaginaries: An Epistemological Cartography Workshop

This Term-A DRG will focus on mapping out technopolitical imaginaries through an activity of epistemological cartography, based on Joseph Dumit’s Writing the Implosion exercise. Through a series of prompts, we will develop Knowledge and Ignorance Maps to make visible the contested and occupied zones of personal and collective imaginaries of technological systems.

This short DRG also aims at developing an upcoming workshop at the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS). The workshop,  “The Politics of Imaginaries: Probing Humanistic Inquiry in HCI” brings together scholars, practitioners, and makers working across human-computer interaction (HCI), the social sciences, and the humanities to explore the politics of imaginaries in computing development. It emphasizes the necessity of critical and imaginative encounters and recognizes the systemic inequities baked into the practices, policies, and governance structures associated with computing worlds. The workshop aims to develop a concern for technopolitical imaginaries: the images, affects, and sensory connections that shape technological development. The discussions and hands-on activities seek to lay the foundation for a broader conversation on the stakes of a humanistic imagination in HCI.

In this DRG, we have four primary goals for developing the upcoming DIS workshop:

  1. Workshop: In weeks 1 and 2, we will run a condensed pilot of the workshop (epistemological cartography activity).
  2. Iteration: In week 3, we will discuss the experiences and outcomes of the workshop.
  3. Physicalization (no meeting): In week 4, DRG participants are encouraged to explore creative ways to engage with their maps, either through visualizations, sketches, design prototypes, speculative artifacts or performance pieces.
  4. Analysis: In week 5, we will conclude the DRG by presenting the outputs of week 4 in class, as well as the outputs from the DIS workshop, and identify key findings and opportunities for future work. 

We invite 2-4 dedicated undergraduate or graduate students to participate in this DRG. You should expect to read through materials before each week's meeting to fully engage in DRG activities. No prior experience in these areas is needed. Sessions will be held on Wednesdays from 10am-12pm, with additional time allocated for readings, designs, analysis, and other aspects of the project. 

The DRG will be co-facilitated by PhD candidates Michael Beach and Gabrielle Benabdallah advised by Associate Professor Daniela Rosner. If you have any questions, reach out to Michael at mwb8@uw.edu or on the HCDE Slack.

Spring 2023

Designing with Polyamory

Led by: Brian Kinnee, PhD Candidate (HCDE), bkinnnee@uw.edu
Faculty Sponsors: Daniela Rosner, Associate Professor (HCDE) & Audrey Desjardins, Associate Professor (Design)

Overview and Call for Applicants
This DRG is seeking 2-3 people who have experience in, are currently practicing, or are thinking about polyamory. Polyamory is the practice of having multiple, consensual, emotional and/or sexual relationships. This DRG will research the intersections of polyamory, HCI, and design.

Students from undergraduate and master’s programs are invited to apply and participate in this design research project. We are interested in working with people who have experiences with polyamory, are currently polyamorous, or who have been thinking about polyamory. We will explore ways of designing with polyamory through conversation, calendaring, historical investigation, reflection with personal data, everyday speculation, and data-driven divination.

Furthermore, we will unpack coexisting definitions of polyamory and polyamorous systems to forge new directions for understanding polyamory as defined by ongoing and reflexive processes of communication, consent, and co-designing ethical norms and standards. Moreover, we will draw upon our lived experiences of polyamory and polyamorous living through a series of design research inquiries.

Background & Motivation
Currently, polyamorous communities are under-accounted for in the design of sociotechnical systems. At the same time, these communities have robust practices of iteratively developing their own terms of fairness, accountability, and transparency. While polyamorous communities continue to queer uses of technologies to fit their particular needs and sensitivities, they remain under-accounted for, stigmatized, and invisibilized in many ways. Therefore, this DRG will explore what we might learn from polyamorous communities in order to design more fair, accountable, and transparent systems using design research methodologies.

Summary
In this DRG, we will investigate designing with polyamory through a series of engagements with archival, historical, personal, and temporal data in the context of HCI and Design. This DRG will develop design research methods for designing with polyamory through defining protocols, methods, and techniques for conducting design research with polyamorous communities, systems, and technologies.
If you have any questions, please contact Brian Kinnee at bkinnee@uw.edu.

Spring 2023

A Critical Examination of Psychometrics in (Algorithmic) Hiring

This DRG will be led by Caitie Lustig and sponsored by Daniela Rosner.

Background
Recently there has been increased interest in the equity, policy, and design implications of algorithmic hiring systems. These platforms use AI/ML technology to automate stages of the hiring process (i.e., sourcing, screening, interviewing, and selection). They use a variety of techniques to rank candidates–including using psychometrics, which are most commonly used in the screening and interview stages of the hiring process when an applicant is compared to the traits of an “ideal employee”. This DRG will explore how psychometrics came to be used in algorithmic hiring despite their controversial history.

Objectives and outputs

During this DRG, we will:

  • find and discuss articles and other media that situate these platforms’ creation and deployment in their socio-historical contexts,
  • analyze marketing materials and documentation for these systems, and
  • collectively develop an artifact that represents our findings.

