IC Spring Seminar Series with Guest Speaker Christina Harrington

Abstract

Historically, marginalized populations have experienced exacerbated inequities due to the design of technological interventions that have not considered their needs. Research on the use of intelligent systems suggests that racial disparities exist within users' experiences with many emerging technologies. Scholars have begun to call for a more intersectional framing of marginalized communities' experiences with technology, suggesting a need to understand the impacts of both race, age, and cultural background on how intelligent systems are conceptualized and understood. Community-based research approaches stand to inform a more equity-centered consideration of technology by dismantling the concepts of “otherness” that are often associated with historically marginalized groups. In this talk, I’ll present research that centers marginalized groups in our considerations of what makes both technology as well as HCI and design research inclusive, equitable, and transformative.   

Bio

Dr. Christina N. Harrington (she/her) is a designer and qualitative researcher who works at the intersection of interaction design and health and racial equity. Her background and years of experience in engineering and design inform her research in the areas of accessible and inclusive design. Specifically, she explores how to use design in the development of products to support historically excluded groups such as Black communities, older adults, and individuals with disabilities in maintaining their health, wellness, and autonomy in defining technology experiences. Dr. Harrington's research passion centers communities that have historically been at the margins of mainstream design. She looks to methods such as design justice and community-based participatory design to broaden and amplify participation in design by addressing the barriers that corporate approaches have placed on our ability to see design as a universal language of communication and knowledge. Her work in equitable technology interactions has earned academic and public acclaim, receiving numerous paper awards and the CRA Early Career Award. Dr. Harrington is currently an assistant professor in the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University where she is also the Director of the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab.