Jordan Eschler

I'm so glad I met you: Designing Dynamic Collaborative Support for Young Adult Cancer Survivors

Young adult cancer survivors-individuals in their 20s and 30s-must cope with complicated informational and emotional needs that differ from those of other age groups. Although young adult cancer survivors are resourceful in finding information and support to help meet those needs, they face three distinct, ongoing challenges during and after the cancer experience: (1) feeling isolated; (2) confronting a sense of mortality; and (3) struggling with changing body image and identity. We present empirical findings from qualitative interviews with young adult cancer survivors that demonstrate how these challenges change throughout the illness experience, complicating a survivors search for information and support. We also characterize the adaptive behaviors survivors employ to overcome these challenges. Given these findings, we suggest design implications for online spaces young adult survivors use to collaborate, as well as resources about privacy and self-presentation that can best support survivors in making decisions about shar-ing information.

Systematic Inquiry for Design of Health Care Information Systems: An Example of Elicitation of the Patient Stakeholder Perspective

The electronic health record (EHR) has evolved as a tool primarily dictated by the needs of health care clinicians and organizations, providing important functions supporting day to day work in health care. However, the EHR and supporting information systems contain the potential to incorporate patient workflows and tasks as well. Integrating patient needs into existing EHR and health management systems will require understanding of patients as direct stakeholders, necessitating observation and exploration of in situ EHR use by patients to envision new opportunities for future systems. In this paper, we describe the application of a theoretical framework (Vicente, 1999) to organize qualitative data during a multi-stage research study into patient engagement with EHRs. By using this method of systematic inquiry, we have more effectively elicited patient stakeholder needs and goals to inform the design of future health care information systems.

Understanding Design Tradeoffs for Health Technologies: A Mixed-Methods Approach

We introduce a mixed-methods approach for determining how people weigh tradeoffs in values related to health and technologies for health self-management. Our approach combines interviews with Q-methodology, a method from psychology uniquely suited to quantifying opinions. We derive the framework for structured data collection and analysis for the Q-methodology from theories of self-management of chronic illness and technology adoption. To illustrate the power of this new approach, we used it in a field study of nine older adults with type 2 diabetes, and nine mothers of children with asthma. Our mixed-methods approach provides three key advantages for health design science in HCI: (1) it provides a structured health sciences theoretical framework to guide data collection and analysis; (2) it enhances the coding of unstructured data with statistical patterns of polarizing and consensus views; and (3) it empowers participants to actively weigh competing values that are most personally significant to them.

“No Prejudice Here”: Examining Social Identity Work in Starter Pack Memes:

As a performance venue, online social spaces afford users a variety of ways to express themselves. Many of these expressions include social identity work, such as the articulation, affirmation, or policing of a shared identity. In this study, we examine one online space in which users engage in social identity work: a Reddit forum (r/starterpacks) that primarily generates and discusses image memes of a very specific format: the “starter pack.” Users leverage these image memes to convey what we refer to in this article as prototypes of social identities. Many of these prototypical depictions are necessarily influenced by offline social groups and/or consumer culture, and are furthermore constructed around gendered, racial, or ethnic stereotypes. To understand how these image memes are used to form and perpetuate prototypes of social identities, we employed content analysis to evaluate a sample of 500 image meme artifacts created, shared, and upvoted by the subreddit’s users. We discuss the process of applying visual analysis techniques to articulate themes identified in the image meme expressions, in particular: (1) the default of the White, male identity in starter pack characterizations; (2) the production of oppressive social identities through the use of visual and textual content; and (3) the dedication to a stance of “consumption” in assembling starter pack memes, both through body politics expressed therein and use of consumer goods in images. Finally, we draw on reader response theory to frame the challenges of researchers “reading” starter pack memes, despite employing systematic methods of analysis.

Transforming Practice Using Theoretical Framing to Improve Organizational Processes

This paper describes a collaborative inquiry between researchers and practitioners to evaluate portfolio management processes in a Fortune 30 company. At the time of the study, the company was undergoing significant change related to a shift in organizational strategic priority, resulting in a complex research environment that required a clear research question, data collection design, and expectations for research outcomes. First, researchers assisted practitioners in formulating a method of inquiry to describe existing portfolio management processes. Then, researchers framed the analysis of findings to recommend strategies for maturing the portfolio management processes in light of existing governance structures, established practices, and cultural values. The research design and theoretical framing used to arrive at the recommendations not only enhance the internal validity of findings, but are presented as an important strength in this instance of collaborative research and suggested as a model for future similar collaborations.

Design Planning for an Alternate Reality Game to Support Learning of Informatics Concepts

The project assessed approaches to creating an alternate reality game (ARG) for students to learn baseline concepts and skills of informatics in the introductory informatics course at the University of Washington Information School. The objective was to design a framework for a pilot ARG, explicitly outlining opportunities and constraints for the execution of such a game to enhance learning related to existing subjects on the course syllabus. We sought to ensure 1) instructor support for elements of the game, and 2) student participation during the game duration. We gathered information from experienced course teaching assistants and students who had taken the course previously.