Empowering Uncertainty Resolution for Marginalized Populations through Social Technologies Alexandra Akiye To Human-Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. Thesis CMU-HCII-20-101 September, 2020 Committee Dr. Jessica Hammer (co-chair), Human-Computer Interaction Institute/Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Geoff Kaufman (co-chair), Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University ​ Dr. Jason Hong, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University ​ Dr. Kevin Jarbo, Social & Decision Science/Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion, Carnegie Mellon University ​ Dr. Kody Manke, Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University ​ 1 For my sisters Robyn, Rebecca, and Caroline 2 Acknowledgements As many have said before me, a PhD is a communal effort. There are countless people who have contributed to my development as a scholar, researcher, activist, and community member and who have both directly and indirectly contributed to this PhD thesis research. Thank you to: - My family members: my grandparents Reiko and Michio Yoshizu, Rosemary and Stanley To, sisters Robyn, Rebecca, Caroline, and parents Joanne and John To. You have supported my career and my academic pursuits, cheered on my every accomplishment, and pushed me through every rejection and failure, all usually while laughing with and at me for taking myself so seriously - My advisors, Jessica Hammer and Geoff Kaufman, whose confidence in my ability, support through my struggle, mentorship, and friendship allowed me to be brave and bold - My partner Joe, for seeing me and hearing me - My incredible committee members, Kevin Jarbo, Kody Manke, Jason Hong - My lab mates in the OH! Lab, Ludolab, eHeart Lab, and Data-Driven Diversity (D3) Lab - Michael Bernstein, Daniela Retelny, and Scott Klemmer for each getting me interested and involved in research, pursuing a PhD, and human-computer interaction respectively - My colleagues, students, and collaborators Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, Angela D. R. Smith, Kentaro Toyama, Elaine Fath, Jarrek Holmes, Safinah Ali, Komal Dewan, Sarah Hemaida, Arlex Gole, Allison Mui, Anny Fan, Catherine Kildunne, Hillary Carey, Wenxia Sweeney, Mitchell Liang - My friends Judeth Oden Choi, Judith Odili Uchidiuno, Rushil Khurana, Cole Gleason, Nathan Hahn, Michael Madaio, Joseph Seering, Phoebe Dinh, Brain Rhindress, Melissa DeKoster, Vannida Ket, Patrick McGuire, Xiao Song Mu, and Roger Chen - My community - especially those at the CMU Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion including M. Shernell Smith as well as the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit Planning Committee including yvette shipman - My participants, for trusting me with their experience and insight 3 Abstract We all experience uncertainty every day. What will the weather be like? Will I pass my exam? Will my sister call me back tonight? Sometimes the uncertainty we experience can be overwhelming and the stakes can be very high. Will my paycheck arrive on time to pay my rent? What was the result from the medical scan I had yesterday? For people from marginalized groups, the stakes of even those ‘everyday’ types of uncertainty can become overwhelming and provide unique and difficult threats. Did the teacher not call on me because I’m a woman, a person of color, both, or neither? Am I being pulled over because of my race, and what can I do right now to keep myself safe? In my research, I study how marginalization amplifies the impact of uncertainty and how technology can intervene to empower people in labeling, navigating, and reducing uncertainty. In some situations, uncertainty can be used to create enticing motivation to learn more and gain competence. For example, puzzles present uncertainty that can be fun and encourage learning. However, in other situations, overwhelming uncertainty can be stressful, causing undue burdens to cognitive load. For example, acts of discrimination in the workplace can create uncertainty about a person’s standing and ability. In this thesis I seek to study and design tools to empower uncertainty reduction for people from vulnerable groups. First, I explore how to increase comfort with uncertainty through transformational game design when uncertainty may be expected and even necessary - in STEM contexts for adolescents from underrepresented groups. Next, I explore a context where little is known about how marginalization and uncertainty interact - examining social support-seeking for adults who have experienced interpersonal racism through interviews. I then conduct participatory design workshops with targets of racism; towards this work I present methods for using interactive fiction for facilitating participatory design around sensitive topics such as racism. Finally I design and evaluate provotypes (i.e., a design provocation and prototype) for more empowered futures in coping with the uncertainty that stems from experiencing racism. This thesis contributes theory in how marginalization amplifies the negative consequences of uncertainty, methods for design research with people in marginalized contexts, and the design of games and artifacts that both use uncertainty and are aimed at uncertainty reduction. 