DeskOwl: A New Model for Increasing Information Access and Literacy in the Global South
A model for knowledge sharing that is open, interactive, draws on diverse expertise and experience, and builds a searchable information repository that can be used by multiple communities and organizations.
Gender Transition on Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites often privilege people who fit within expected, static categories. Thus, designing technology and SNS flexible enough to allow for representation of complex identities that emerge as people embark on major life transitions, such as changing gender, is a particular challenge for HCI.
Designing for Food Justice with Hunger-Focused Nonprofits.
Research Team: Lynn Dombrowski, Gillian R. Hayes, Melissa Mazmanian Food inequality is large social problem faced by many lower-socioeconomic individuals. As food assistance demands rise, hunger-based nonprofits struggle to help their communities fulfill local food needs. This work examines how technology can support the goals of hunger-focused nonprofits. Novel technological systems can address large social […]
Technologies for Autism: SensoryPaint
SensoryPaint is an interactive surface with the capability of superimposing the user’s reflection on a projected surface and “painting” this surface with balls of different textures and colors, which was designed to augment traditional therapies. This software uses a Kinect to detect the movements of the user and the balls. The user’s image is reflected on the screen, as well as their shadow superimposed on their reflection.
Managing Online Identities for the Deceased
The death of a loved one can be a challenging time for survivors who are left to manage the deceased’s affairs. In many cases, our increasing amount of online data is exacerbating this issue. Our social media lives create vast quantities of personal data that remain after we die. However, these data are not like other assets that we include in wills or testaments. They are connected to a large number of friends who survive us, all with diverse needs.
Technologies for Autism: Hygiene Helper
Proper hygiene habits are essential for the short and long-term health benefits they provide. They are also key independent living skills for full integration within modern society. A variety of books have been written on the subject, but these provide little to help prompt, remind, and instruct on a daily basis. Mobile technologies provide the […]
Technologies for Autism: ActivityCoach
For many people living with ASD, remembering detailed schedules can be challenging. However, the static representations of those schedules that are normally used as supports do not represent the dynamic nature of life. A well planned day can be disrupted by a late bus or cancelled work. ActivityCoach is a mobile application that provides dynamic […]
WellConnect
The goal of WellConnect is to improve mental health services for low-income urban youth by increasing this population’s awareness of their own mental health. Smartphones grant opportunity for improved care. Through the use of smart phones, the individuals will be able to monitor their daily activities.
Technologies for Autism: Mobile Video Modeling
Video modeling has been demonstrated to support individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in learning a variety of skills.This involves watching recorded videos of others (peer modeling) or oneself (self modeling) modeling positive behavior or successfully completing a task. The ubiquitous nature of mobile technologies provides an opportunity to make video modeling more connected to the activities people are trying to accomplish.
Estrellita: Helping Caregivers and Clinicians of Preterm Infants
We are designing, developing, and deploying an innovative and feasible mobile solution for collecting infant and caregiver observations of daily living (ODLs), sharing these data with their clinical providers, and visualizing and summarizing these data for both the parents and clinicians caring for these children. This system, called Estrellita, has been shown to be helpful in preliminary pilot studies, and now we are expanding its capabilities and evaluating Estrellita in a longitudinal field deployment.