Clara Crivellaro | Newcastle University (original) (raw)

Papers by Clara Crivellaro

Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Supporting disabled populations and their unpaid carers through designing sustainable healthcare ... more Supporting disabled populations and their unpaid carers through designing sustainable healthcare interventions and infrastructures, is an important, yet challenging, area in HCI research. We report on a collaboration with 23 disabled citizens, unpaid carers, and a care organisation, wishing to co-develop digital responses to challenges they face in the management of self-directed care budgets. We describe how leveraging participatory methods, including asynchronous and remote engagements, enabled the co-creation of a sustainable digital common-pool resource, used by over 5,000 people worldwide. This study contributes novel confgurations of methods and tools for co-design with 'seldom heard' populations. Demonstrating how these enabled the collective articulation of what constitutes trust, governance, and responsibility, in the design of a digital commons, "MyCareBudget", ofering peer-produced care documents for use by disabled citizens and their unpaid carers. We discuss implications for HCI interested in co-designing sustainable socio-technical interventions with underserved and marginalised populations, in healthcare settings. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); User studies; HCI design and evaluation methods; Empirical studies in HCI .

Electronic Workshops in Computing

Participatory Design Conference 2022: Volume 1

Hope under Neoliberal Austerity

This chapter presents an exploration of what constitutes justice in digital services through a co... more This chapter presents an exploration of what constitutes justice in digital services through a collaboration between Parker Trust - a charity based in Sunderland, and Not-Equal - a UKRI funded project. The chapter brings together the voices of people at Parker Trust as they struggle to benefit from digital welfare services. It uncovers the critical role that caring relations plays in enabling capabilities needed for digital access. This exploration is set within a wider process of digital transformation in the UK - where technologies’ careless design and application could amplify existing forms of injustice; and where the Covid-19 pandemic forced the sudden closure of community spaces usually supporting those most in need to access digital services. The chapter concludes with a call for concerted efforts to democratise digital innovation within an ethics of care, towards the co-creation of a digital society that can benefit the many rather than the few.

PhD ThesisIn recent years, technology, design and computing have been increasingly considered in ... more PhD ThesisIn recent years, technology, design and computing have been increasingly considered in public, media, and academic discourses as playing a significant role in supporting people affecting change in the places and communities in which they live. Drawing from three case studies that developed in North Tyneside’s Tynemouth, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Oreth in South East London, this dissertation shows how cross-disciplinary methodological perspectives—combining ontological politics, discourse and public work philosophy—can be used to understand the role of technology in everyday political processes, and drive the design of processes and socio-technical tools to open up spaces of contestation and dialogue in the everyday politics of place. The argument put forward in this dissertation is that in order to produce spatial processes that are more just and democratic, we must attend to people’s mundane communicative exchanges as forms of political action both conceptually and in practice; we must also recognize the heterogeneous actors and power dynamics involved, as well as the interpersonal and political work that contribute to forging and shaping these spatial processes. Vernacular rhetoric—the conception of everyday communicative exchanges as political action—forms the basis of this thesis. It is first utilised to understand the appropriation of a Facebook page by a group of residents concerned with the development of a derelict swimming pool. The perspective is then used to drive the design of processes that employed digitally supported urban walks to involve city residents in political discussions and reenvisioning of places in and about the city. The third case study explores how such participatory processes might be used to support a group of residents concerned with ‘rebuilding’ their community and wishing to create a digital walking trail in and about their housing estate undergoing urban regeneration. Finally, learning from the three studies is synthesized in a discussion on the relationship between vernacular politics, technologies and issues of spatial justice, and the role that HCI research, designed tools and participatory processes can play in supporting spaces of contestation and dialogue and the development of capacities to formulate collective rights towards the re-making of the places that matter to us

Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019

Critical approaches to smart technologies have emerged in HCI that question the conditions necess... more Critical approaches to smart technologies have emerged in HCI that question the conditions necessary for smart technologies to benefit people. Smart services rely on a relation of trust and sense of security between people and technology requiring a more expansive definition of security. Using established design methods, we worked with two residents' groups to critically explore and rethink smart services in the home and city. From our data analysis, we derive insights about perceptions and understandings of trust, privacy and security of smart devices, and identify how technological security needs to work in concert with social and relational forms of security for smart services to be effective. We conclude with an orientation for HCI that focuses on designing services for and with smart people and things. CCS CONCEPTS • Security and privacy → Social aspects of security and privacy; • Human-centered computing → User studies;

Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video, 2015

We present a method for civic engagement that uses interactive video documentary to capture disco... more We present a method for civic engagement that uses interactive video documentary to capture discourses within focused settings (eg workshops or focus groups) and translocate them to public spaces (via interactive vox-pops) and online spaces (via an interactive web-based tool). Our method aims to facilitate encounters and the exchange of perspectives between communities across these spaces. We describe how the method was developed through five stages, beginning with a workshop and culminating in a prototype design tool and offer preliminary insights into its potential benefits. We argue that a key strength of this method lies in its potential to support situated encounters and build connections between researchers, designers, institutions and members of the public, with potential benefits in the areas of user-centered research and design. Finally, we outline directions for future development, including a model for lightweight civic engagement that uses an "interactive design documentary" as a central component.

