Pimp My Roomba: Designing for Personalization

Ya Young Sung

ABSTRACT:

We present a study of how householders personalize their domestic
vacuuming robot, iRobot’s Roomba™. In particular, we build on Blom and
Monk’s theory of personalization that argues that personalization does
not only occur naturally but can also be induced by design choices. In
this study, we created a "personalization toolkit", which allowed
people to customize their Roomba’s appearance and distributed it to 15
households. Our observations of these households provide empirical
support that personalization can facilitate positive experiences with a
Roomba, and having materials to hand can increase the odds of
customization. We conclude by discussing design implications for
personalization.

BIO:

JaYoung Sung is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in HCC. She is co-advised
by Rebecca Grinter and Henrik Christensen, working in the area of
Human-Robot Interaction with particular focus on designing domestic
service robots.

Values as Lived Experience: Evolving Value Sensitive Design in Support of Value Discovery

Christopher Le Dantec

ABSTRACT:

The Value Sensitive Design (VSD) methodology provides a comprehensive
framework for advancing a value-centered research and design agenda. 
Although VSD provides helpful ways of thinking about and designing
value-centered computational systems, we argue that the specific
mechanics of VSD create thorny tensions with respect to value
sensitivity. In particular, we examine limitations due to value
classifications, inadequate guidance on empirical tools for design, and
the ways in which the design process is ordered. In this paper, we
propose ways of maturing the VSD methodology to overcome these
limitations and present three empirical case studies that illustrate a
family of methods to effectively engage local expressions of values. 
The findings from our case studies provide evidence of how we can
mature the VSD methodology to mitigate the pitfalls of classification
and engender a commitment to reflect on and respond to local contexts
of design.

BIO:

Christopher Le Dantec, 2008 Foley Scholar and newly anointed Microsoft
Research Fellow, is a 3rd year Human-Centered Computing Ph.D. student. 
He is advised by Keith Edwards. His research aims to understand the
values of individuals not well served by current technologies, to
develop design methods appropriate for working with marginalized
communities, and to explore the role technology plays and as agent of
change. Prior to Georgia Tech, he was an interaction designer with Sun
Microsystems and helped establish its interaction design practice in
the Czech Republic.

Computer Help at Home: Methods and Motivations for Informal Technical Support

Erika Poole

ABSTRACT:

Prior research suggests that people may ask
their family and friends for computer help. But what influences whether
and how a “helper” will provide help? To answer this question, we
conducted a qualitative investigation of people who participated in
computer support activities with family and friends in the past year.
In this talk, I will describe how factors including maintenance of
one’s personal identity as a computer expert and accountability to
one’s social network determine who receives help and the quality of
help provided.  I will also discuss the complex, fractured relationship
between the numerous stakeholders involved in the upkeep of home
computing infrastructures. Based on these findings, I will then provide
implications for the design of systems to support informal help-giving
in residential settings.

BIO:

Erika Shehan Poole is a PhD candidate in
human-centered computing at Georgia Tech. Her dissertation research
examines the user experience difficulties people have with information
technologies in residential settings.  She has conducted empirical work
investigating how and why householders engage with professional
technical support, online communities, as well as people within their
social networks to coordinate to solve complex technology problems at
home. She is currently developing social computing technologies that
support householder efforts to setup, maintain, and understand their
home computing environments. Erika holds a BS degree in computer
science from Purdue University and an MS in computer science from
Georgia Tech.