Making Spaces: Mapping Opportunities for Improved Equity in Makerspaces and Virtual Reality

The promise of "making"—that is, learning, experimenting, DIY, creation, reappropriation, or otherwise—has become a popular topic in human-computer interaction (HCI) research, and a subject of interest for public institutions like libraries and schools for their potential to engage the public in STEM-related learning, to build their confidence, and potentially inspire new career paths. However, embedded in the individualist ethos of these spaces are problems of inclusion: who counts as a maker, and what types of projects count as making. As a result, makerspaces can be uninviting to marginalized groups, and in this thesis I focus on women, specifically. Opportunities to improve equity in these environments by using technology exist, but run their own risks of amplifying inequities by porting in systemic biases as artifacts of the cultures in which they were produced. In my thesis I address three main research questions: (1) What can we learn from gender-imbalanced maker groups in order to support the diverse needs of makers in STEM-focused environments? (2) What systemic barriers exist that prevent successful adoption of novel technologies to support the needs of diverse makers, and specifically women? (3) What ethical and methodological considerations do we have to take into account as human-computer interaction researchers when working to design, develop, or appropriate digital technologies with, in, or for maker communities? To address these questions, I conducted an ethnographic field study with diverse makers (Chapter 3), a systematic review (Chapter 4), and continuing research with makers in a post-COVID environment (Chapter 5). The study presented in Chapter 3 was undertaken in a pre-pandemic world, when the default for maker groups was assumed to be large in-person gatherings. In that context, makers' needs coalesced around diversity in their goals contrasting to a narrow archetype of what makerspaces can or should offer. I also contribute a new understanding of what a makerspace even is, whereby such a space is not defined by a sign above the door, but by the presence of makers themselves. Opportunities were identified to leverage virtual reality (VR) technology to address some of the unmet needs among makers, aiming to increase feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. With an eye towards increasing satisfaction and self-efficacy, I hoped this work would help to keep makers coming back to the space to keep developing their skills, confidence, and curiosity. But: what happens when the makers are removed from the space? In response to public health restrictions, makerspaces worldwide suddenly became inaccessible. After having witnessed deep levels of personal investment and emotional connection within maker groups, I noted that belonging constituted part of makers' personal identities, moreso than whether they were actively making or not. This called for a re-evaluation of the ends to which we might design new systems in VR. However, jumping from "building systems to engage in making activities" to "building systems to support social connectedness in the context of making" faces the same barrier that cannot be ignored, that is, that VR technology remains inaccessible for, inter alia, women, people of colour, and people with disabilities. Imposing the use of a system that in itself minoritizes people by rendering itself unusable would run against the grain of the feminist methodology underpinning this work. Thus, I conducted a systematic review to address a gap in HCI research around how VR research is designed, conducted, and reported in ways that systematically are biased against women. Evaluating systems of production (through maker environments) and the objects produced within those value systems (VR technology itself) offers two ways to call into question the norms that, when invisible, can stand in the way of making progress towards improved equity. As a reflection of the embedded and interdependent nature of this work, I lean on maker culture and re-appropriate one of the concepts I discovered through this work: the unfinished object, or UFO. I offer this methodological approach to researchers continuing community-based work with makers in order to overcome challenges faced in eliciting visions for more equitable futures, and for mapping opportunities for improved equity in makerspaces and virtual reality

The Effects of Ambiguity: A Feminist Study of Human Signifiers in Human-Computer Interaction

