Trust, Distance, and Design A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty by Eric Corbett In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Digital Media in the School of Literature, Media and Communication in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Georgia Institute of Technology July 2020 Trust, Distance, and Design Approved by: Christopher Le Dantec, Advisor Andrés Monroy-Hernández School of Literature, Media and Snap Research Communication Snap Inc Georgia Institute of Technology Carl DiSalvo Yanni Loukissas School of Interactive Computing School of Literature, Media and Communication Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Estimated Approval Date: July 24th, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ i SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem Statement 5 1.2 Research Questions 10 1.2.1 R1: How is the work community engagement currently practiced in local government? .................................. 10 1.2.2 R2: How is trust operationalized in the work of community engagement? ....................................................... 11 1.2.3 R3: How can trust orient design of civic technology around closing distance? .................................................. 12 1.2.4 R4: How do the elements inform designing with trust? ..................................................................................... 12 1.3 Contribution: Trust Work 13 1.4 Dissertation Overview 15 CHAPTER 2: Related Work ................................................................................................................ 18 2.1 Crisis in Trust in American Democracy 18 2.1.1 The Paradox of Trust in Democracy ................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.2 Navigating the Paradox ...................................................................................................................................... 24 2.2 Neoliberal Design Logic 27 2.3.4 Trust vs Reliance ................................................................................................................................................ 33 2.3 Digital Civics 35 2.3.1 Trust in Digital Civics Design .............................................................................................................................. 38 2.3.2 The Work of Community Engagement ............................................................................................................... 40 2.4 Distance 44 2.4.1 Distance, Trust, and Uncertainty ....................................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 3: Design Research Approach ............................................................................................ 52 3.1 Trust 52 3.3 Methodology 55 CHAPTER 4: Investigating the Work of Community Engagement....................................................... 58 4.1 Methods 60 4.2 Findings 63 4.2.1 Raising Awareness ............................................................................................................................................. 63 4.2.2 Building Relationships ........................................................................................................................................ 67 4.2.3 Setting the Table ................................................................................................................................................ 70 4.2.4 Finding Opportunity ........................................................................................................................................... 74 4.2.5 Using Technology ............................................................................................................................................... 76 4.3 Discussion 79 4.4 Implications for Design: Sociotechnical Components 81 CHAPTER 5: Understanding Distance and Trust Work ....................................................................... 83 5.1 Methods 83 5.2 Findings 84 5.2.1 Initiating ............................................................................................................................................................. 85 5.2.2 Retaining ............................................................................................................................................................ 98 5.3 Discussion 100 5.4 Implications for Design: Distance 102 ii CHAPTER 6: Exploring Trust through Design ................................................................................... 104 6.1 Methods 104 6.2 Findings 110 6.2.1 Historicizing Engagement ................................................................................................................................ 111 6.2.2 Focusing on Experience ................................................................................................................................... 115 6.2.3 Mediating Expectations ................................................................................................................................... 118 6.2.4 Preserving Institutional Relationships ............................................................................................................. 120 6.2 Discussion 122 6.3 Implications for Design: Sensitizing Concepts 131 CHAPTER 7: Designing with Trust ................................................................................................... 133 7.1 Methods 136 7.2 Findings 136 7.2.1 Distance ........................................................................................................................................................... 137 7.2.2 Sociotechnical Components ............................................................................................................................. 142 7.2.3 Sensitizing Concepts ........................................................................................................................................ 153 7.5 Discussion 171 7.5.1 Mediating or Withdrawing Trust Work? .......................................................................................................... 172 7.5.2 Technical Delegation ........................................................................................................................................ 178 7.5.3 Resisting Neoliberal Design Logic .................................................................................................................... 182 7.6 Conclusion 184 CHAPTER 8: Trust, Distance, and Design ......................................................................................... 187 8.1 Trust Work 188 8.1.1 Constructing Views of Distance ....................................................................................................................... 190 8.1.2 Configuring the Design Space .......................................................................................................................... 191 8.1.3 Supporting the Process .................................................................................................................................... 191 8.2 Transferability of the Framework 193 8.2.1 Access .............................................................................................................................................................. 193 8.2.2 Alignment ........................................................................................................................................................ 195 8.3 Distance and Democracy 197 8.4 Distance and Design 201 8.5 Future Work 203 8.5.1 Distance as a Method ...................................................................................................................................... 203 8.5.2 The Problem Of Trust In Government ............................................................................................................. 206 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 215 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing a Ph.D. for someone from my background was undoubtedly a hypothetically distant goal. I was able to traverse this distance thanks to both the institutional and interpersonal relationships I developed over the last decade. Beginning at my undergraduate institution Savannah State University, I was mentored by both Dr. Liu and Dr. Chetty. Thanks to Dr. Chetty’s tireless efforts, Savannah State was an active participant in the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM program which first introduced me to research. My journey continued when I was fortunate enough to participate in the NSF Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship at the University of Maryland of Baltimore County. At UMBC, I was fortunate to have the mentorship and guidance of Dr. Tull and the PROMISE program, which further developed me professionally and academically. When I arrived to the Georgia Institute of Technology, I was again extremely fortunate to have my advisor, Christopher Le Dantec, who through both his fortitude and generosity