Hosting Virtual Conversations about Race: “Engaging with Race in HCI” CHI 2020 Workshop Report Back
On April 25, we hosted a 4-hour version of our CHI 2020 workshop, “What’s Race Got to Do With It?: Engaging with Race in HCI” with 27 HCI researchers and practitioners across many stages of their careers. We represent a shared desire to have necessary conversations about how we as a field talk about and engage with race in our work and in our community.
Here are some reflections on shifting to a shorter, virtual session in a sensitive workshop, as well as some of what we discussed on the day. We will be producing a more thorough zine on “Engaging with Race in HCI” in the near future!
Setting the Tone, Creating a Community with Intention
Race and racism are highly sensitive, highly personal topics. Talking about them with strangers is one challenge, talking about them with strangers over the internet is an even greater one! We use three strategies to set the tone in our first half hour.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
“There have always been indigenous peoples in the spaces we call home, and there always will be,” Kanyon Sayers-Roods
We open with a land acknowledgement as a way to ground ourselves in our context and in the virtual space we are holding together. Although we are each in different locations around the United States, we are all on colonized land. We cannot do racial justice work without acknowledging this. To our participants we hope that opening in this way communicates that we are here to contend with our history, pay respect to scholars and activists who came before us, and to be critical of our contexts. We see you, and we are here to do difficult work in what can be an oppressive environment, together.
Creating Shared Community Communication Guidelines
Community Guidelines are one way of constructing a shared value statement together. The organizing team started an initial list of principles based on their work in racial justice spaces (e.g., “Recognize the Difference Between Intent and Impact,” “Respect Each Person’s Viewpoint”). We provided a commentable link in advance so folks who prefer time to read could review them. We invited everyone to suggest changes to better reflect the values they bring to the space.
During the workshop, we reviewed them together and discussed changes to make. For example, one participant proposed we change the outdated language of “Step Up, Step Back” to “Move Forward, Move Back” — a guideline that encourages distributed participation.
Reviewing the Agenda in a Goal-Driven Way
Reviewing the agenda and timetable, and making sure everyone has access to it is another way of making sure people with challenging remote work situations have as much information as possible while prioritizing their time and attention.
To combat Zoom fatigue, we reduced our 8-hour program to a 4-hour program, which gave us very little time to achieve our goals! Here’s how we ran things on the day.
Addressing Technical Challenges
Set clear Expectations and Norms.
At this point many people are aware of basic Zoom etiquette for large groups. We ask that folks mute their mics when not speaking, and have added, if you need to step away, please turn off your camera so we know you have disengaged for the moment. We additionally made sure to provide back-up options such as phone dialing into the meeting, and kept an eye on a group Slack for anyone who may have lost connection.
Proposing and Voting on Topics using Online, Collaborative Tools
Our goal in this workshop was to begin creating a Zine on Engaging with Race in HCI so we can begin to share best practice, questions, provocations, etc. to share back with our wider community. There are so many unanswered questions in this space, and we wanted to lead from our participants’ highest areas of interest.
We used their proposals to seed an initial list of topics to create zine articles and artifacts for. We then shared an online collaborative spreadsheet where everyone was given 5–10 minutes to add new topics and ask clarifying questions about existing ones. We then closed the addition of new topics, and hosted a virtual vote. This vote was public, as we needed to form groups. Everyone was allowed to vote for up to three topics.
We held a break so the organizers could rearrange and form the groups, which included moving people out of duplicate groups to figure out six sub-topics. We had to then create Zoom breakout rooms for each group. Big shout out here to Yolanda for taking on that labor-intensive task!
Sub-Topic Breakout Group to Generate Content
We wanted small groups so each person could feel they fully contributed to the conversation. We ended up with six groups with between three and six members each. Groups were then given an hour to work on their zine article. We provided some source material, tips on zines, and other resources, but each group was directed to make progress in whatever way made sense to them. Our goal for the day was to have something to share back with the bigger group, and to have a plan to publish something by the end of the next month.
Creating a Zine with Breakout Group
From a group generated list of 18 topics covering race in HCI research and practice, we formed 6 breakout groups. Each group met for an hour to start creating content for a forthcoming zine on Engaging with Race in HCI.
Reporting on Race in Research (with Jakita, Dan, Carol, Finda)
The team focused on this topic created an infographic that guides a researcher or designer with questions they should consider when conducting any HCI research project. They also plan to share articles and other resources to assist HCI researchers and designers regarding ways to consider race and ethnicity in all research projects.
Racially-Inclusive Research and Design (with Shamika, Cale, Naba, Amanda, Alexandra)
This group looked at how we can better create research lab environments in HCI that are not only racially diverse, but promote equity and empowerment for people from racial minority groups (e.g., hiring practice, financial burdens of academia, etc.). We also look at how to conduct racially-inclusive research, including discussion of positionality/reflexivity, working with community partners, and equity.
Understanding race and identity (with Marisol, Princess, Maja, Ian, Aleksandra, Adriana)
This group dived deep into our common understanding of race. Race is constructed differently in different countries and contexts, fluidly, by society, by history, by others and by the self. We aim to untangle the many factors that go into the construction of race, in order to understand what our role is as researchers in studying race, identifying and allowing others to identify their own race, and interacting within systems that may be racially oppressive.
Race and Design Research (with Audrey, Ron, Jaye, Vanessa, Amber, Angela)
This group dives deep into how race operates in the context of design and design research. Our goal is to generate new knowledge that addresses wicked problems related to racial oppression using social design innovation and design methods while also challenging and expanding the notions of technology as a tool. What does racially-inclusive design look like? Race-positive design? Design that counters digital colonialism?
Computing Education Pedagogy (with Khalia, Yolanda, Bryan)
This group examines the STEM pipeline and the ways in which race manifests in the classroom for students (e.g., affirmation of identity, cultural relevance of material). We share common faux pas as well as student success stories in educational environments. We also spotlight organizations that are already doing incredible work with racially marginalized students of all ages and levels.
Best practices for engaging in research with a community whose dominant racial make-up is not your own (with Denae, Gabi, Kentaro)
As the descriptive name implies, this group looked to collect best practices for engaging in research with a community whose dominant racial make-up is not your own. We examine what’s different about community engagement research with race rather than other marginalized communities (e.g., ability, culture, neuro-divesity, age, etc)?
Future of Engaging with Race in HCI
This workshop demonstrated to us that there is a growing energy and demand for conversations about race in HCI. How can we empower racial minority groups with our research? How can we start to address historical racial inequality within our universities, companies, and the larger context of our lives? How can people with power and/or in the majority be allies in the push for racial justice? How do we talk about race in a global context?
Here are just 12 topics we shared an interest in, but did not have a chance to cover. We invite you, our community, to take up our call to action and help us address these important topics!
- Race in Professional Contexts
- What does representation look like?
- Support for ourselves as researchers and our communities
- What can SIGCHI do to address issues of racial equity and inclusion?
- How should HCI researchers approach *every* research project in a way that is race-aware?
- Pluralistically representing epistemologies in research
- Identity/bias in systems and digital spaces
- What can we learn from other fields of research about race?
- Ethical considerations when considering race in your research? Exploring historical examples
- Race & Disabilities / Intersectional Research
- Decolonizing upper-level CS and HCI education
- Race Language and Vocabulary: inclusive, race, ethnicity, equity, etc.
This workshop is one moment in this ongoing conversation. To learn more and to join this community or join our Slack, check out our website: www.raceinhci.com.
