"Computational and Cognitive Infrastructures of Stigma:  Empowering Identity in Social Computing and Gaming"



ABSTRACT:

Computing technologies such as games, social
networking sites, and virtual environments often reproduce forms of
social stigma encountered in everyday real life, as well as introducing
new forms of stigma. When users represent themselves via avatars,
characters, and profiles, norms for behavior and group affiliations are
established that may introduce prejudices, stereotypes, and associated
social ills found in the real world. To empower users against these
effects, this paper presents technologies designed to: (1) provide
dynamic means of identity representation while avoiding stigmatizing
norms, and (2) provide for critical reflection on stigmatizing identity
infrastructures found in other systems. The theory and technologies
developed with these aims are encapsulated under the rubric of the
Advanced Identity Representation (AIR) Project that has been initiated
in the Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory (ICE Lab; D.
Fox Harrell, Director) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This
work has a basis in the cognitive science foundations of categorization
and metaphor-based bias, and sociology of science accounts of social
classification infrastructures. Using this theoretical framework, this
paper provides a model to reveal a set of inadequacies of many current
identity infrastructures in social computing and gaming systems for
supporting the needs of people in marginalized categories. As results,
several social networking systems and games developed in the ICE Lab to
empower users in creating computational identities and/or critiquing
the phenomenon of stigma in these applications are presented.

BIO:

Fox Harrell is a researcher, author, and artist exploring
the relationship between imaginative cognition and computation. He is
Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the department of Literature,
Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He
directs the Imagination, Computation, and Expression [ICE] Lab/Studio (icelab.lcc.gatech.edu)
in developing new forms of computational narrative and poetry, gaming,
social networking, and related digital infrastructures and
technical-cultural media with bases in computer science, cognitive
science, and digital media arts. He has presented his work
internationally; sites of his publications and presentations include
the MIT Press, the University of Toronto Press, the Inter-Society for
the Electronic Arts (ISEA) conference, conferences and symposia of the
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the
Digital Arts and Culture Conference, CTheory, and other book chapters,
journals, and conferences. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science
from the University of California, San Diego. He earned an M.P.S. in
Interactive Telecommunications at New York University's Tisch School of
the Arts. He also earned a B.F.A. in Art, a B.S. in Logic and
Computation, and minor in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon
University, each with highest honors. He has worked as an interactive
television producer and as a game designer.



Carl DiSalvo

"Local Issues, Local Uses: Tools for Robotics and Sensing in Community Contexts"

ABSTRACT:

This
paper describes six creativity support tools we developed to foster
community engagement and expression with robotics and sensing,
assessing the benefits and shortcomings of each tool. From the
descriptions of these tools and their uses,
we highlight two issues. The first is the challenge of, and a general
strategy for, enabling informed speculation with unfamiliar
technologies. The second issue is that in enabling such speculation,
the research process is opened to significant shifts in trajectory.
These shifts concomitantly serve as markers of technological fluency
and challenge the research project, reinforcing the value of a
community co-design approach.

BIO:

Carl DiSalvo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Literature,
Communication and Culture and a member of the GVU Center at The Georgia
Institute of Technology. In his research, he works with adult and youth
communities to develop technology fluency programs that explore the
social and political potentials of design products and processes.