CHI '14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2014

Socially engaged methods are increasingly being used within HCI research, yet arts practice in th... more Socially engaged methods are increasingly being used within HCI research, yet arts practice in this context has been little explored. HCI research that aligns with socially engaged arts practices encourages debate around societal challenges; for example discussion of issues surrounding the role of digital technology in sustainability, inclusion, community, identity and the politics of participation. Building on existing research, this workshop will bring together a diverse group of HCI researchers, artists and other creators whose work or interests align with socially engaged arts practice, to foster critical exploration and creative collaboration.

Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2022 - Volume 2

There is currently a growing interest in PD and CSCW in 'commoning practices': the collective cre... more There is currently a growing interest in PD and CSCW in 'commoning practices': the collective creation, management and sustaining of community resources for collective benefit. While the tensions that commoning processes entail are relatively well reported, the tradeoffs that community organisations have to make to enable wider access to such resources is still not as well understood. This is particularly the case when resources or community services are accessed through ICTs. To more closely examine such questions of access, we worked with several types of community organisations engaging in commoning practices in one of the most deprived regions of the United Kingdom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through semistructured interviews and a participatory workshop, we uncovered how, during Covid-19, such organisations struggled to configure access to community resources in ways that maintained their participatory and inclusive character, while also protecting them from degradation. Additionally, our findings point to the trade-offs that community organisations had to make in selecting the ICTs to use for remote work during the pandemic. While open-source technologies would have been their preferred option as opposed to software from tech companies, which they perceived as 'unethical', adopting open-source tools presented additional barriers and 'costs', such as the lack of familiarity, the need for training and the lack of staff for configuration, maintenance and support. Such findings prompt us to critically reexamine the processes through which we can scaffold the use of open-source tools in values-driven organisations. This entails both the need to financially support these organisations exploring alternatives to proprietary technologies, and to design technologies that can support an easier transition to open-source adoption. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Collaborative and social computing; Collaborative and social computing systems and tools. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs International 4.0 License.

Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2017

The financial crisis and austerity politics in Europe has had a devastating impact on public serv... more The financial crisis and austerity politics in Europe has had a devastating impact on public services, social security and vulnerable populations. Greek civil society responded quickly by establishing solidarity structures aimed at helping vulnerable citizens to meet their basic needs and empower them to co-create an anti-austerity movement. While digital technology and social media played an important role in the initiation of the movement, it has a negligible role in the movement's ongoing practices. Through embedded work with several solidarity structures in Greece, we have begun to understand the 'solidarity economy' (SE) as an experiment in direct democracy and self-organization. Working with a range of solidarity structures we are developing a vision for a 'Solidarity HCI' committed to designing to support personal, social and institutional transformation through processes of agonistic pluralism and contestation, where the aims and objectives of the SE are continuously re-formulated and put into practice.

Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016

We present insights from an extended engagement and design intervention at an urban regeneration ... more We present insights from an extended engagement and design intervention at an urban regeneration site in SE London. We describe the process of designing a walking trail and system for recording and playing back place-specific stories for those living and working on the housing estate, and show how this is set within a wider context of urban renewal, social/affordable housing and "community building". Like prior work, the research reveals the frictions that arise in participatory engagements with heterogeneous actors. Here we illustrate how material interventions can rearrange existing spatial configurations, making productive the plurality of accounts intrinsic in community life. Through this, we provide an orientation to HCI and design interventions that are concerned with civic engagement and participation in processes of making places.

Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 2016

The emergence of participatory, on-demand and interactive media is changing the media production ... more The emergence of participatory, on-demand and interactive media is changing the media production landscape. Producing interactive media is often more complex than creating traditional linear films, resulting in increased pressure for production teams. In this paper we explore what implications this has for cast and crew who participate in the production of such new media. We explore how collaborative technologies can support creative practitioners, within these challenging settings. We present TryFilm, a collaborative editing system, designed by the authors and deployed during an interactive film shoot by a small film company featuring a cast of early career actors. .

Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2015

Alternative systems ranging from self-organized skill sharing to alternative micro-economies have... more Alternative systems ranging from self-organized skill sharing to alternative micro-economies have been critical channels of community engagement and bonding. Technology is increasingly playing a role in the way people connect to these services at the (hyper)local level. While there has been considerable research on designing technology to support conventional, established systems of community organization and governance; mobile and ubiquitous technologies offer strong potential for alternative systems to be established in the local level. Do It Yourself (DIY) and maker movements are enabling grassroots activist groups to develop their own technologies or to hack existing tools to support bottom-up systems of self-organization, democracy and commerce. Based on these trends and the recent worldwide economic, political and societal crisis, this workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners and activists to re-envision how HCI tools can support alternative systems of local civic engagement.