The outputs of this DRG are flexible and will be based on student interests. Potential outputs could include an annotated bibliography, visual mapping of the histories of these technologies, design fictions, a manifesto, and/or a study plan for an interview study or Asynchronous Remote Community (ARC) study.

By the end of the quarter, we will be able to:

  • articulate ways that current algorithmic hiring systems depart from and continue earlier technologies of hiring and psychometrics,
  • provide insights into how marketing materials and documentation about algorithmic hiring systems shape and are shaped by discourses about algorithmic bias, and
  • articulate strategies for locating sources for historical research.

Who we are looking for

  • 3-5 undergraduate or graduate students (folks outside of HCDE are welcome, as we hope to get a wide range of perspectives)
  • Interest in the topic matter; however, no technical expertise or skills are required
  • Interest in the possibility of future collaboration is not required but is encouraged

If you have any questions, you may email Caitie Lustig at celustig@uw.edu.

Spring 2023

Understanding the Black User Experience with using AI-Supported Text Technology

Led by: Jeffrey Basoah, PhD Student
Faculty Sponsors: Daniela Rosner, Katharina Reinecke

Overview:

This DRG is seeking 5-6 dedicated and enthusiastic students in supporting this proposed study. Students from all levels, undergrad to Ph.D., are invited to apply and participate in this project. In this study we will be investigating what aspects of digital technology Blacks users find takes into account their lived experiences and possibly highlight pitfalls of how current digital tech is designed that should be addressed. This study is concerned with the cultural assumptions embedded within the design of AI-supported text technology (such as chatGPT and autocomplete as seen on Google search and Gmail) and the perceptions, expectations, and experiences of Black users with this technology. 

Research Question: Do Black users of AI-supported text technology see their lived experiences reflected in products that permeate their day to day lives?

Involvement:

Your participation with this study will entail conducting and assisting with participant interviews and focus groups, thematic coding analysis of audio transcripts, conducting and analyzing design fiction workshop artifacts alongside the graduate student project lead. This also includes obtaining consent and assisting with performing all study procedures. Participants will have had coursework in research methods, complete an orientation to human subjects protections given by the UW, and will receive training from graduate student project lead on obtaining consent and debriefing subjects. 

This will be a 3 credit DRG. We will meet no more than 3 hours virtually each week, and students will be expected to spend about 2-3 hours working outside of that time per week.

Impact & Affordances:

This project will provide researchers with data and stories provided by participants that shed light on their experiences while using AI-supported text technology and its incorporation, or lack thereof, of their lived experience. Findings from this study will potentially provide a framework on how to conduct an evaluation study of technology groups for marginalized communities to essentially course correct the tech field towards design practices that are more inclusive of the studied groups.

This DRG will provide you with a great opportunity to build upon empirical research skills. Be sure to reach out to Jeffrey Basoah (jeffkb28@uw.edu) with any questions.

Spring 2022

Child Care Access in Seattle: Mapping and Visualization 

Led by: Rebecca Michelson, PhD Candidate, HCDE 
With guidance from faculty advisors Professor Julie Kientz and Professor Daniela Rosner
Wednesdays, 3 - 4:40 p.m. on Zoom

Project Overview
This DRG is a hands-on opportunity to deliver on information and advocacy needs expressed by the Greater Seattle Child Care Business Coalition. The goal of the DRG is to co-create with GSCCB an interactive map that features childcare and daycare centers as well as providers in each neighborhood. Activities include: collecting and reviewing data, learning about mapping platforms, and iteratively developing a beta map with opportunities for feedback from the community partnership. Students will get the chance to learn from guest speakers on topics of data viz, mapping for social change, and childcare policy. 

The project is driven by a partnership with the Greater Seattle Child Care Business Coalition who serves as a learning and workforce development arm among childcare providers, policymakers, and regulatory agencies. (Read more about some of their recent work here).

We are looking for:

  • 4-6 undergraduate or graduate students
  • Folks with experience or strong interest in data visualization, mapping, and usability studies
  • Nice to have:
    • Passion or domain expertise for childcare or caregiving access
  • You do not have to be a method or subject expert to participate!

DRG Format:

  • Meeting once a week for 1.5 hours on Zoom, with 2 hours of asynchronous design research in between sessions: Wednesdays 3-4:30pm PST. *There may be some flexibility in this course timing, if this time absolutely does not work for you!
  • 1-2 credits
  • This DRG will be entirely remote via Zoom
  • Composition: we will have 1-2 project working groups, based on the number of students who apply

Students Participating in the DRG will:

  • Participate in co-design and planning of a resource to launch by the end of Spring quarter with a local community partner
  • Brainstorm and research best approaches to share information about childcare access in Seattle
  • Conduct user research activities for audiences of this prototype
  • Move from concepts to prototype in a short period of time
  • Engage with design research long-term with possibility for a Fall 2022 DRG

Spring 2021

Speculating Beyond Data Capitalism

DRG topic:

In this DRG, we will take a critical look at the labor of data workers and its relationship to wider systems of oppression. Data are essential for the creation and functioning of the software we use every day, but how are data produced, managed, and cleaned? Who does that labor and under what conditions?

