CS-E4002 - Special Course in Computer Science: Human-Centred Research and Design in Crisis, 02.06.2020-01.09.2020
This course space end date is set to 01.09.2020 Search Courses: CS-E4002
Topic outline
-
About: The course introduces students to understanding and engaging in crisis contexts, using human-centred design principles and participatory research methodologies in conjunction with domain experts, partner organizations and everyday citizens. The course will build on extensive research findings from inter-related disciplines of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Participatory Design (PD), Participatory Action Research (PAR), A.I. and Crisis Informatics, among others to develop a range of conceptual, rigorous, creative, and pragmatic approaches towards inquiry and engagement in complex crisis contexts.
Public Course Website: hcrdcrisis2020.wordpress.com
WEEK 1: Understanding Crisis and Role of Human-Centred Design
Lecture (June 2) : Introduction to Human-Centred Research & Design in Crisis (PDF slides), Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
Public version of video (with participant introductions edited out)
Workshop (June 4): Real-world Challenges of Crisis and Disaster Management (PDF slides), Marko Korhonen, Disaster Management Coordinator at Finnish Red Cross
WEEK 2: Role of ICT, Interaction Design & Data Science in Crisis Response- Lecture (June 9): Role of ICT in Humanitarian Sector & Crisis Communication Strategies (PDF Slides)
- Role of Information & Communication Technologies in Humanitarian Sector, Ilpo Kiiskinen, Communications Director at Finnish Red Cross
- Crisis Communication Strategies at Aalto University, Jaakko Salavuo, Communications Director, Aalto University
- Workshop (June 11): Contact Tracing for COVID-19: Role of Interaction Design & Data Science (PDF slides)
- Designing the Ketju Contact Tracing App: Interaction Design, Technology and Privacy Implications, Karri-Pekka Laakso, Lead Designer (Interaction), Reaktor
- Privacy-Preserving Contact Statistics Collection using COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps, Prof. Antti Honkela, Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki and Coordinator of Research Programme in Privacy-preserving and Secure AI, Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI)
WEEK 3: Challenges of Security and Privacy in Crisis Contexts - Lecture (June 16): Why Contact Tracing is Neither Secure or Privacy-Preserving, Prof. Janne Lindqvist, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University (PDF slides)
- June 18th - No class session scheduled for weekend of Juhannus, mid-summer’s day in Finland.
WEEK 4: Conducting User Experience Research for Healthcare Contexts
- Lecture (June 23): Designing for Healthcare Experiences from a Multistakeholder Perspective (PDF slides), Prof. Johanna Kaipio, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Lecture (June 25): Data-Driven Approaches to Healthcare Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF slides), Miika Leminen, Head of Analytics and AI Development Unit at Helsinki University Hospital (HUS)
- Workshop (June 26, 10:00-12:00): Rethinking Critical Crisis Themes and Design Directions, Prof. Nitin Sawhney and Dr. Salu Ylirisku, Aalto University (PDF slides)
WEEK 5: Multi-modal Interaction, Design Thinking and Ecologies of Crisis
- Lecture (June 30): Designing Multi-modal Interfaces for Demanding Conditions in Crisis, Paula Valkonen, Master of Arts, Aalto University and Dr. Jari Laarni, Principal Scientist, VTT (PDF Slides)
- Workshop (July 3, 10:00 - 12:00): Mapping Ecologies of Crisis using Design Thinking, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University and André Santos, PdP Course Coordinator, Aalto Design Factory, Aalto University (PDF Slides)
WEEK 6: Crisis Informatics, Social Media and the Ethics of Co-Creation Lecture (July 7): How do Health Agencies use Instagram for Crisis and Emergency Communication? Aqdas Malik, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University (PDF Slides) Workshop (July 9): EUvsVirus: Ethical and Transdisciplinary Practices when Designing for Societal Issues, Cristina Zaga, Assistant Professor, Human-Centred Design Group, University of Twente (PDF slides) WEEK 7: Project Concept Presentations (July 14) Part 2: Ethical Practices and Project Workshops
WEEK 9: Ethics, Politics & Practices of AI in Society
- Lecture (August 3): Ethics and Politics of AI in Society, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University (PDF slides)
- Lecture (August 5): AI Ethics in Practice: Designing for Ecosystems, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University (PDF slides)
- Workshop (August 7): Decolonizing AI & Rethinking Resistance, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
WEEK 10-12: Participant-led Workshops
- Workshop (August 12): Participant-led Brainstorming Session (PDF slides)
- Workshop (August 19): Purposeful Innovation Skills to Unlock Opportunities in Crises (summary), Floris van der Marel, Pauliina Mattila, Tiina Tuulos, Design Factory, Aalto University
- Workshop (August 26): Resistance as Change – Power Dynamics, Social Movements & Design Facilitation (PDF slides), Natalia Villaman, MA in Creative Sustainability, Aalto University
WEEK 13: Final Project Presentations
- Final Project Presentations (September 2): Project presentations and reflections by participants and guest reviewers (PDF slides).
