Title: The Information Ecology of Latino Immigrant Parents in the United States: Devising Asset-Based Pathways for Technology Design

Marisol Wong-Villacres

Ph.D. Student

School of Interactive Computing

College of Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology

Date: Friday, April 19th, 2019

Time: 9:00am – 11:00pm (EDT)

Location: GVU Café

Committee:

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Dr. Betsy DiSalvo (Advisor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology),

Dr. Neha Kumar (Advisor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology),

Dr. Michael Best (School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology)

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

Dr. Ricardo Gomez (Information School, University of Washington)

Dr. Amy Ogan (School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon)

Summary:

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International migration to higher-income countries such as the United States (U.S.) is a worldwide, growing phenomenon. As the number of people moving across the world increases, so does the number of children of immigrants needing support to succeed academically. Like most parents, immigrant parents must learn how to navigate an information ecology made up of diverse actors such as teachers, digital technologies, their children, supporting organizations, and others, to access and harness resources for advancing their children’s education. However, unlike parents who are part of the mainstream culture, immigrant parents often face socioeconomic, educational, linguistic, and ethnic differences that complicate their possibilities to connect to and be part of this ecology. As a result, across higher-income countries, children of immigrants often face a persistent low academic achievement rate. Careful design and application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could provide these immigrant parents the support they need. However, although growing, knowledge on how to design for the information and technological practices of parents at the margins of mainstream society is still scarce.

My dissertation aims to contribute to this knowledge by studying the information ecology of low-income Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant parents in the United States, a prevalent yet historically marginalized group in American society. Specifically, I seek to inform possibilities for ICTs to act effectively in this ecology, enhancing parents’ ability to access, interpret, and apply information for ensuring their children's academic success. I approach this problem through an assets-based approach to design; that is, one that recognizes the talents, skills, social capital, and resources of individuals and groups, and, through participatory design, envisions ways to leverage those assets in the design of new technologies.