Exploring mobile technologies for the urban homeless

Abstract

My research examines the practical and social impact of technology on the urban homeless. To accomplish this, I have conducted interviews with the homeless to understand how technology-from mobile phones to bus passes-affects their lives. I have also conducted ethnographic fieldwork at care providers to understand how technology figures into the provision of care for the homeless. These formative studies have motivated the design of a set of information sharing services that aggregate information available in the community and provide it to the homeless via mobile phones. I will deploy this system to diverse set of homeless individuals to better understand how such technologies fit within the social and economic constraints of the homeless community. I expect my research to result in theoretical contributions and guidelines for designing for uncommon users, like the homeless.

Steampunk as design fiction

“…Williams and Irani provide several useful examples of how ethnographic methodologies may be employed in HCI, arguing that improvisational ethnographic methods provide researchers with the means to study social practices and appropriation of technology in situ [57]. Some recent examples of this approach include Rosner and Ryokai's study of crafting cultures among knitters to inform an understanding of technological appropriation [38] and Dantec's study of technology use among the homeless [9].…”

Exploring the opportunities of mobile technology use in nonprofit organizations

“…As such there remains a vast amount of effort necessary to understand the adoption and use of information technology to empower nonprofits; to our knowledge there has been little exploration about the use of mobile technology. A couple of exceptions include a study of mobile technology use in the public sector for the urban homeless [6], and a report that examined what larger organizations were doing successfully with mobile technology [4]. We extend this prior work by exploring the use of mobile technology to promote public participation and empower nonprofits.…”