-
The course is divided into two parts (6-weeks each) with a 2-week summer break in mid-July. Most sessions for part 1 are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 17:15 - 18:45. For part 2, most sessions are held on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays 10:15 – 11:45.
Part 1: Role of Human-Centred Research and Design in Crisis
WEEK 1: Understanding Crisis and Role of Human-Centred Design
- Lecture (June 2): Introduction to Crisis and Human-Centred Design, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Workshop (June 4): Real-world Challenges of Crisis and Disaster Management, Marko Korhonen, Disaster Management Coordinator at Finnish Red Cross
WEEK 2: Role of ICT, Interaction Design & Data Science in Crisis Response
- Lecture (June 9):
- Role of Information & Communication Technologies in Humanitarian Sector, Ilpo Kiiskinen, Communications Director at Finnish Red Cross
- Crisis Communication Strategies at Aalto University, Jaakko Salavuo, Communications Director, Aalto University
- Workshop (June 11):
- Designing the Ketju Contact Tracing App: Interaction Design, Technology and Privacy Implications, Karri-Pekka Laakso, Lead Designer (Interaction), Reaktor
- Privacy-Preserving Contact Statistics Collection using COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps, Prof. Antti Honkela, Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki and Coordinator of Research Programme in Privacy-preserving and Secure AI, Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI)
WEEK 3: Challenges of Security and Privacy in Crisis Contexts
- Lecture (June 16): Why Contact Tracing is Neither Secure or Privacy-Preserving, Prof. Janne Lindqvist, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- June 18th - No class session scheduled for weekend of Juhannus, mid-summer’s day in Finland.
WEEK 4: Conducting User Experience Research for Healthcare Contexts
- Lecture (June 23): Designing for Healthcare Experiences from a Multistakeholder Perspective. Prof. Johanna Kaipio, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Lecture (June 25): Data-Driven Approaches to Healthcare Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Miika Leminen, Head of Analytics and AI Development at Helsinki University Hospital (HUS)
- Workshop (June 26, 10:00 - 12:00): Rethinking Critical Crisis Themes and Design Directions, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Dr. Salu Ylirisku, Design Teacher (Senior University Lecturer) at Aalto University
WEEK 5: Multi-modal Interaction, Design Thinking and Ecologies of Crisis
- Lecture (June 30): Designing Multi-modal Interfaces for Demanding Conditions in Crisis, Paula Valkonen, Master of Arts, Aalto University and Dr. Jari Laarni, Principal Scientist, VTT
- Workshop (July 3, 10:00 - 12:00): Mapping Ecologies of Crisis using Design Thinking, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University and André Santos, PdP Course Coordinator, Aalto Design Factory, Aalto University
WEEK 6: Crisis Informatics, Social Media & Ethics of Co-Creation
- Lecture (July 7): How do Health Agencies use Instagram for Crisis and Emergency Communication? Aqdas Malik, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Workshop (July 9): EUvsVirus: Ethical and Transdisciplinary Practices when Designing for Societal Issues, Cristina Zaga, Assistant Professor, Human-Centred Design Group, University of Twente
WEEK 7: Project Concept Presentations
- July 14: Project Concept Presentations - 10:00 - 13:00
- 2-week holiday: July 15 - July 29
Part 2: Ethical Practices and Project Workshops
For part 2, most sessions are held on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays 10:15 – 11:45. Workshops have extended sessions on Wednesdays 10:15 – 12:45.