A lack of diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields has been a popular topic of discussion and a persistent challenge in terms of recruitment, engagement, opportunity and equality spanning decades. It is not well-understood how new technologies created by the human-computer interaction (HCI) community affect identity construction in minorities such as women, people of colour, and persons with disabilities. The Feminist HCI movement calls on the community to engage with broader moral commitments such as empowerment, diversity, identity and equity, as well as epistemologically embracing multiplicity over universality. However, a gap remains between theory and practice. I argue that goals of feminist rhetoric must be met in the community’s discourse habits as an essential step to more inclusivity in HCI; these goals include dismantling certain oppressive language structures. Feminist theory suggests that the abstract, gender-neutral language used to talk about people in male-dominated systems actually elicits imagery perceived to be male, which would function in contrast to the intentions of writers who want to be gender-neutral when using these words. In this thesis, I present a study used to determine whether the human signifiers used in HCI publications have the same effect. Findings suggest that these HCI “people” words do generally have a tendency to be perceived as male. Insights from this study reveal some tendencies in how these words are thought of among a general audience. I recommend a stronger commitment to Feminist HCI in theory and practice, and greater awareness and sensitivity towards the connotations elicited by these falsely universal terms that are not representative of the diverse community within and outside of HCI

Tunnel Divisions: Interactive Sound Mapping of Transitory Public Spaces

© {Owner/Author | ACM} 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2992154.2996881.We present Tunnel Divisions, an interactive musical installation designed for ephemeral interaction in public spaces. Informed by concepts from cultural and media studies along with existing literature on interactive public displays, we designed the installation as an intervention meant for the monotonous parts of everyday life. Our demonstration uses low-cost sensors and musical theory to create a generative sound composition unique to the particular space and the people moving through it. By experiencing the installation, we hope to promote critical thinking about the nature and form of interaction with public spaces.Funder 1, NSERC Discovery Grant 2016-04422 || Funder 2, NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant 492970-2016 || Funder 3, Ontario Early Researcher Award ER15-11-18

Makers and Quilters: Investigating Opportunities for Improving Gender-Imbalanced Maker Groups

© {Owner/Author | ACM} 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3359131.Recent efforts to diversify participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) activities through informal learning environments, such as hackathons and makerspaces, confirm a real desire for inclusion among potential female participants. However, understanding factors that may contribute to longer-term, sustainable diversification of such groups remains a challenge. In this paper, we present the results of a mixed-methods study of two microcosms of making: game development, and quilting. Our findings reveal parallel structures within these groups despite being highly skewed towards male or female participation, respectively. Our results shed light on attitudes, behaviours, and experiences indicating that similar desires for wider community support among other factors exist in both groups, but these needs are not satisfied in the STEM context. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings as opportunities for rethinking how we design the environments that are meant to support design itself, considering the role of technology in these spaces, and prioritizing nurturing the development of the maker community beyond the maker space.Funder 1, NSERC Discovery Grant 2016-04422 || Funder 2, NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant 492970-2016 || Funder 3, NSERC CREATE Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research (SWaGUR) Grant 479724-2016 || Funder 4, Ontario Early Researcher Award ER15-11-18

CHInclusion: Working toward a more inclusive HCI community

HCI has a growing body of work regarding important social and community issues, as well as various grassroots communities working to make CHI more international and inclusive. In this workshop, we will build on this work: first reflecting on the contemporary CHI climate, and then developing an actionable plan towards making CHI2019 and subsequent SIGCHI events and sister conferences more inclusive for all

You’re Making Me Sick: A Systematic Review of How Virtual Reality Research Considers Gender & Cybersickness

© {Owner/Author | ACM} 2021. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445701.While multiple studies suggest that female-identified participants are more likely to experience cybersickness in virtual reality (VR), our systematic review of 71 eligible VR publications (59 studies and 12 surveys) pertaining to gender and cybersickness reveals a number of confounding factors in study design (e.g., a variety of technical specifications, tasks, content), a lack of demographic data, and a bias in participant recruitment. Our review shows an ongoing need within VR research to more consistently include and report on women’s experiences in VR to better understand the gendered possibility of cybersickness. Based on the gaps identified in our systematic review, we contribute study design recommendations for future work, arguing that gender considerations are necessary at every stage of VR study design, even when the study is not ‘about’ gender.Funder 1, NSERC Discovery Grant 2016-04422 || Funder 2, NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant 492970-2016 || Funder 3, NSERC CREATE Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research (SWaGUR) Grant 479724-2016 || Funder 4, Ontario Early Researcher Award ER15-11-18