Title: Infrastructuring Critically Conscious Networked Publics for a More Inclusive Democracy 

Adrian Choi

Ph.D. Student in Human-Centered Computing (HCC) 

School of Interactive Computing 

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Date: Monday, May 11th, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM-1:00 PM EST 

Location: TSRB 217A or Join via Zoom

Committee 

Dr. Andrea G. Parker (Advisor) – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Lynn Dombrowski – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Neha Kumar – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Brooke Foucault Welles – College of Arts, Media, and Design, Northeastern University

Dr. Christopher Le Dantec – College of Arts, Media, and Design and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University

Abstract

Free spaces have historically operated as safe learning environments where marginalized youth engage in critical reflection to build civic capacity and mobilize as counter-publics to contest the broader public sphere. However, as youth coalesce around political issues using networked technologies like social media, the formation of these publics becomes actively mediated by commercial technologies. While these technologies allow counter-publics to scale their political discourse, their underlying infrastructure often erodes the conditions necessary for sustaining critical awareness and engaging in constructive deliberation. As such, there is a need to examine how to scaffold technologically-mediated environments that cultivate critically conscious publics in support of an inclusive deliberative democracy.

I present five studies analyzing how sociotechnical assemblages shape critically conscious youth publics. My completed work examines youths' critical consciousness when using social media, investigates how members of a youth empowerment program (YEP) were thwarted even after infrastructuring to sustain a free space, and maps the socio-material conditions necessary for forming healthy networked publics. My proposed work investigates how technology-mediated discourse shapes youths' critical consciousness by analyzing media narratives after police killed Eric Garner. Concurrently, I examine the role of civic data in infrastructuring critically conscious publics within participatory design, aligning public data with YEPs to probe youths' attachments to matters of concern.

This dissertation proposal aims to advance our knowledge of the infrastructuring work involved in scaffolding youths' critical consciousness. By empirically examining YEPs as free spaces alongside the circulation of counter-public discourse online, this work reveals how sociotechnical assemblages can either support or threaten critically conscious publics. Building on these insights, I discuss the precarious nature of infrastructuring these physical and digital spaces, considering the conditions necessary for sociotechnical infrastructures to align with critical pedagogy and support more inclusive democratic deliberation.