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

本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，通过它来追求人机交互方法的扩展，以及旨在克服社区数字鸿沟方面的具体技术创新。本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民族志调查，提供主要经验数据来源；该实证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，这些技术干预措施利用移动技术实现服务机构与无家可归者客户之间的协作、个性化信息传递以及用户生成内容的创建和传播。长期以来，人机交互的研究一直集中在“丰富的环境”上，比如拥有专用网络和计算机的工作场所，以及训练有素的支持人员，以确保一切都按预期工作。然而，最近的研究指出，在一定程度上，专注于这个狭窄的领域之外，可以产生更广泛有用的创新技术。本研究项目将通过探索技术干预在“富足环境”之外的社区中的挑战和机遇，为这一工作线索做出重大贡献：重点关注美国的城市无家可归者。本研究将提供有关无家可归者及其工作人员使用技术的机会的重要数据；它还将导致新技术和服务的创造，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可以发挥的作用的理解。

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.