We will read about and discuss topics such as data capitalism, data colonialism, the labor that goes into producing and managing data, the materiality of data and the work needed to maintain and repair its physical infrastructures, and designing for alternatives. These readings will be contextualized in case studies on different kinds of data labor, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk workers who train machine learning models and content moderators on social media platforms.

This DRG has three objectives: (1) to discuss these topics through the lenses of anti-capitalism, post-colonial theory, feminist technoscience, and critical data studies, (2) to write design fictions to speculate about alternative futures, and (3) to learn about other methods that we can use in our future work.

Format and output of the DRG:

This DRG is 2-3 credits.

Over the course of the quarter, we will discuss readings, and some weeks we will have researchers and/or activists join us as discussants. In the latter half of the quarter, we will write and workshop short design fictions as tools for thinking about how to design more equitable alternatives and provide critiques of existing systems.

At the end of the DRG, we will share out our design fictions, potentially as a contribution to a conference or journal, or as its own website.

Spring 2021

The Cost of Culture: Diverse and Multicultural Community Interaction with Financial Technology Applications

Led by: Jay Cunningham, PhD Student | Faculty Sponsors:  Julie Kientz, Daniela Rosner 

Overview:
This DRG is seeking 3-4  dedicated and enthusiastic students to join in supporting this proposed study. Students from all levels (BS - PhD) are invited to apply and participate in this project. The group will conduct applied research outlined by the study agenda to investigate the relational engagement among low-resourced ethnic minority and multicultural communities and their interaction with financial technology (fintech) applications. This study is concerned with the cultural and communal relativity embodied by financial technology, specifically with diverse underserved populations. 

Involvement:
Participation in assisting with this study will entail surveying, interviewing, collaborating and collecting oral and written histories with participant experts on experiences and circumstances that influence their use of fintech applications. This also includes obtaining consent and assisting with performing all study procedures. Participants will have had coursework in research methods, complete an orientation to human subjects protections given by the UW, and will receive training from graduate student project lead on obtaining consent and debriefing subjects.

Impact & Affordances:
This project will provide researchers with data and stories provided by participants that grant perspective into their choice of personal finance and banking technology services and the impacts of its use in their lives. Findings of this project will guide further research to triangulate the affordances of culturally relative/sensitive technical systems design and highlight consequences of biased financial technology and the impact on low-resourced ethnic minority and multicultural communities. 

Additional Background & Motivation:
This project serves as a preliminary analysis toward examining the role that big tech plays in the position of power, ethics, equity, and sociality in the design, development, and deployment of AI systems. With specific reference to financial technology firms (fin-tech), AI systems are based on statistical and probability models along with predictive analytics to forecast consumer performance. Extensive research has shown that bias in AI systems reflect historical patterns of discrimination and oppression long influenced by a dominant culture; which in the U.S defaults to white, heterosexual, middle-to-upper class men. Thus, when AI tools make decisions based on predominant consumers’ data, fin-tech must urgently consider the effects of low-resourced ethnic minority and multicultural communities and whether the decisions are transparent and explainable. Across the U.S.,these communities are less likely to possess adequate financial literacy, generational and community wealth, and access to financial resources and education. Though previous work in community cultural wealth has examined the relationship between people, equity, and finances, the role of computation in this process remains unclear. We contribute to this work by exploring how a study of fintech practices among diverse underserved populations may foster equity-centered sociotechnical change.

Spring 2021

Community, Capacity, and Collective Care in Practice

Led by Josephine Hoy and Professor Daniela Rosner

Living within the convergence of many ongoing and escalating crises, we need each other more than ever. 

This DRG proposes an experiment in technology-mediated collective care to support each other across geographic and temporal distance and in alignment with public health guidance. Over the course of Winter quarter, we will explore and engage in practices of collective care with the goal of providing for ourselves during this time of crisis and growing our community’s capacity to join with other groups in meaningful solidarity efforts for social justice. 

We will adopt and adapt technologies (of many types) in order to provide safe, supportive, and capacity-building care for each other. We will also explore auto-ethnographic methods and/or reflective exercises in order to articulate experiential learnings, contribute to an open research archive, and work to develop a toolkit that we can share with and beyond our HCDE community.

In addition to our practice and synthesis, we will read to engage with knowledge produced within feminist, disability justice, community organizing, and mutual aid traditions. Together, we will probe questions like:

What does care look like? Whose care/giving is valued? Whose care needs are viewed as burdensome? Who provides care? Who is likely to be denied care?
What tools and skills do we have readily available to help us meet each others’ emotional and survival needs remotely?
How might attending to care help us identify structural forces of oppression that are causing harm to people within our community?
How do our tools and skills allow us to provide support in a way that begins to dismantle oppressive structures and build alternatives?
What tactics can we use to come together across lines of difference?
How might we build our own capacity so that we can extend our care webs or create new ones beyond HCDE?
What struggles and frustrations do we encounter in this work and what can we learn from them?

This project is part of an ongoing research project organized by HCDE Ph.D. student Joey Hoy on the role of digital technology in supporting mutual aid.