WEEK 8: Reorientation & Project Discussion
- Reorientation and Projects Discussion (July 31)
WEEK 9: Ethics, Politics & Practices of AI in Society
- Lecture (August 3): Ethics and Politics of AI in Society, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Lecture (August 5): AI Ethics in Practice: Designing for Ecosystems, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
- Workshop (August 7): Decolonizing AI & Rethinking Resistance, Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
WEEK 10-12: Participant-led Workshops
- Workshop (August 12): Participant-led Brainstorming Session
- Workshop (August 19): Purposeful Innovation Skills to Unlock Opportunities in Crises, Floris van der Marel, Pauliina Mattila, Tiina Tuulos, Design Factory, Aalto University
- Workshop (August 26): Resistance as Change – Power Dynamics, Social Movements & Design Facilitation, Natalia Villaman, MA in Creative Sustainability, Aalto University
WEEK 13: Final Project Presentations
- Final Project Presentations (September 2)
-
Role of Human-Centred Research and Design in Crisis
-
- Reorientation and Projects Discussion (July 31)
- Sessions on Ethics, Politics & Practices of AI in Society (August 3, 5, 7)
- Participant-led Workshops (August 12, 19, 26)
- Final Project Presentations (September 2)
Students can organize workshop sessions individually or in groups around shared topics of interest or concepts related to their projects, in order to gain collective feedback on critical and pragmatic design directions from peers. These workshops can be hybrid sessions hosted online and in-person (held potentially at Aalto’s campus). -
A tentative list of articles which will be updated on a weekly basis. Please be sure to read the articles assigned for the upcoming week. The others serve as references to learn more about topics in advance.
Updated: August 25, 2020
Part 1
1. Understanding Crisis & the Role of Human-Centred Design
Nitin Sawhney, 2019. Cooperative Crisis Response among Emergency Responders & AI Systems, Position paper for Workshop on better supporting workers in ML workplaces, 22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, November 9-13, 2019, Austin, TX, USA.
Why Human-Centered Design is Critical to Preparing for Global Health Epidemics, Blog Post, Dalberg Design, February 03, 2017.
Peter Dalsgaard. HCI and Interaction Design versus COVID-19. Blog Post. ACM Interactions. April 03, 2020. Work-in-Progress Google Doc: How researchers and experts in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design can contribute to the COVID-19 crisis.
References on Crisis and Disaster Management:
The International Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Official Red Cross Website.Disaster and crisis management. Official IRFC Website.IFRC Disaster Response and Preparedness. Official IFRC Website.KoBoToolbox. Example of data collection tools for disaster managementIFRC approach for Emergency Needs Assessment. IFRC, Sept 27, 2018.Optional Readings:
Ann Light, Irina Shklovski, and Alison Powell. 2017. Design for Existential Crisis. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 722–734.
Shalini Unnikrishnan. We need to turn our response to crisis inside out. September 4, 2016.
2. Role of ICT, Interaction Design & Data Science in Crisis Response
Nagwa Konda, Kholoud Mansour, Lydia Tanner, Jennie Thomas. Human-centred design and humanitarian innovation. Designing solutions with people affected by disaster. DEPP Innovation Labs (2019).
Alex Berke and Kent Larson. Contact Tracing Technologies: Methods and trade-offs. City Science group. MIT Media Lab (2020). Brief Summary
Andrew Crocker, Kurt Opsahl, AND Bennett Cyphers. The Challenge of Proximity Apps For COVID-19 Contact Tracing, Blog Post. Electronic Frontier Foundation. April 10, 2020.
Optional Readings:
Shan L. Pan, Gary Pan and Dorothy Leidner. 2012. Crisis response information networks. Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 13, (1), 31-56. Research Collection School Of Accountancy.
Glenn Richey, R., Pettit, S. and Beresford, A. 2009. Critical success factors in the context of humanitarian aid supply chains. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 39 No. 6, pp. 450-468.
Gonzalez, Rafael. 2010. Developing a Multi-Agent System of a Crisis Response Organization. Business Process Management Journal. 16. 847 - 870.
3. Challenges of Security & Privacy in Crisis Contexts
- Michel Beaudouin-Lafon et al. 2020. Statement On Essential Principles And Practices For Covid-19 Contact Tracing Applications. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM Europe Technology Policy Committee). May 5, 2020.
- Ashkan Soltani, Ryan Calo, and Carl Bergstrom. Contact-tracing apps are not a solution to the COVID-19 crisis. Blog Post. Brookings. April 27, 2020.
Oliver, N. et al. (2020). Mobile phone data and COVID-19: Missing an opportunity?
Optional Readings:
Salathé, Marcel, et al. 2020. COVID-19 Epidemic in Switzerland: On the Importance of Testing, Contact Tracing and Isolation. Swiss Medical Weekly, vol. 150, 2020, pp. w20225.