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

The role of HCI in informal caregivers' lives has been a focus of research for some time. Yet to ... more The role of HCI in informal caregivers' lives has been a focus of research for some time. Yet to gain signifcance in HCI, are the implications of healthcare systems' transformation into a personalised care paradigm, where citizens gain choice and control over the delivery of their care. We provide a frst HCI paper to examine self-directed care budgets for disabled citizens, where care funding is controlled by the individual. We explore how digital technology can assist citizens, promoting peer support to create meaningful, personalised healthcare infrastructures. This qualitative study contributes insights from interviews and focus groups with 24 disabled citizens, informal caregivers and healthcare ofcers, to provide understanding of their experiences and practices. These insights highlight relational care, invisible labour, power struggles with authorities and how citizens seek socio-technical capability. We contribute design implications for self-directed care budgets and HCI research concerned with developing technologies that support this population.

Our food system is a socio-material, heterogeneous infrastructure whose complexity and interconne... more Our food system is a socio-material, heterogeneous infrastructure whose complexity and interconnectedness often remains invisible to citizens. While moments of crisis expose the vulnerabilities and injustices underlying this system, this paper seeks to explore which processes and tools CSCW could purposely design to 'open up' food infrastructures and bring young and adult people in contact with different aspects of the food system to cultivate food citizenship from a more-than-human perspective. Through a collaboration with a local primary school and four different food organisations (a mushroom grower, a vegetable farm, a bread-baking community centre, and a food bank) in North East England, UK, we designed 'contact zones' that enabled a class of students aged 7 to 8 years to encounter socio-material food practices at each partnering organisation's site and in the classroom. Our insights show young people's rich engagement in the socio-materiality of place, ...

This paper reports on a long-term collaboration with a self-organised social clinic, within solid... more This paper reports on a long-term collaboration with a self-organised social clinic, within solidarity movements in Greece. The collaboration focused on the co-creation of an oral history group within the social clinic, aiming to record and make sense of a collection of digital oral histories from its volunteers and volunteers-doctors. The process aimed to support reflection and shape the future of the clinic’s ongoing social innovation and to transform institutional public health services. Positioning the work of solidarity movement as designing social innovation, the work contributes to CSCW and ‘infrastructuring’ in Participatory Design aspiring to support social activism and social transformation processes. More specifically, through our empirical insights on the process of infrastructuring an oral history group within a social movement; and related insights about their ongoing participatory health service provision—we provide implications for CSCWconcerned with its role in inst...

Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Work addressing the negative impacts of domestic violence on victim-survivors and service provide... more Work addressing the negative impacts of domestic violence on victim-survivors and service providers has slowly been contributing to the HCI discourse. However, work discussing the necessary, pre-emptive steps for researchers to enter these spaces sensitively and considerately, largely remains opaque. Heavily-politicised specialisms that are imbued with conflicting values and practices, such as domestic violence service delivery can be especially difficult to navigate. In this paper, we report on a mixed methods study consisting of interviews, a design dialogue and an ideation workshop with domestic violence service providers to explore the potential of an online service directory to support their work. Through this novel 3-stage research process, we were able to characterise this unique service delivery landscape and identify tensions in services' access, understandings of technologies and working practices. Drawing from our findings, we discuss opportunities for researchers to work with and sustain complex information ecologies in sensitive settings.

Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Configuring community technology to ensure its sustainability has proved challenging. We present ... more Configuring community technology to ensure its sustainability has proved challenging. We present a 3-year longitudinal study and evaluation of two independent situated community display networks in rural contexts. We describe how the design of the display systems evolved to reflect the needs and desires of the community. We report on the way stakeholders’ perceptions of the displays changed over time, and examine the community dynamics involved in the administration, maintenance and moderation of the systems. Drawing from our findings, we further explore the role of the community champion and their impact on sustainability and scalability. We provide recommendations for the design of community network display technology that supports democratic inter-community politics and governance, and is sensitive to the hidden emotional labor and social resources that are required from communities to fully adopt and sustain display technology.

Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

In this paper we report insights from the design and delivery of a process that invited distinct ... more In this paper we report insights from the design and delivery of a process that invited distinct groups of citizens to co-develop and apply social impact assessment criteria for the purpose of reviewing research proposals on HCI, social justice and digital technologies. We describe our process, designed to create dialogic spaces that foster critical engagements with technologies and social issues, cooperation and peer-support. In our findings we explore how people defined and contextualised social impact in lived experiences, negotiated and legitimised their role as reviewers, and articulated the value of HCI research for social justice. We reflect on the significance of involving citizens in the commissioning of research that addresses inequalities and social justice in technology design and draw implications for HCI researchers concerned with ethical dimensions of technology. The work contributes to HCI and civic engagement's traditions to develop effective participatory methods and collaborative processes to produce digital technologies that support social justice.