Tag: researchblog (Page 2 of 2)

A laptop with text on the screen and a cup of coffee on a desk.

CSCW 2018 Recap

November 8, 2018 / kateringland / 0 Comments

This week was CSCW 2018 – the conference about Computer Supported Collaborative Work. While I was there I attended workshops, panels, and paper presentations. I heard about a lot of great work happening in this space. I thought I would take a moment to recap some* of the things I heard about and learned while I was there. *Note: As my work pertains largely to Digital Mental Health, I’m going to focus on that for this short blog.

e Hudson River and the skyline of New York City. — View from conference venue in Jersey City. New York City skyline and the Hudson River.

Day 1: Workshops

On the first day, I attended a workshop on Conducting Research with Stigmatized Populations. For more information, be sure to check out the website. The discussions we had were thought-provoking. We discussed the ethical and moral responsibilities of researchers who work with stigmatized populations. The range of work covered health, working with youth, working with refugees, international work, gender diversity, and more. The most intriguing part of the workshop – and most encouraging – was how our different research interests and communities intersected and aligned. Stay tuned for more about this workshop.

Day 2: Workshops

The second day, I attended the workshop on Social Issues in Personal Informatics. In this workshops we discussed the intersection of social computing and personal informatics. Concerns such as how to deal with the messiness and complexity of people at the same time people are engaged in self-tracking (and being tracked) behavior. Again, stay tuned for more details about this soon.

Presentations on Mental Health

I attended several interesting paper presentations related to mental health. These included a session of papers around social support and care, which I will highlight here. I highly recommending checking out the rest of the CSCW program for more awesome papers.

The first paper in this section that I wanted to highlight was work being done in substance use. This was also a hot topic in both the workshops that I attended. I particularly like that they are using participatory design methods – in a very careful way in order to protect the participants – to get at better ways to help people in recovery.

Zachary Schmitt and Svetlana Yarosh. 2018. Participatory Design of Technologies to Support Recovery from Substance Use Disorders. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2, CSCW, Article 156 (November 2018), 27 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274425

This next paper is one that explores a model of social support for individuals with mental health concerns. This work really highlights the complexity of trying to design for individuals in this community.

Elizabeth L. Murnane, Tara G. Walker, Beck Tench, Stephen Voida, and Jaime Snyder. 2018. Personal Informatics in Interpersonal Contexts: Towards the Design of Technology that Supports the Social Ecologies of Long-Term Mental Health Management. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact.2, CSCW, Article 127 (November 2018), 27 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274396

Finally, I wanted to highlight, this work being done in my own department here at Northwestern (before I arrived, of course). This work touches on how we as researchers interpret and understand content online. Sometimes we may see an image or a message and understand it to be one thing, when it is in fact another. This paper does a nice job of showing the relevance and importance of good, qualitative work.

Jessica L. Feuston and Anne Marie Piper. 2018. Beyond the Coded Gaze: Analyzing Expression of Mental Health and Illness on Instagram. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2, CSCW, Article 51 (November 2018), 21 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274320

Paper Presentations on Health

There were some interesting health papers about fertility and pregnancy that I wanted to highlight. Even though they weren’t strictly about mental health, I found them compelling and easily related to a lot of the work I do.

Mayara Costa Figueiredo, Clara Caldeira, Elizabeth Victoria Eikey, Melissa Mazmanian, and Yunan Chen. 2018. Engaging with Health Data: The Interplay Between Self-Tracking Activities and Emotions in Fertility Struggles. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2, CSCW, Article 40 (November 2018), 20 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274309

I also appreciated the push to shift how medical services are rendered to women – shifting from fetus-centered healthcare to women-centered. This moves women to the center of their own care, away from simply being a vessel that grows a baby.

Xinning Gui, Yu Chen, Yubo Kou, Katie Pine, and Yunan Chen. 2017. Investigating Support Seeking from Peers for Pregnancy in Online Health Communities. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 1, CSCW, Article 50 (December 2017), 19 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3134685

Presentations on Youth

There were also lots of great papers on children and teens this year. I will just mention a couple here.

This first one was an intervention for children using a furry alien. There is a great blog post about it, so I’ll leave the details to the authors.

Petr Slovák, Nikki Theofanopoulou, Alessia Cecchet, Peter Cottrell, Ferran Altarriba Bertran, Ella Dagan, Julian Childs, and Katherine Isbister. 2018. “I just let him cry…: Designing Socio-Technical Interventions in Families to Prevent Mental Health Disorders. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2, CSCW, Article 160 (November 2018), 34 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274429

There was also a paper about risk to teens on the internet. The important take-away from this work is that the average teen will be exposed to risk on the internet, but instead of being overly-protective, we should be supporting their skill-building in coping. Our efforts should be focused on helping those teens who are more vulnerable to the risks (such as homeless youth or autistic teens).

