The Design of Pseudo-Participation

Participation is key to building an equitable, realistic and democratic future. Yet a lack of agency in decision making and agenda-setting is a growing phenomenon in the design of digital public services. We call this pseudo-participation by and in design. The configuration of digital artifacts and/or processes can provide an illusion of participation but lack supportive processes and affordances to allow meaningful participation to happen. This exploratory paper examines the realm of pseudo-participation in the design of public digital services through two concepts: 1) pseudo-participation by design, digital interfaces, and tools that provide the illusion of participation to the people, 2) pseudo-participation in design, processes in which those affected by the design decisions are marginalized and not given any agency. We contribute to the re-imagination of participatory design in modern societies where the role of politics has become ubiquitous and is yet to be critically scrutinized by designers.Peer reviewe

Pulling Back the Curtain on the Wizards of Oz

The Wizard of Oz method is an increasingly common practice in HCI and CSCW studies as part of iterative design processes for interactive systems. Instead of designing a fully-fledged system, the ‘technical work’ of key system components is completed by human operators yet presented to study participants as if computed by a machine. However, little is known about how Wizard of Oz studies are interactionally and collaboratively achieved in situ by researchers and participants. By adopting an ethnomethodological perspective, we analyse our use of the method in studies with a voice-controlled vacuum robot and two researchers present. We present data that reveals how such studies are organised and presented to participants and unpack the coordinated orchestration work that unfolds ‘behind the scenes’ to complete the study. We examine how the researchers attend to participant requests and technical breakdowns, and discuss the performative, collaborative, and methodological nature of their work. We conclude by offering insights from our application of the approach to others in the HCI and CSCW communities for using the method

Artesanos, makers y centros de innovación en Colombia

Fundación Ceibal, Debat

The role of social robots in fostering human empathy : a cross-cultural exploration

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 59-67).Empathy is a fundamental socio-emotional human ability. It allows us to regulate our emotions in reference to other's emotions, to understand and interpret others' emotional states, and to act accordingly. Recent studies show how levels of empathy, particularly across young populations in the United States, are on a steady decline (Konrath, O'Brien, & Hsing, 2011). Although numerous interventions to address this issue have been tested, to the best of my knowledge, no work to date has explored the potential of social robots to support behavior, understanding and expression of human empathy among children. In this thesis, I present the results of an experiment with children from two countries, exploring how social robots can help in further understand and support the development of empathy in this particular population. In light of the challenge of decreasing levels of empathy, I raised the question of how interactions with social robots can help foster empathic skills in children with aggressive tendencies. I also stressed the importance of cross-cultural studies in order to broaden our understanding of the potential this technology holds for this specific application. I developed a novel interaction using two social robots, geared towards tapping into children's empathic models; evoking empathy and capturing relevant information either through behavior, understanding or physiology metrics. I found that empathy interventions using robotic companions can be an efficient tool to engage children. I also found significant differences in a cross-cultural sample, showing the importance of this approach. I present results indicating how through interaction with social robots, behaviorally-challenged children can successfully perceive, act, reflect, and practice empathy. These findings are encouraging when considering the potential of this technology for future interventions.by Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar.S.M

Achieving Grassroots Innovation Through Multi-lateral Collaborations: Evidence from the Field

Collaborations with academia, international organizations, governments and civic society are both an opportunity and a challenge for grassroots associations to achieve their mission while maintaining their values and philosophy. Little research has been done on programs leveraging these collaborations to increase capacity for community-based, peer-production and innovation in economically constrained environments. This article presents the case study of a grassroots organization, C-Innova, in its leading role as organizer of two international design summits hosted in Colombia in 2015 and 2016. The goal of these summits focuses on increasing participants’ understanding of design and technical skills, while fostering aspects of self-fulfillment and psychological needs. These experiences attempt to support and catalyze the emergence of local innovation initiatives. Both summits were organized and implemented through partnerships with local government, cooperation agencies, universities both local and international and members of civic society. We analyze the success of these collaborations across three dimensions: (1) program's objectives, (2) systemic changes across partners as a result of these partnerships and (3) structural improvements and challenges for C-Innova. We find significant changes across all dimensions, suggesting this as a viable model for grassroots to achieve their goals without significantly compromising their core values and belief

El VOT Fonético de las Consonantes Oclusivas Sordas del Español Hablado en Bogotá: Aproximación Instrumental

This B.A. thesis is an instrumental exploration of the links between socio-economic status and the phonetic features of voiceless plosive consonants as spoken by Colombian speakers in the city of Bogotá. <div>The thesis is written in Spanish as teh requirement for the B.A. degree of the Department of Linguistics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. </div><div>______________________</div><div><div><br></div><div>Este tesis de pregrado es una exploración instrumental de los vínculos entre el estatus socioeconómico y las características fonéticas de las consonantes oclusivas sordasen hablantes del Español colombiano en la ciudad de Bogotá.</div><div>La tesis está escrita en español como el requisito de. grado del Departamento de Lingüística de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia.</div></div

Coffee Farms as Design Labs: Manifesting Equity x Design Principles in Practice

New forms of co-design, as a mechanism for collaboration with historically marginalized communities, continue to emerge. From short academic experiences to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, these programs attempt to highlight the value and importance of co-design in reducing equity gaps, producing relevant outcomes, and broadening participation across stakeholders. In doing so, these initiatives run at risk of reproducing a variety of challenges related to power, ethics, and gender among others, therefore requiring continuous examination and experimentation to address such issues. In this paper, we analyze the implementation of an interdisciplinary course in design carried out at two coffee farms in rural Colombia. Using the EquityXDesign framework, we critically analyze how the course approaches these known challenges in community-based design, and discuss modifications to the framework towards more inclusive and equity-driven design