Ashley L. Greiner, et al. 2015. Addressing contact tracing challenges—critical to halting Ebola virus disease transmission. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 41, Pages 53-55, ISSN 1201-9712.
Privacy Concerns over Coronavirus Tracing Apps. ABC News, Australia, 30 March 2020.
- 4. Conducting User Experience Research for Healthcare Contexts
Kaipio, J., Kuusisto, A., Hyppönen, H., Heponiemi, T. and Lääveri, T., 2020. Physicians’ and nurses’ experiences on EHR usability: Comparison between the professional groups by employment sector and system brand. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 134, p.104018.
Hillman, S., Forghani, A., Pang, C., Neustaeder, C. and Judge, T.K., 2014. Conducting interviews with remote participants. Studying and Designing Technology for Domestic Life, pp.11-53.
Wolf, J. A., Niederhauser, V., Marshburn, D., LaVela, S. L. (2014). Defining Patient Experience. Patient Experience Journal: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1 , Article 3.
Optional Readings:
Kujala, S., Hörhammer, I., Kaipio, J. and Heponiemi, T., 2018. Health professionals’ expectations of a national patient portal for self-management. International journal of medical informatics, 117, pp.82-87.
Santos, Ana Laura Rodrigues and Wauben, Linda S.G.L. 2013. System design perspective of healthcare provision in humanitarian aid. In: Relating Systems Thinking and Design 2013 Symposium Proceedings, 9-11 Oct 2013, Oslo, Norway.
- 5. Multi-modal Interaction, Design Thinking and Ecologies of Crisis
Denef, S., Ramirez, L., Dyrks, T., & Stevens, G. (2008, February). Handy navigation in ever-changing spaces: An ethnographic study of firefighting practices. In Proceedings of the 7th ACM conference on Designing interactive systems (pp. 184-192).
Valkonen, P., & Liinasuo, M. (2010, October). Role playing with fire fighters: using a worst case scenario and verbal re-enactment in the role play. In Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries (pp. 805-808).
Aaltonen, I., & Laarni, J. (2017). Field evaluation of a wearable multimodal soldier navigation system. Applied Ergonomics 63, 79-90.
6: Crisis Informatics, Social Media and the Ethics of Co-Creation
Leysia Palen, Sarah Vieweg, Jeannette Sutton, Sophia B. Liu, et al. Crisis Informatics: Studying Crisis in a Networked World. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on E‐Social Science (2007).
Christian Reuter, Amanda Lee Hughes & Marc-André Kaufhold. 2018. Social Media in Crisis Management: An Evaluation and Analysis of Crisis Informatics Research. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 34:4, 280-294.
Reynolds, B., & W. Seeger. (2005). Crisis and emergency risk communication as an integrative model. Journal of health communication, 10(1), 43-55.
Cristina Zaga. EUvsVirus: Ideating to Tackle the Covid-19 Crisis is not just about Tech, Blog Post, Medium, April 29, 2020.
Optional Readings:
Cristina Zaga & Peter-Paul Verbeek. 2020. Robots in the ‘Six-Foot Society’: Are Robotic Technologies too Human-Like? Blog Post, TechMed Magazine.
Ukkusuri, S. V., Zhan, X., Sadri, A. M., & Ye, Q. 2014. Use of Social Media Data to Explore Crisis Informatics: Study of 2013 Oklahoma Tornado. Transportation Research Record, 2459(1), 110–118.
Nguyen, Long & Li, Jia & Pan, Zhenhe & Cao, Guofeng & Jin, Fang. 2019. Forecasting People's Needs in Hurricane Events from Social Network. IEEE Transactions on Big Data. PP. 1-1.
Part 2
9. Ethics, Politics & Practices of AI in Society
Session 1: Ethics and Politics of AI in Society
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI Ethics (3-part series), B. Nalini, May – June 2019.
AI Now 2017 Report, AI Now Institute at NYU, October 18, 2017.
Additional Reference:
The Politics of AI, Kate Crawford (video lecture), July 17, 2018.
Session 2: AI Ethics in Practice: Designing for Ecosystems
Nitin Sawhney. 2020. Te Awa Tupua: Sacred Rivers and Cooperative Urban AI Ecosystems. Workshop on Urban AI: Formulating an Agenda for the Interdisciplinary Research of Artificial Intelligence in Cities, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2020), July 6-20, 2020, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Rob Kitchin. 2016. The Ethics of Smart Cities and Urban Science. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374: 20160115.
