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How to Ethically Engage Fat People in HCI Research

Authors:

Blakeley H. Payne,

Casey FieslerAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '23 Companion: Companion Publication of the 2023 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Pages 117 - 121

https://doi.org/10.1145/3584931.3606987

Published: 14 October 2023 Publication History

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Abstract

How we research and represent people and communities that may be marginalized or vulnerable is a highly relevant question for our research practices. One particular group that has received some recent attention from HCI and CSCW researchers is fat people and, relatedly, anti-fatness. However, more work is needed to understand how to ethically engage in research with fat people–for example, in studying online communities or designing technology. Toward this goal, we provide a brief introduction to fat people, fat activism, and fat oppression so researchers may understand the social, political, and historical landscape in which research with and about fat people takes place. Based on empirical findings from an interview study, we then provide recommendations for researchers wishing to engage fat people in future research.

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Cited By

Batool VMurnane E(2024)Weight Bias in Design: Unpacking Implicit Researcher Beliefs for Building EmpathyProceedings of the 3rd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop: Scrutinizing Empathy Beyond the Individual10.1145/3661790.3661799(40-45)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661790.3661799
Sobey ACarter L(2024)The Harmful Fetishisation of Reductive Personal Tracking Metrics in Digital SystemsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency10.1145/3630106.3658943(899-908)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3630106.3658943
Ibrahim ZCaldeira CChung C(2024)Supporting Experiential Learning in People with Gestational Diabetes MellitusProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642674(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642674
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

How to Ethically Engage Fat People in HCI Research
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Social and professional topics
  1. User characteristics

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '23 Companion: Companion Publication of the 2023 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

October 2023

596 pages

ISBN:9798400701290

DOI:10.1145/3584931

Editors:
Casey Fiesler
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
,
Loren Terveen
University of Minnesota, USA
,
Morgan Ames
University of California, Berkeley, USA
,
Susan Fussell
Cornell University, USA
,
Eric Gilbert
University of Michigan, USA
,
Vera Liao
Microsoft Research Montreal, Canada
,
Xiaojuan Ma
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
,
Xinru Page
Brigham Young University, USA
,
Mark Rouncefield
Lancaster University, UK
,
Vivek Singh
Rutgers University, USA
,
Pamela Wisniewski
Vanderbilt University, USA

Copyright © 2023 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 14 October 2023

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Refereed limited

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National Science Foundation

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CSCW '23

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SIGCHI

CSCW '23: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

October 14 - 18, 2023

MN, Minneapolis, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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CSCW '25

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sigchi

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

October 18 - 22, 2025

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Cited By

Batool VMurnane E(2024)Weight Bias in Design: Unpacking Implicit Researcher Beliefs for Building EmpathyProceedings of the 3rd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop: Scrutinizing Empathy Beyond the Individual10.1145/3661790.3661799(40-45)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661790.3661799
Sobey ACarter L(2024)The Harmful Fetishisation of Reductive Personal Tracking Metrics in Digital SystemsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency10.1145/3630106.3658943(899-908)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3630106.3658943
Ibrahim ZCaldeira CChung C(2024)Supporting Experiential Learning in People with Gestational Diabetes MellitusProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642674(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642674
O'Neill DBirk MMandryk R(2024)Unpacking Norms, Narratives, and Nourishment: A Feminist HCI Critique on Food Tracking TechnologiesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642600(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642600
Jonas RDe ACotter K(2024)"We happen to be different and different is not bad": Designing for Intersectional Fat-Positive Information-SeekingProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642599(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642599
Sobey A(2024)Conceptualising Fatness within HCI: A Call for Fat LiberationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642199(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642199
Ribeiro AVieira VAlves LMaciel C(2024)VISHnuInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103243185:COnline publication date: 25-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103243

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