Culture in Action: Unpacking Capacities to Inform Assets-Based Design

The field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) aims at securing a lasting impact for technology-based interventions in the context of social inequities. Increasingly, HCI scholars are proposing assets-based design as an effective approach towards this issue. Rather than starting from people's needs and deficits, this approach posits that design should start from a deep understanding of people's assets. A pending issue, however, is how to account for the situated nature of assets; that is, how to decide which asset to leverage and for what design purpose. Drawing from cultural sociology and shifting the emphasis from assets to capacities, we propose Swidler's theory of culture-in-action as an analytical lens for unpacking the complex relationship between capacities, goals, and structural limitations. Leveraging findings from a Participatory Design engagement with 35 Latino immigrant parents for envisioning parent-education technologies, we demonstrate the applicability of this lens. We contribute to HCI scholarship by further discussing 1) how to analyze capacities' design potential, and 2) the methodological particularities for collecting them.

[1]  Alan Borning,et al.  Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems , 2020, The Ethics of Information Technologies.

[2]  J. Ulmer,et al.  Visual methodologies for research with refugee youth , 2017, Refugees, Interculturalism and Education.

[3]  Tara J. Yosso,et al.  Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth , 2005, Critical Race Theory in Education.

[4]  Neha Kumar,et al.  The Work of Bilingual Parent-Education Liaisons , 2019, Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact..

[5]  Naveena Karusala,et al.  Privacy, Patriarchy, and Participation on Social Media , 2019, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[6]  Neha Kumar,et al.  The Parenting Actor-Network of Latino Immigrants in the United States , 2019, CHI.

[7]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  We Did It Right, But It Was Still Wrong: Toward Assets-Based Design , 2019, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[8]  Alexander Cho,et al.  The "Comadre" Project: An Asset-Based Design Approach to Connecting Low-Income Latinx Families to Out-of-School Learning Opportunities , 2019, CHI.

[9]  A. Light,et al.  A Respectful Design Framework. Incorporating indigenous knowledge in the design process , 2019, The Design Journal.

[10]  Neha Kumar,et al.  Consejero automatico: chatbots for supporting Latino parents' educational engagement , 2019, ICTD.

[11]  David González Hernández.  El Chavo del Ocho: la dinámica de la vecindad en la comedia de situación televisiva , 2018 .

[12]  Rachel Charlotte Smith,et al.  Participatory design for sustainable social change , 2018, Design Studies.

[13]  Jaz Hee-jeong Choi,et al.  Refugee and the post-trauma journeys in the fuzzy front end of co-creative practices , 2018, PDC.

[14]  Steve Harrison,et al.  Participatory tensions in working with a vulnerable population , 2018, PDC.

[15]  Naveena Karusala,et al.  Designing for Intersections , 2018, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[16]  Neha Kumar,et al.  Refuge Tech: An Assets-Based Approach to Refugee Resettlement , 2018, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[17]  Susanne Bødker,et al.  Participatory Design that Matters—Facing the Big Issues , 2018, ACM Trans. Comput. Hum. Interact..

[18]  Kentaro Toyama,et al.  From needs to aspirations in information technology for development , 2018, Inf. Technol. Dev..

[19]  Naveena Karusala,et al.  Care as a Resource in Underserved Learning Environments , 2017, Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact..

[20]  Marisol Wong-Villacres,et al.  Design Guidelines for Parent-School Technologies to Support the Ecology of Parental Engagement , 2017, IDC.

[21]  Jason C. Yip,et al.  Participatory Design for Learning : Perspectives from Practice and Research , 2017 .

[22]  Kayla DesPortes,et al.  Participatory Design for Value-Driven Learning , 2017 .

[23]  Shaowen Bardzell,et al.  Social Justice and Design: Power and oppression in collaborative systems , 2017, CSCW Companion.

[24]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  Reflections on Design Methods for Underserved Communities , 2017, CSCW Companion.

[25]  Christopher A. Le Dantec.  Design through collective action / collective action through design , 2017, Interactions.

[26]  Karen E. Fisher,et al.  Future's Butterflies: Co-Designing ICT Wayfaring Technology with Refugee Syrian Youth , 2016, IDC.

[27]  Lynn Dombrowski,et al.  Social Justice-Oriented Interaction Design: Outlining Key Design Strategies and Commitments , 2016, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[28]  Betsy DiSalvo,et al.  Participatory Design through a Learning Science Lens , 2016, CHI.

[29]  Briana B. Morrison,et al.  Information Seeking Practices of Parents: Exploring Skills, Face Threats and Social Networks , 2016, CHI.

[30]  Shaowen Bardzell,et al.  Exploring Social Justice, Design, and HCI , 2016, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[31]  Michelle M. Espino.  The Value of Education and Educación: Nurturing Mexican American Children’s Educational Aspirations to the Doctorate , 2016 .

[32]  H. Sustar,et al.  Designing with Immigrants: When emotions run high , 2015 .

[33]  Michaelanne Dye,et al.  Exploring How Parents in Economically Depressed Communities Access Learning Resources , 2014, GROUP.

[34]  Christian Dindler,et al.  Sustaining participatory design initiatives , 2014 .

[35]  Betsy James DiSalvo,et al.  Medium probes: exploring the medium not the message , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[36]  Christopher A. Le Dantec,et al.  Community historians: scaffolding community engagement through culture and heritage , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[37]  Ann Peterson Bishop,et al.  Action!: codesigning interactive technology with immigrant teens , 2014, IDC.

[38]  Jeffrey Holbrook,et al.  Early engagement and new technologies: opening up the laboratory , 2014 .