Additional Reference:
Gender Shades project by Joy Buolamwini (video & interactive website), 2018.
Session 3: Decolonizing AI & Rethinking Resistance
Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein. 2020. Introduction: Why Data Science Needs Feminism. In Data Feminism. MIT Press.
Shakir Mohamed, Marie-Therese Png and William Isaac. 2020. Decolonial AI: Decolonial Theory as Sociotechnical Foresight in Artificial Intelligence. Philosophy and Technology (405).
Nani Jansen Reventlow. 2020. Data collection is not the solution for Europe’s racism problem. Al-Jazeera.
Additional References:
Joy Buolamwini, “AI, Ain’t I a Woman?”, Spoken word piece (2 min video) performed at Vision & Justice event at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, April 26, 2019. Her response to algorithmic bias, or the fact that AI systems often either mischaracterize or fail to recognize dark-skinned faces. Joy Buolamwini, founder, Algorithmic Justice League, MIT Media Lab.
Catherine D’Ignazio, Feminist Data, Feminist Futures, Lecture (watch a 10 min excerpt from 14:50 onwards) at the Eyeo Festival, 2019. She examines the power in feminist imaginations and feminist futures, and the subject of her new book on Data Feminism.
Yeshimabeit Milner, Abolish Big Data, Lecture (watch a 10 min excerpt from 32:22 onwards) at the Newman Alumni Center, February 21, 2020. She is the founder of Data for Black Lives.
10. Resistance as Change: Power Dynamics, Social Movements & Design Facilitation
Villaman, N. (2020). Fostering resistance: Acknowledging notions of power exertion and politics in design facilitation. Aalto University, Department of Design, Helsinki, Finland. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25566.87368 (11-19; 34-39; 44-45; 100-108)
-
-
Learning Outcomes: After completing this course students are expected to have a deeper understanding of how human-centred research, design and technological innovations can productively engage the complex challenges emerging in crisis contexts, including natural and man-made disasters, socio-political crises, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Students should develop critical skills to recognize the limitations and ethical implications of conducting research, participatory design, and deployment of technologies including security, privacy and any unintended consequences of such work, while applying rigorous human-centred design principles and practices to have a meaningful impact in such crisis situations.
Content: This online course will consist of weekly seminars on a series of topics with invited guest speakers and workshops/discussion sessions to review case-studies, methodologies and working design research projects. The weekly sessions will be held using Zoom and other online platforms will be used throughout the course. Students will have an opportunity to prepare critical responses to readings and monthly assignments, maintain a learning diary and optionally conduct team-based projects with industry or public organizations in the Helsinki area. The collaborative project outcomes can be conceptual designs, working prototypes or proposals for extended research into technology or policy implications of engaging critically with crisis contexts.
Assessment Methods and Criteria: All students must actively participate in weekly seminars and workshops, complete selected readings, an online learning diary, and 3 brief assignments as working papers or mixed-media works (blog/website/wiki/video) until July 15 to receive 3 credits. For an additional 3 credits, students must complete a group project with a proof-of-concept idea or working prototype and a short paper of their findings for presentation at the end of the course by September 3. Students can be graded on a 0 - 5 scale, as well as Pass/Fail.
Workload: Class sessions and workshops (36 hours), weekly readings (18 hours), 3 brief assignments (15 hours), learning diary (12 hours). To receive an additional 3 credits students must conduct a group project with collaborative design research, a final presentation and jointly-written short paper.
-
Slack Workspace for Course:
HCRD in Crisis: aalto-hcrdcrisis-2020.slack.comAnyone with an aalto.fi domain can join the workspace automatically without requiring special permission; if you wish to use another email address let us know and we can provide a separate invite.Zoom for Weekly Class Sessions:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 17:15 - 18:45
Zoom Meeting ID: 634 1835 8800, Password: 608875
Link: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/63418358800?pwd=bytxVytJYm9WT1B6eDhXV29IUEwwZz09
Miro Boards:
https://miro.com/app/dashboard/
Wordpress Blog:
https://hcrdcrisis2020.wordpress.com/
All students will receive user accounts on Wordpress to create blog posts.
Contact information:
Instructor: Prof. Nitin Sawhney, Department of Computer Science
Teaching Assistant: Magdalena Mihalache <magdalena-andreea.mihalache@aalto.fi>