Speaker
Katta Spiel is an Assistant Professor for ‘Critical Access in Embodied Computing’ at TU Wien. They research marginalised perspectives on embodied computing through a lens of Critical Access. Their work informs design and engineering supporting the development of technologies that account for the diverse realities they operate in. In their interdisciplinary collaborations with neurodivergent and/or nonbinary peers, they conduct explorations of novel potentials for designs, methodologies and innovative technological artefacts.
Abstract
Researchers and practitioners engaging in participatory processes often shy away from addressing these power issues explicitly. By orienting themselves on empathy, they inherently risk to center their own understanding and relating to technological experiences over those of participants — with dire material consequences particularly for marginalised populations. In this context, I propose a guiding concept focused on humility at the core of participatory design to orient researchers and industry representatives on practices around 1) making space for participants’ contributions, 2) listening to what is expressed and what is not, and 3) deliberately share the agency and meaning making process that is traditionally less in the hands of participants. I argue that by actively engaging with our privileged positions and deliberately being humble in terms of our expertise, we actively encounter the possibilities to create spaces in which we are able to attend to our participants with an interest to epistemic justice instead of habitually risking to override their contributions and experiences by filtering them through ours.
Event Details
Date: April 17th, 2024
Time: 13:00-14:30 (GMT)
Location: Online
Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/Q4GaWzmxtT