Designing for Homeless Young People: Precaution in Ubiquitous Computing

Jill Palzkill WoelferDavid G. Hendry

Globi-Comp Workshop: Taking Ubicomp Beyond Developed WorldsSeptember 30, 2009

The University District

The University of Washington

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Built environment

Actors and Infrastructure

Actors and Non-Digital Infrastructure

Digital Infrastructure

Actors and Digital Infrastructure

Hidden from view

Hidden from view

Living out in public

What would happen if we turned the “Flier” into a pervasive digital resource?

The Scenario

Acronyms and hours of service*

Program descriptions*

*Information redacted to protect confidentiality

A public kiosk?

Cell phones and web browsers?

Semi-private confidential resource turned into freely-available public information

A Precautionary Stance

A young person may be able to find a service agency, but the young person may then be “found”

One designer’s precaution is another’s missed opportunity for development…

Jill Palzkill WoelferDavid G. HendryThe Information SchoolUniversity of Washingtonwoelfj@u.washington.edu

Know What, then Know Howhttp://www.ischool.washington.edu/researchStories/ctop_story.html

Woelfer, J. P., Yeung, M. W-M., Erdmann, C. G., & Hendry, D. G. (2008). Value considerations in an information ecology: Printed materials, service agencies, and homeless young people. In A. Grove (Ed.), Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST AM ’08) (pp. 248-256). Silver Spring: ASIS. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122420645/abstract

Woelfer, J. P., & Hendry, D. G. Creating a community technology center for homeless young people: Preliminary experience report. Presented at The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Workshop on Digital Technologies and Marginalized Youth: Reducing the Gap (Como, Italy, June 3-5, 2009). http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~hourcade/idc-workshop/woelfer_pdf

Woelfer, J. P., & Hendry, D. G. (in press). Stabilizing homeless young people with information and place. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122499090/abstract

References