Title: Designing for the In-Between: Balancing Organizational Goals with Worker Needs 

Alyssa Sheehan

Ph.D. Candidate in HCC

School of Interactive Computing 

Georgia Institute of Technology  

Date: Thursday March 14, 2024

Time:  2 pm - 5 pm

Location:  Zoom Virtual Link 

Committee 

Dr. Christopher A. Le Dantec - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology & Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University

Dr. Elizabeth Mynatt - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology & Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University

Dr. Carl DiSalvo- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Beki Grinter - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Melissa Mazmanian -  School of Information and Computer Sciences, and School of Management, University of California Irvine

Abstract 

Rapid advances in computing are transforming the social and human dimensions of frontline work, from back-office process-driven systems to specialized hardware for monitoring and sensing. In blue collar domains these types of data driven systems are augmenting labor in entirely new ways making it imperative to understand how technology is transforming workplace practices far afield from the office environments historically at the center of HCI and design. For my dissertation, I conducted a cross site comparative analysis of three completed case studies in blue collar domains that examined how emerging data driven technologies are changing the nature of work. In each case study I applied participatory- and human- centered design approaches to develop and deploy worker interventions in the field. Outcomes of my comparative analysis highlight what it means to be a modern blue-collar worker upending traditional stereotypes of technological resistance and tracing how workers and organizations respond to the production of new types of data resulting from new emerging data driven technologies. The assumption that data is free and available for organizations to leverage is fundamentally redefining an entire class of labor removing the legitimacy of performing manual work. Frontline workers are being positioned as data producers upending notions of expertise and shifting task jurisdictions. This aligns with valorized principles of computing that manual labor is no longer necessary nor desirable yet there are whole categories of society where personal and professional meaning are derived from manual labor. It is these assumptions that have led to mismatched technology interventions that continue to perpetuate social injustices influencing our perception of who and what actions are deemed valuable. By articulating the tensions between worker wants and needs and organizational goals I seek to advocate for workers and create space for new methods and approaches to worker centered design and data activism in blue collar domains.  

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