Example of an equitable design workshop session with participants engaging with components of the HRI Equitable Design Framework, exploring how design problems engage with design justice.
In a series of design workshops, the HRI Equitable Design framework from previous work (see Ostrowski et al. 2022; informed by Design Justice) was expanded to a workshop format and card-based tool that has been deployed with industry members, academic labs, and policy thinkers focused on robotics. The design workshops are a 1 time, 4 hour workshop or 2, 2 hour workshops, depending on what would work best for the workshop participants. Both design workshops are structured with two parts: a case study portion where participants applied a design method to the case study to gain familiarity with the method; and an applied portion where participants applied the same design method to their own design problem. The design method for the first workshop are design fictions. The second workshop uses a structured ideation design justice and policy toolkit as the design method.
The first workshop around design fictions begins with participants learning about why a focus on equity and justice is crucial in HRI, design fiction, and design justice where participants became familiar with the HRI Equitable Design Framework. After learning about design justice and design fiction, the participants apply the HRI Equitable Design Framework to case studies and then apply it to their own problem in the policy area. The main output of the first workshop is a narrative-based design fiction.
The second workshop introduces a structured ideation design justice and policy toolkit. The case study portion and apply portion of the workshop have the same structure. The four steps of the design justice and policy toolkit are (1) systems mapping, (2) design justice, (3) policy implications and (4) redesign. Participants progress through all four stages and that lead to the output of the workshop: a critical reflection of how they would create and/or change policy design around the technology, design of the technology, and/or the system it exists within.
Results demonstrate that participants gain a better understanding of design justice and how to apply it to the policy context. Participants emphasize how the HRI Equitable Design Framework can be used as a tool in their future work in the policy space. Participants comment on the ability of the framework and design workshops to support more reflective design decisions and proactive policy making around robots and new innovative and disruptive technologies.
Publications from this project include:
Ostrowski, A.K. 2023. How do we design robots equitably?: Engaging design justice, design fictions, and co-design in human-robot interaction design and policymaking processes. PhD Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.