Bridget Christine McHugh, Pamela J. Wisniewski, Mary Beth Rosson, Heng Xu, and John M. Carroll. 2017. Most Teens Bounce Back: Using Diary Methods to Examine How Quickly Teens Recover from Episodic Online Risk Exposure. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 1, CSCW, Article 76 (December 2017), 19 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3134711

Last but not least…

Finally, I don’t think I could conclude a blog of my recap of CSCW without a plug for the paper I helped co-author. Chris Wolf, who was first author of this work, presented. In this paper, we discuss the complexity of single-sign-on in dating applications. As data flows between multiple platforms, users must make judgments about what data is being put on social media platforms and how these choices are made even more complex when access to one application requires feeding in data from another (e.g., must give Facebook access to Tinder).

Christine T. Wolf, Kathryn E. Ringland, Isley Gao, and Paul Dourish. 2018. Participating Through Data: Charting Relational Tensions in Multiplatform Data Flows. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2, CSCW, Article 184 (November 2018), 17 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3274453

Conclusion

There were many other great papers presented, as well as panels, posters, and more! Of course, my favorite part of attending these conferences is meeting other researchers and geeking out about how work. I hope to see you at CSCW 2019!

A balcony rail in foreground, hudson river dark in middle, and night skyline of city in background. — New York City skyline at night from conference venue.

old computer monitor with black background, green text that reads "critical failure detected, do not panic.. do not panic... do not panic..."

What is Digital Mental Health?

August 16, 2018 / kateringland / 0 Comments

Our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with digital technology. People and technology work in tandem to create the context in which we spend our daily lived experiences. We use technology to connect to one another, both in the workplace and during our recreational time. Not only are we using technology to better connect to one another, but also to be understand ourselves.

In the field of Human-Computer Interaction, there is a whole sub-field of ubiquitous computing or the study of computing technology being embedded throughout our lives and society. The ubiquity of technology has been leveraged to help people keep track of their health, in the workplace, and has been commercially very successful for recreational use (Pokemon Go, anyone?).

Looking down at a table top with a phone with headphones, tablet, glasses, laptop keyboard, camera, briefcase, and make up brushes. — Many of us carry around multiple devices on a daily basis.

An emerging field of research is Digital Mental Health, but what does that mean, exactly?

One area of interest is technology that supports (and/or treats) those looking to improve their mental health. This includes mental health apps for a mobile phone or website based care, for example. Technology will not necessarily replace traditional face-to-face therapies, but they could potentially augment them. A therapist might not always be readily available, but an app on a phone could be. Understanding the best way to design these apps is only beginning to be addressed by the research community.

Along the same lines is studying interventions that include technology in and for a clinical setting. This might include creating applications specific for a hospital setting or for out-patient groups. Another example might be building measures and treatments into a electronic medical record system. Users of these kinds of interventions would go beyond just thinking of a “patient” with mental health needs, but also doctors, nurses, and so on. One of the biggest hurdles here is the actual implementation of these tools – getting everyone in the system to actual adopt the technology, maintain it, and continue to use it so that it is effective.

A desk with note pads and pen, center a coffee mug, in front a blurry smartphone.

Additionally, understanding the problems that might arise in digital spaces that lead to mental health problems can fall under the purview of “digital mental health.” This might include exploring the potential of “addictive” technology or spending too much time in front of screens. Research in this area might also look at perceptions of technology and how that might impact their use (or abandonment). Further, using some kinds of technology, such as social media, has the potential to be detrimental to a person’s mental health. In my own research, I’ve found that interacting in digital spaces can open up individuals to harassment and bullying.

Finally, understanding how people are already using technology to support their mental health. This includes how people already use technology as tools to support themselves and their mental healthcare needs. Individuals interested in improving their mental health may be using technology in a variety of ways. This includes personal tracking, using other apps, and connecting with others via social media.

Virtually Neurodiverse: A New Photo Blog about @Autcraft

January 19, 2018 / kateringland / 0 Comments

As part of my dissertation work, I have been going through all of my old screen shots and analyzing all my collected data. I decided to launch a photo blog to bring to life some of my findings and make them available to all the wonderful people who have helped me with my research. I’ll be posting new blogs every week until I am through all of my screen shots. I would love feedback and comments.

You can visit the photo blog here: https://virtuallyneurodiverse.com

Would You Be Mine: Appropriating Minecraft as an Assistive Technology for Youth with Autism

October 8, 2016 / kateringland / 9 Comments

Preview: Those with disabilities have long adopted, adapted, and appropriated collaborative systems to serve as assistive devices. In a Minecraft virtual world for children with autism, community members use do-it-yourself (DIY) making activities to transform Minecraft into a variety of assistive technologies. Our results demonstrate how players and administrators “mod” the Minecraft system to support self-regulation and community engagement.