[39]  Betsy James DiSalvo,et al.  They can't find us: the search for informal CS education , 2014, SIGCSE.

[40]  Gillian R. Hayes.  Knowing by Doing: Action Research as an Approach to HCI , 2014, Ways of Knowing in HCI.

[41]  S. Kendall,et al.  Making sense of assets: what can an assets based approach offer public health? , 2013 .

[42]  Christopher A. Le Dantec,et al.  Infrastructuring and the formation of publics in participatory design , 2013 .

[43]  Pieter Jan Stappers,et al.  Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design , 2013 .

[44]  D. Norman.  The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition , 2013 .

[45]  Tuck Wah Leong,et al.  Values-led participatory design: mediating the emergence of values , 2012, NordiCHI.

[46]  Jesper Simonsen,et al.  Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Design , 2012 .

[47]  Erik Stolterman,et al.  Cultural hybridity in participatory design , 2012, PDC '12.

[48]  Elizabeth Betsy DiSalvo,et al.  Glitch game testers: the design and study of a learning environment for computational production with young African American males , 2012 .

[49]  Christopher A. Le Dantec,et al.  Finding a new normal: the role of technology in life disruptions , 2012, CSCW.

[50]  Liam J. Bannon,et al.  Reimagining HCI: toward a more human-centered perspective , 2011, INTR.

[51]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Infrastructures for low-cost laptop use in Mexican schools , 2011, CHI.

[52]  R. Rogers.  An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education , 2011 .

[53]  Kentaro Toyama,et al.  Technology as amplifier in international development , 2011, iConference.

[54]  Shaun R. Harper.  An anti‐deficit achievement framework for research on students of color in STEM , 2010 .

[55]  Kim Halskov,et al.  Rekindling values in participatory design , 2010, PDC '10.

[56]  Ann Light,et al.  Geezers, turbines, fantasy personas: making the everyday into the future , 2009, C&C '09.

[57]  Brigid Barron,et al.  Parents as Learning Partners in the development of t echnological Fluency , 2009 .

[58]  Geraldine Fitzpatrick,et al.  The value of values: Resourcing co-design of ubiquitous computing , 2009 .

[59]  J. Avis.  Transformation or transformism: Engeström’s version of activity theory? , 2009 .

[60]  Susan Wyche,et al.  Values as lived experience: evolving value sensitive design in support of value discovery , 2009, CHI.

[61]  Pelle Ehn,et al.  Participation in design things , 2008, PDC.

[62]  Illah R. Nourbakhsh,et al.  The Neighborhood Networks project: a case study of critical engagement and creative expression through participatory design , 2008, PDC.

[63]  Paul Warmington.  From ‘activity’ to ‘labour’: commodification, labourpower and contradiction in Engeström’s activity theory , 2008, Outlines. Critical Practice Studies.

[64]  Matthew D. Thibeault,et al.  Plans, Takes, and Mis-takes , 2008, Outlines. Critical Practice Studies.

[65]  Christian Dindler,et al.  Fictional Inquiry—design collaboration in a shared narrative space , 2007 .

[66]  Angela Calabrese Barton,et al.  The Importance of Presence: Immigrant Parents’ School Engagement Experiences , 2005 .

[67]  Shawn Rowe.  Discourse in Activity and Activity as Discourse , 2004 .

[68]  CHRISTINE A. HALVERSON,et al.  Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition: Or What Does CSCW Need to DO with Theories? , 2002, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[69]  A. Mathie,et al.  From clients to citizens: Asset-based Community Development as a strategy for community-driven development , 2003 .

[70]  E. Trumbull,et al.  Parent involvement in schooling: According to whose values? , 2003 .

[71]  Annette Lareau.  Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life , 2003 .

[72]  J. Ramirez-Valles,et al.  Latinos' community involvement in HIV/AIDS: organizational and individual perspectives on volunteering. , 2003, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[73]  Julia T. Wood.  Talk of Love: How Culture Matters , 2003 .

[74]  Richard R. Valencia.  "Mexican Americans Don't Value Education!" On the Basis of the Myth, Mythmaking, and Debunking , 2002 .

[75]  Michael J. Muller,et al.  Participatory design: the third space in HCI , 2002 .

[76]  M. Greaney,et al.  Assets-oriented community assessment. , 2000, Public health reports.

[77]  Caroline C. Wang,et al.  Photovoice: Concept, Methodology, and Use for Participatory Needs Assessment , 1997, Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education.

[78]  J. McKnight,et al.  Assets‐based community development , 1996 .

[79]  Concha Delgado-Gaitán,et al.  Consejos: The Power of Cultural Narratives , 1994 .

[80]  Homi K. Bhabha.  The Location of Culture , 1994 .

[81]  Luis C. Moll,et al.  Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms , 1992 .

[82]  Concha Delgado-Gaitán.  Involving Parents in the Schools: A Process of Empowerment , 1991, American Journal of Education.

[83]  Lucy A. Suchman,et al.  Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-Machine Communication (Learning in Doing: Social, , 1987 .

[84]  Ann Swidler.  CULTURE IN ACTION: SYMBOLS AND STRATEGIES* , 1986 .

[85]  A. Sen,et al.  Commodities and Capabilities , 1987 .

[86]  P. Bourdieu,et al.  Outline of a Theory of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu , 1977 .

[87]  Pierre Bourdieu,et al.  Outline of a Theory of Practice: Index , 1977 .

[88]  Pierre Bourdieu,et al.  Outline of a Theory of Practice , 2020, On Violence.