research-article

Designs on dignity: perceptions of technology among the homeless

Authors:

Christopher A. Le Dantec,

W. Keith EdwardsAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '08: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 627 - 636

https://doi.org/10.1145/1357054.1357155

Published: 06 April 2008 Publication History

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Abstract

Technology, it is argued, has the potential to improve everyone's life: from the workplace, to entertainment, to easing chores around the home. But what of people who have neither job nor home? We undertook a qualitative study of the homeless population in a metropolitan U.S. city to better understand what it means to be homeless and how technology--from cell phones to bus passes--affects their daily lives. The themes we identify provide an array of opportunities for technological interventions that can empower the homeless population. Our investigation also reveals the need to reexamine some of the assumptions made in HCI about the relationship people have with technology. We suggest a broader awareness of the social context of technology use as a critical component when considering design innovation for the homeless.

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Li JHe CHu JJia BHalevy AMa X(2024)DiaryHelper: Exploring the Use of an Automatic Contextual Information Recording Agent for Elicitation Diary StudyProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642853(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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Jyoti Bhumika TSantosh K(2023)Drugs: Stages of drug development and methods to control the high usage of drugsi-manager's Journal on Life Sciences10.26634/jls.2.1.192602:1(31)Online publication date: 2023
https://doi.org/10.26634/jls.2.1.19260
Brew-Sam NParkinson AChhabra MHenschke ABrown EPedley LPedley EHannan KBrown KWright KPhillips CTricoli ANolan CSuominen HDesborough J(2023)Toward Diabetes Device Development That Is Mindful to the Needs of Young People Living With Type 1 Diabetes: A Data- and Theory-Driven Qualitative StudyJMIR Diabetes10.2196/433778(e43377)Online publication date: 25-Jan-2023
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Index Terms

Designs on dignity: perceptions of technology among the homeless
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
2. Social and professional topics

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Reviews

Reviewer: Robert L. Glass

This is an unusual but fascinating research study. It uses an interview technique (although it is actually more complicated than that) to record uses by the homeless community of information systems/technology tools. This is probably the only study of this population on this topic. It has serious weaknesses-the study involved only 13 participants, and yet it makes the point that the homeless population is hugely varied and difficult to characterize. Consequently, the ability to generalize these findings is severely questionable. Nevertheless, its findings will have to do until something better comes along. Basically, it found that there is a certain level of technology use among the homeless population, although usage varies by individual. Most homeless people use cellular phones, for example; a few use the Internet (using free library computers), but most do not, out of ignorance. The paper is designed to appeal to the social consciousness of information people-especially researchers. Yet, it is difficult for the reader to see much that he or she can do given the disparities in the homeless population. Online Computing Reviews Service

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Information & Contributors

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Published In

CHI '08: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2008

1870 pages

ISBN:9781605580111

DOI:10.1145/1357054

General Chairs:
Mary Czerwinski
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Arnie Lund
Microsoft, USA
,
Program Chair:
Desney Tan
Microsoft Research, USA

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 06 April 2008

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April 5 - 10, 2008

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CHI '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 157 of 714 submissions, 22%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Li JHe CHu JJia BHalevy AMa X(2024)DiaryHelper: Exploring the Use of an Automatic Contextual Information Recording Agent for Elicitation Diary StudyProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642853(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642853
Jyoti Bhumika TSantosh K(2023)Drugs: Stages of drug development and methods to control the high usage of drugsi-manager's Journal on Life Sciences10.26634/jls.2.1.192602:1(31)Online publication date: 2023
https://doi.org/10.26634/jls.2.1.19260
Brew-Sam NParkinson AChhabra MHenschke ABrown EPedley LPedley EHannan KBrown KWright KPhillips CTricoli ANolan CSuominen HDesborough J(2023)Toward Diabetes Device Development That Is Mindful to the Needs of Young People Living With Type 1 Diabetes: A Data- and Theory-Driven Qualitative StudyJMIR Diabetes10.2196/433778(e43377)Online publication date: 25-Jan-2023
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Anuyah OConrado ACarlson CGilbride HMetoyer R(2023)Exploring the Barriers and Potential Opportunities of Technology Integration in Community-Based Social Service OrganizationsACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/36107201:1(1-28)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2023
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Bopp CVoida A(2023)"Showing the Context": A Need for Oligopticonic Information Systems in Homelessness MeasurementProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35796227:CSCW1(1-24)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
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Masrani THe HMessier G(2023)The Human Behind the Data: Reflections from an Ongoing Co-Design and Deployment of a Data-Navigation Interface for Front-Line Emergency Housing Shelter StaffExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585694(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Recommendations

Publics in practice: ubiquitous computing at a shelter for homeless mothers

Exploring mobile technologies for the urban homeless

Understanding geocaching practices and motivations

Reviews

Access critical reviews of Computing literature here