A Minecraft garden room with pink flowers and a grassy path.

A calming, quiet garden in Minecraft.

“Need a place to calm down? Quiet? Peaceful? Choose a Calm Room to visit here. In these rooms [t]here is no chat. It’s a place to relax. Visit any time.”

If a child finds face-to-face conversations challenging and feels isolated from their peers at school, where can they go to make friends? How can people use currently existing systems to help those with disabilities, including children with autism? We studied how one online community, Autcraft, through a variety of social media platforms, augments and extends current platforms and transforms them into assistive technology for children with autism.

Autcraft is a Minecraft community for children with autism and their allies run by parent volunteers. The goal of the Autcraft community is to have a safe space for children with autism to play Minecraft free from harassment and bullying (for more information visit the Autcraft website). As part of our study, I have been conducting an on-going ethnography within the community (see our paper for details). This study included analysis of activity within the Minecraft server, forums, website, Twitter, Facebook group, YouTube, and Twitch.

Our analysis demonstrates how players and administrators “mod” the Minecraft system to support self-regulation and community engagement. This work highlights the ways in which we, as researchers concerned with accessible and equitable computing spaces, might reevaluate the scope of our inquiry, and how designers might encourage and support appropriation, enhancing users’ experience and long-term adoption.

Autcraft community members have modified Minecraft to do the following to help players internally regulate themselves and externally manage their engagement with others:

Self-Regulation. Community members use Minecraft in a variety of ways to self-regulate, including both sensory regulation and mood regulation. Dealing with sensory overload can be a difficult experience for anyone with autism, particularly for children and adolescents who are still learning coping skills. Members of the Autcraft community have created spaces within the virtual world and the other platforms to help even the youngest members learn to deal with these sensory needs. Additionally, to help regulate mood, members are able to put into words their emotional experiences, safely share and vent their feelings with others, on the forums and through in-game chat. They can do this in Autcraft without the fear of reprisal from bullies or trolls—which is something they may fear in other online spaces. While this type of behavior may not be unique to Autcraft, the ability to vent in this safe space is possibly unique for the community members personally. They may have communication challenges in their physical environments that limit their abilities to express their feelings fully.
Interacting with Others. Members of the Autcraft community have appropriated the entire ecosystem of technologies surrounding Autcraft to support interfacing and engaging with others. These efforts support engagement with both the internal community and across community boundaries by supporting sociality explicitly. One mod, teleportation, enables players to jump from one place to another in the Autcraft virtual world nearly instantly. This mod, which can be found on a variety of Minecraft servers, creates a “safer” virtual world experience and to support socialization among community members. Teleportation is available through various waypoints within the Autcraft Spawn area as well as through the text chat window. This teleportation functionality not only enables these quick avatar interactions, but also gives community members an ability that they do not have in the physical world. This helps support empowering these young community members to engage in socialization with their friends, when and where they choose.

Individual players appropriate the Autcraft virtual world to suit their own needs, shaping their virtual environment, embodied experience, and, in time, influencing the overall experience for everyone in Autcraft. As the children worked within the confines of the virtual world to make their environment more usable by appropriating with what was available, administrators are able to then iterate on these appropriated instances to re-appropriate the software itself. Thus, administrators, following the cues of the children within the virtual world, are able to instantiate these appropriations and make them available to everyone on Autcraft.

As a group, children with autism are doubly disempowered: both as children and as people living with disabilities. Here, however, we see how this kind of technological openness allows them to customize and create their own play spaces, a type of autonomy that is inherently empowering. This work explores how designers and researchers can learn by observing how even the youngest of users augment and appropriate mainstream technology to become assistive in their daily lives. This work highlights the ways in which researchers concerned with accessible and equitable computing spaces might reevaluate their scope of inquiry and how designers might encourage and support appropriation, enhancing the individualized experience and long-term adoption of assistive devices and systems. The appropriations we observed in Autcraft point to a future model where child-initiated modifications can guide research and design, providing greater access for disempowered communities.

For more details about our methods and findings, please see our full paper that has been accepted to ASSETS 2016 (to appear in October 2016). Full citation and link to the pdf below:

Kathryn E. Ringland, Christine T. Wolf, LouAnne E. Boyd, Mark Baldwin, and Gillian R. Hayes. 2016. Would You Be Mine: Appropriating Minecraft as an Assistive Technology for Youth with Autism. In ASSETS 2016. [PDF]

Acknowledgements: We thank the members of Autcraft for the warm welcome into their community. We also thank members of LUCI and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback on this paper, and Robert and Barbara Kleist for their support. This work is covered by human subjects protocol #2014-1079 at the University of California, Irvine.

