3 research outputs found
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Towards a Typology of Design in relation to Prisons
This working paper addresses the ambiguity around systems in design by developing a tentative socio-material framework for categorising systems articulation within design. It suggests that there is not a single systems design approach, but that there are multiple articulations that are divided as to âhow to know systemsâ and âwhat systems are composed ofâ. The paper suggests that there needs to be much more clarity and specificity about what kind of system is assumed or intended to be designed. It identifies that visualisation is the dominant mode of engaging with systems, which reinforces the notion of systems as knowable. In contrast, there are other approaches to systems that suggest they can be transformed directly. Finally, the paper argues that systems thinking is changing design, becoming a knowledge practice and knowledge broker, which has distanced design from its material impacts on the world
Mechanisms of moral responsibilities: Designing and deploying digital technologies for perpetrators of domestic violence
PhD ThesisWhere prevention and intervention resources should be focused to mitigate domestic
violence is an important topic within academic policy and practice. While there are a
range of digital tools available to support victim-survivors subject to domestic violence,
no tools have been designed to challenge the abusive and harmful behaviours of
perpetrators. In this thesis, I explore the experience of how existing and novel
technologies used in the context of perpetrator interventions in the third sector within
the United Kingdom are being leveraged to rebalance the over-responsibility society
bestows on victim-survivors, along with the under-responsibility we ascribe to
perpetrators. I accomplish this through developing a conceptual framework that seeks to
promote spaces for design and further intervention capable of assisting such organisations
in holding perpetrators responsible for their abusive behaviours and facilitating their
journey of behaviour and attitude change towards non-violence.
Through this work, I conceptualise the compelling moral responsibilities intrinsic to
interactions with technological systems between perpetrators and support workers, which
I elicit through a focused ethnography. I highlight four spaces of negotiation concerning a
personâs responsibility for changing their abusive behaviour, which I refer to as
âmechanismsâ to convey their fundamental and interconnected nature: self-awareness,
acknowledging the extent of harms, providing peer support, and being accountable to
demonstrate change. To further investigate these spaces for negotiation, I conducted
three studies to understand the contextual dependencies of design that focuses on the
responsibility of domestic violence perpetrators through: (1) the development of an
interactive storytelling system to promote learning about agency and perspective-taking,
(2) the design of a smartphone application to support crisis management and the
prevention of physical violence, and (3) the design, deployment and evaluation of an
asynchronous peer support process between two groups of perpetrators.
The outcomes of this conceptual and empirical inquiry are manifold. First, I provide a
detailed account of how responsibility is explored in practice between support workers
and perpetrators to suggest design considerations for future systems in this context.
Secondly, I provide a conceptual framework to aid researchers and designers in better
navigating designing for responsibilities for violent behaviours, and outline implications
for how this might be achieved. Finally, I offer a methodological and ethical
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considerations which outlines ways in which support workers and perpetrators can be
actively included within the co-design of digital tools while mitigating the elevation of
risk. These contributions aim to fundamentally reimagine the roles and possibilities for
digital tools within domestic violence, looking beyond todayâs victim-focused and
security-oriented paradigms to propose a more transformative orientation focused on
preventing the harm done by perpetrators