4 Contents Abstract 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 8 Chapter 2: Background 12 2.1 Defining Uncertainty 12 2.2 Uncertainty and Marginalization 13 2.2.1 Theories of Race and Racism 13 2.2.2 Marginalization in STEM 15 2.3 Designing for Uncertainty 17 2.3.1 Designing for Curiosity and Uncertainty in Games 17 2.3.3 Designing for Uncertainty Around Social Support and Vulnerable Self-Disclosure 21 Chapter 3: Modeling and Designing for Key Elements of Curiosity: Risking Failure, Valuing Questions 24 3.1 Building a Design Model of Curiosity and Uncertainty 26 3.2 Outbreak Game Design and Development 28 3.3 Methods 30 3.3.1 Measure Development 31 3.3.2 Playtesting and Measure Deployment 34 3.4 Designing for Comfort with Failure 35 3.4.1 Exploring Comfort with Failure Through Design and Data 35 3.4.2 Patterns from the Data 36 3.4.3 Design Lessons 41 3.5 Designing for Questions 42 3.5.1 Exploring Question Asking Through Data and Design 42 3.5.2 Patterns from the Data 43 3.5.3 Design Lessons 45 3.6. Summary 46 5 Chapter 4: “They Just Don't Get It”: Towards Social Technologies for Coping with Interpersonal Racism 48 4.1. Introduction and Motivation 48 4.2 Methods 51 4.2.1 Recruitment 52 4.2.2 Participants 52 4.2.3 Study Procedure 52 4.2.4 Reflexive Statement on Researchers 55 4.3 Analysis 55 4.4 Findings 56 4.4.1 Experiencing Racism 57 4.4.2 Communicating About Racist Experiences 61 4.5 Discussion 70 4.5.1 Experience of Sharing Racist Events 70 4.5.2 Determining Who “Gets It” 72 4.5.3 Trust and Agency 73 4.6 Limitations 75 4.7 Summary & Future Work 76 Chapter 5: Foundational Fiction Participatory Design 78 5.1 Introduction and Motivation 78 5.2 Background 80 5.2.1 Participatory Design Methods 80 5.2.2. Interactive, Narrative Fiction 83 5.3 Designing the Vignette 84 5.3.1 Writing an Interactive Narrative in Twine 84 5.3.2 The Narrative 85 5.4 Designing the Workshop 86 5.4.1 Participatory, Solution-focused Approaches 86 6 5.4.2 Role Playing Activity 88 5.4.3 Transparency and Agency 89 5.4.3 Workshop Schedule 91 5.5 Methods 92 5.5.1 Recruitment 92 5.5.2 Participants 93 5.5.3 Study Procedure 94 5.6 Results 94 5.6.1 Observations About the Workshop 95 5.6.2 Needs for Coping 96 5.6.3 Overview of Design Outcomes 97 5.6.4 Design Themes 100 5.7 Discussion 103 5.7.1 Using Fiction to Facilitate Conversation and Co-Design 103 5.7.2 Designing Social Technologies for Coping with Racism 107 5.8 Limitations 111 5.9 Future Work 112 5.10 Summary 112 Chapter 6 - Designing and Evaluating Provotypes 114 6.1 Designing Provotypes 114 6.1.1 Evolving the Design Concepts from the Participatory Design Workshops 115 6.1.2 The Final Design Provotypes: Intervention, Solidarity, or Comfort 117 6.2 Methods 125 6.2.1 Recruitment 125 6.2.2 Participants 126 6.2.3 Study Procedures 127 6.2.4 Data Analysis 130 7 6.3 Results 130 6.3.1 Perception of the Design Provotypes 130 6.3.2 Racism Alarm 131 6.3.3 Watch Ally 132 6.3.4 Comfort Speaker 133 6.3.5 Perception of Racism in the Vignette 134 6.3.6 Emotional Experience of the Vignette 137 6.4 Discussion 140 6.4.1 Interactive Vignettes for User Testing 140 6.4.2 Individual vs. Social Experiences Interpreting the Interactive Vignette 141 6.4.3 Patterns from the Alarm 143 6.4.4 Patterns from the Watch 144 6.4.5 Patterns from the Speaker 145 6.5 Limitations 146 6.6 Summary 147 Chapter 7: Conclusion 148 7.1 Reflections on Uncertainty and Marginalization 148 7.2 Designing for Uncertainty with Social Technology 150 7.3 HCI Research and Design Methods Considering Marginalization 152 7.4 Concluding Thoughts 153 Chapter 8: References 156 8.1 Chapter 1 References 156 8.2 Chapter 2 References 156 8.3 Chapter 3 References 157 8.4 Chapter 4 References 158 8.5 Chapter 5 References 165 8.6 Chapter 6 References 169 8.7 Chapter 7 References 170 8 Chapter 1: Introduction We all experience uncertainty every day. Consider an undergraduate student at a university in the U.S. When she wakes up she might wonder, what will the weather be like? During a lecture in her advanced statistics course, she raises her hand to answer a question but her professor calls on another male student. She may or may not wonder why she was not called on. Later in the day when she is purchasing groceries at a local convenience store, the cashier may be unfriendly to her.