Technology is all around us, and while we consider new and novel uses for mobile and ubiquitous computing it is also important to consider how these kinds of technologies affect members of our society who do not have access to them. The aim of this work is to develop technological innovations to be deployed to support the urban homeless and to the institutions that support them.
Values play an integral role in design: they inform the kinds of trade-offs the make when considering different solutions; they create a basis for assessing a particular artifact or system may fit into their lives; and they are an important part of negotiating common understanding in collaborative design settings. Work in this project area focuses on the various ways values become expressed through the design of artifacts and systems.
The methods, tools, and theoretical underpinnings we have effect how and what we design. The aim of this work is better understand design as it is currently practiced in different domains, but also to develop strategies and new modes of engaging both designers and consumers in thinking about design not just as a means of product development, but as a dialectic process to explore and develop responses to real-world conditions.
