Putting people at the heart of new developments in digital technology drives the study abroad opportunity led by Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering associate Informatics professors Austin Toombs and Colin Gray
Faye Coy wanted to see for herself. The Indiana University sophomore computational linguistics major with an Informatics minor got the chance during late June’s Digital Civics Exchange Event at the United Kingdom’s Northumbria University.
Coy said the chance to work on projects in a different culture was “probably the best way I could learn that every project you encounter will have a different context.”
“These contexts will force you to design for different demographics and preferences,” she said. “What better way to understand this than putting yourself in a different place where you have to learn what the customs are?”
Gray, the HCI/d program director, and Toombs lead the program as part of a multi-year effort to engage HCI students in digital civics projects, particularly ones with global impact.
Established in 2018 in a collaboration with Gray, Toombs and UK universities, the study abroad program connects students with local researchers and partners to undertake mini research and design projects focused on societal challenges and citizen empowerment through the design of civic technologies.
Digital civics research is designed to help citizens and communities in decision-making processes and service provisions at local and national levels.
“Our goal with the study abroad program is to provide our master's students in the HCI/d program and undergraduate Informatics students who are interested in HCI with hands-on Digital Civics project experience,” Toombs said. “Our collaborators at Northumbria University are world-leading experts in Digital Civics. The faculty, Ph.D. students and Postdocs there have ongoing research and development projects with local non-profits and charities. Our students plugged into those existing partnerships, which normally take months or years to develop, and engaged in design work that helps both the local organization and our Northumbria collaborators.”
This year, Kyle Montague and his team at Northumbria University built the Digital Civics Exchange Event to align with the study abroad program. The Digital Civics Exchange Event brought together members of the European Union DCitizens project with partners from the University of Siegen and the University of Lisbon, along with the new Center for Doctoral Training in Citizen-Centred Artificial Intelligence.
Additionally, Toombs and Gray’s former colleague, Paul Parsons, continued the study abroad program from Purdue University, where Toombs and Gray originated the program in 2018.
Seven other Luddy School students participated. They were first-year HCI Master’s students Naveena Pandiarajan, Zainab Hassani, Leena Ghandi, Prachi Katkade, Emily Rhee and Tanmayee Pemmaraju, along with senior computer science major Danielle Dixon.
Overall, seven multi-institutional teams and more than 25 students from IU, Purdue, Lisbon, Northumbria, Newcastle, and Siegen addressed different local and regional challenges by using a digital civics approach.
Projects included:
*Working to support data capture methods for visually impaired people in fully autonomous vehicles, including imagining ways to augment a cane to capture and monitor stress-related data.
*Creating new opportunities for local residents to help restore lost woodland in urban areas, including pre- and post-forest care, and educational opportunities for local schools.
*Combating misinformation by using voice-activated technology to allow users to flag misinformation that happens in everyday conversations.
*Envisioning the future of public charging for power wheelchairs.
Coy said she was able to contribute to a project she was passionate about. She said she participated because, although not a UX Design major, she wanted to learn more about it and use her creativity to produce technological artifacts.
“I had created some very amateur projects previously, but wanted to get a realistic view of what the design process looks like, as well as to collaborate with a team.”
Collaboration was a big aspect.
“The connection between so many driven students proved to me how much I loved working in a field full of ideas and innovation,” Coy said.
Coy said getting a realistic understanding of the design process allowed her to create designs and develop ideas with an intention rather than just building a portfolio.
“I’ve gained the confidence and an intuition that has allowed me to work on personal projects with a drive.”
Pemmaraju and Pandiarajan said they benefitted from the real-world experiences.
Penmaraju took advantage of the chance to work in a non-profit organization and “do more charity work rather than just designing actual digital stuff.” She said she liked working on an existing project, because that will happen when she joins a new company. She also hopes to eventually get her Ph.D. and said meeting people who are doing that now after years in the workforce was helpful.
“I wanted to get a little more professional experience before I get to the stage where I’m researching things that are important to me,” Pemmaraju said.
The chance to study in the UK and interact with students from Newcastle University and Northumbria University was a big benefit, Pandiarajan said.
“I got to understand how working on the digital side can help the actual business,” she said.