HCC-Small: Technology at the Margins: The Urban Homeless as a Lens on the Needs of Users Outside the Mainstream

这项研究将探索一个特定的边缘人群--美国的城市无家可归者--作为一个镜头，通过它来扩大人机交互的方法论，以及旨在克服社区数字鸿沟的具体技术创新。这项研究将通过关注城市无家可归者和支持他们的社会服务网络的人种学调查，提供主要的经验数据来源；该经验数据集将用于推动一系列技术干预措施的创建、部署和评估，这些干预措施利用移动技术在服务机构及其无家可归者客户之间进行协作，提供个性化的信息交付，以及用户生成的内容创建和传播。长期以来，对人机交互的研究一直集中在“充裕的环境”上，比如拥有专用网络和计算机的工作场所，并对支持人员进行培训，以确保一切按预期进行。然而，最近的研究指出，专注于这一狭隘领域之外的东西在多大程度上可以带来更广泛有用的创新技术。这项研究项目将通过探索在“充裕的环境”之外的社区中进行技术干预的挑战和机会，极大地促进这一工作的主线：将重点放在美国的城市无家可归者身上。这项研究将提供有关无家可归者和与他们一起工作的人使用技术的机会的重要数据；它还将导致创造新的技术和服务，以支持基于移动电话的信息传递。这项研究将进一步扩大我们对计算在服务不足的社区中所扮演的角色的理解。

This research will explore a specific marginalized population--the urban homeless in the U.S.--as a lens through which to pursue both a broadening of the methodological repertoire of Human-Computer Interaction as well as specific technological innovations aimed at overcoming aspects of the digital divide in a community. This research will provide a source of primary empirical data through ethnographic inquiry focusing on both the urban homeless and the social service networks that support them; this empirical dataset will be used to drive the creation, deployment, and evaluation of a series of technological interventions that leverage mobile technologies for collaboration between services and their homeless clients, personalized information delivery, and user-generated content creation and dissemination. Research in human-computer interaction has long focused on "environments of plenty" such as workplaces with dedicated networks and computers, and trained support staff to ensure that everything works as intended. Recent work, however, has pointed out the degree to which focusing outside this narrow slice can result in innovative technology that is more broadly useful. This research project will substantially contribute to this thread of work by exploring the challenges and opportunities for technological intervention in a community outside the "environment of plenty": focusing upon the urban homeless in the U.S. This research will provide important data about the opportunities for technology use among the homeless and those who work with them; it will also lead to the creation of new technology and services to support mobile phone-based information delivery. This research will further broaden our understanding of the role computing can play in under-served communities.