Mara Balestrini

Understanding sustained community engagement: a case study in heritage preservation in rural argentina

HCI projects are increasingly evaluating technologies in the wild, which typically involves working with communities over extended periods, often with the goal of effecting sustainable change. However, there are few descriptions of projects that have been successful in the long-term. In this paper we investigate what factors are important for developing long lasting community ICT interventions. We do this by analysing a successful action research project and provide five recommendations for facilitating sustained community engagement. CrowdMemo aimed to preserve local heritage in a town in rural Argentina and the project was set up so that it could be continued by the community once researchers had left. Participants created videos about personal memories of the town and over 600 people attended the premiere where they were first screened. The impact has not just been short-term and there has been sustained engagement with the project by stakeholders in the town and wider region: the local school integrated digital storytelling into its curriculum; the approach has been adopted by two nearby towns; and the project has influenced regional government educational policy.

Civically engaged HCI: tensions between novelty and social impact

HCI researchers are increasingly conducting civically engaged research in the wild to design technologies for social action that aim to empower communities at the grassroots level. However, there are very few descriptions of HCI interventions that have achieved sustained community engagement and social impact. We discuss three tensions that are hindering HCIs capacity to produce both research and social contributions and suggest how to overcome them.

Technology-Supported Orchestration Matters: Outperforming Paper-Based Scripting in a Jigsaw Classroom

Under the umbrella of ubiquitous technologies, many computational artifacts have been designed to enhance the learning experience in physical settings such as classrooms or playgrounds, but few of them focus on aiding orchestration. This paper presents a systematic evaluation of the signal orchestration system (SOS) used by students for a jigsaw activity in an authentic classroom setting. The SOS comprises multiple wearable personal signal devices and an orchestration signal manager. Color and sound signals can be configured in the manager to be transmitted to the personal devices worn by the students to indicate orchestration signals for collaboration. The comparison between the SOS and a paper-based method traditionally employed for the orchestration of the jigsaw collaborative pattern showed that students in the SOS group spent significantly less time organizing the activity, obtained higher scores in the tests, experienced a stronger feeling of group formation awareness, and reported having enjoyed the experience to a greater degree.

Beyond boundaries: the home as city infrastructure for smart citizens

Low-cost sensing technologies that stream data into web platforms have become increasingly available for households, blurring the boundaries between the public and the private. In this paper we draw on our experience with the Smart Citizen crowdsensing project to present a vision of a future where households become city infrastructure through the data they produce. We highlight the challenges involved with this vision in the hope that they will contribute to both academic and industry discussions on the possibilities and difficulties around home-based crowdsensing technologies.

Connected sustainability: connecting sustainability-driven, grass-roots communities through technology

Recently, global economic turmoil has led to the rise of many grass-roots movements and communities that share a strong sustainability agenda and the desire for political, economic and societal change in the world. Digital technologies play a role in supporting these growing communities in achieving their goals, maintaining and extending their practices and connections. This marks a new area of research for HCI, that of Connected Sustainability. In this workshop, we seek to understand the values and practices of such communities; the role of digital technologies in shaping and sustaining identity and community action; and existing challenges and opportunities.

Maker Movements, Do-It-Yourself Cultures and Participatory Design: Implications for HCI Research

Falling costs and the wider availability of computational components, platforms and ecosystems have enabled the expansion of maker movements and DIY cultures. This can be considered as a form of democratization of technology systems design, in alignment with the aims of Participatory Design approaches. However, this landscape is constantly evolving, and long-term implications for the HCI community are far from clear. The organizers of this one-day workshop invite participants to present their case studies, experiences and perspectives on the topic with the goal of increasing understanding within this area of research. The outcomes of the workshop will include the articulation of future research directions with the purpose of informing a research agenda, as well as the establishment of new collaborations and networks.

Citizen Sensing: A Toolkit

We produced this book as a part of the Making Sense project, which draws on nine citizen sensing campaigns in Holland, Kosovo and Spain in 2016 and 2017. In them, we have developed a form of citizen participation in environmental monitoring and action which is bottom-up, participatory and empowering to the community: this is called citizen sensing. If you are interested in best practices and tools for community engagement and co-creation, this book if for you.

Stop the Noise! Enhancing Meaningfulness in Participatory Sensing with Community Level Indicators

In this paper we examine ways to make data more meaningful and useful for citizens in participatory sensing. Participatory sensing has evolved as a digitally enabled grassroots approach to data collection for citizens with shared concerns. However, citizens often struggle to understand data in relation to their daily lives, and use them effectively. This paper presents a qualitative study on the development of a novel approach to Community Level Indicators (CLIs) during two participatory sensing projects focused on noise pollution. It investigates how CLIs can provide an infrastructure to address challenges in participatory sensing, specifically, making data meaningful and useful for non-experts. Furthermore, we consider how this approach moves towards an ambition of achieving change and impact through participatory sensing and discuss the challenges in this way of working and provide recommendations for future use of CLIs.