A sunset over the tops of trees in minecraft.

“Do you work for Aperture Science?”: Researching and Finding the Gamer Identity in a Minecraft Community for Autistic Children at #FDG19

Preview: For members of the Autcraft community, they are not only coming to terms with their identity as autistic individuals, ...

News: Education in Games Summit 2019 #EiGS19

I'm happy to announce that I will be the opening keynote at the Education in Games Summit this year in ...

Science Communication, Making Research Accessible to Everyone

Xceptional Leaders Podcast: Guest Interview

Recently, I was interviewed for the Xceptional Leaders podcast series. In a follow up blog, I will relate some of ...

“Will I always be not social?”: Re-Conceptualizing Sociality in the Context of a Minecraft Community for Autism

April 3, 2016 / kateringland / 2 Comments

Preview: Members of the Autcraft community for children with autism and their allies use a variety of social media platform, centered around Minecraft. The community’s use of various technologies facilitates the expansion of how members can socialize with one another, giving them opportunity to explore their own sociality, expand how they would like to be able to socialize, and deepen their connection with other members of the Autcraft community.

Autcraft community members playing a game together.

“I love being a member of the [Autcraft] community and love spending time with my ‘family’ here. … A place I was accepted for … just being ‘different’ than others.”

If a child finds face-to-face conversations challenging and feels isolated from their peers at school, where can they go to make friends? Online communities have the potential to support social interaction for those who find in-person communication challenging, such as children with autism. Unfortunately, online communities come with their own set of problems – cyberbullying is particularly troubling. We studied how one online community, Autcraft, through a variety of social media platforms, practices and defines how they are social.

Our analysis demonstrates how members of the Autcraft community search for, practice, and define sociality. These results indicate more broadly how people may increasingly find new ways to express themselves and create a sense of community as emergent forms of media change the nature of our social landscape. Our exploration of Autcraft adds to a growing body of work about social platforms by showing how flexible, multimodal communications not only “keep the game going” but also can have profound effects for self-expression and feelings of social belonging.

Autcraft community members engage in the following:

Searching For and Finding Community. Minecraft serves as a bridge or means of entry for members of this community. The game plays a key role, coupled with other forms of social media, in supporting children who are particularly known to struggle with finding social support. Autcraft—including the game, forums, Facebook page, and community-related videos—helps community members to not feel “alone.” Much like for other youth online, Autcraft members describe “hanging out” with their friends in Minecraft. Although they may not be meeting in person, members consider these relationships to be meaningful friendships. Autcraft, by its very nature of blending social interaction with strict rules of behavior and appealing game mechanics, comes together to form a space of cohesion, not difference, and of support, not scorn.
Defining Sociality and Community. Although Autcraft community members often seek out social relationships through Autcraft as an augment to in-person relationships, some do not wish to seek out these in-person friendships. Those who prefer the majority of their socializing to occur online struggle with what it means to be “social.” Acceptance is a cornerstone to making being “different” more tolerable and reducing the social isolation and loneliness that frequently surrounds difference.
Practicing Sociality. In practicing their social behavior, social connections are formed and maintained through a variety of media technologies, allowing members to use communicative practices best suited for them, both as individuals and as a group. The community sets the stage for sociality by encouraging members to “Be Kind, Be Respectful, Be Responsible.” On an individual level, Autcraft provides powerful common ground for players, a key foundation to many friendships. Not only do those who join the community share a common interest in Minecraft, they also all have claimed to be either an ally of, or someone with, autism. This is a requirement the community regulates carefully. These two components of the community help lay the groundwork for friendship because they represent part of a person’s shared interest.

By using various platforms, members of the Autcraft community are able to form deeper friendships with one another, if so desired. Being able to foster these relationships across the myriad platforms creates cohesion in the community. Two members may meet through an advertisement on the forums for builders, build a project together, and then go on to create YouTube videos together of the experience. This facilitates the expansion of how members can socialize with one another, giving them opportunity to explore their own sociality, expand how they would like to be able to socialize, and deepen their connection with other members of the Autcraft community.

For more details about our methods and findings, please see our full paper that has been accepted to CHI 2016 (to appear in May 2016). Full citation and link to the pdf below:

Ringland, K.E., Wolf, C.T., Faucett, H., Dombrowski, L., and Hayes, G.R. “’Will I always not be social?’: Re-Conceptualizing Sociality in the Context of a Minecraft Community for Autism”. Proceedings of the 2016 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM (2016). [Acceptance Rate: 23.4%] [PDF]

Acknowledgements: We thank the members of Autcraft for the warm welcome to their community. We would like to thank members of LUCI for their feedback on this paper. We would also like to thank Robert and Barbara Kleist for their support. This work is covered by human subjects protocol #2014-1079 at the University of California, Irvine.