While the number of people using AI is growing, the number of people making core AI decisions remains limited. Advocates call for opening up the development of algorithmic systems to a wider range of perspectives, interests, and methods, with particular attention to racial exclusions and harms. This paper responds to this suggestion with two design fiction workshops where 10 Black American participants imagine futures with and against AI. We introduce Exquisite Tellings, selectively reading in-progress stories while co-developing design fiction plots. Across both workshops, participants repeatedly imagined moments of technological failure, including algorithmic breakdowns and mechanical malfunctions. Rather than signaling collapse, these failures surfaced forms of resourcefulness, enabling characters to reconnect with personal and collective capacities obscured by automation. We argue that analyzing specific instances of ‘hopeful failure’—where challenges in AI development reveal broader social possibilities—can help scholars and critics better understand the emerging effects of AI on society.

Introductory Computer Science (CS1) courses act as a foundational gateway to computer science (CS) education. However, significant gaps remain between students' prior experiences and the conceptual understanding required for success in the field. While there have been strides in creating engaging CS1 courses, many communities are still underrepresented in the discipline. In this exploratory pilot study, we analyzed the examples and exercises used in CS1 programming courses at three universities ranked among the top 20 strong computer science programs by U.S. News & World Report. We employed both qualitative (textual) and quantitative (content) analyses of the course materials. Our findings revealed that math and numerical computing examples were commonly used across the three universities. Following that, examples related to US-specific contexts and languages were also popular. We contribute an understanding of CS1 book examples in computer science courses across top universities and discuss potential challenges and opportunities related to the growing global workforce in the United States.

Reaction videos (RVs) are surging in popularity, emerging as a distinctive facet of participatory culture on modern social video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. This study aims to explore not only the motivations and engagement patterns of viewers towards RVs, but also the underlying nature of the virality and community-building phenomena that this sub-genre of video content fosters. We conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with individuals who identified as regular viewers of reaction videos to gain a deeper understanding of how they discover reaction videos (RQ1), the values that drive their motivations for viewing RVs (RQ2), and the ways viewers engage with RVs (RQ3). Our research highlights the variety of original content that RVs utilize, ranging from movie trailers to music releases, and the different engagement strategies viewers rely on in their consumption of RVs. Our research highlights the wide range of original content that RVs engage with, from movie trailers to music releases, as well as the diverse engagement strategies viewers employ when consuming RVs. Our findings highlight the significance of emotional connections with reactors, the value of communal experiences centered on shared interests, and the role of RVs in facilitating content discovery and critique. Drawing on viewers’ experiences with RVs, this work offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the complex dynamics of spectatorship and its influence on the production and consumption of content in today’s digital landscape. We further contribute to a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of reaction video culture.

Finding employment is extremely challenging for returning citizens – formerly incarcerated individuals – as they face additional barriers due to their criminal records, gaps in employment, and limited experience with digital technology. Using design studio workshops and focus groups, we explored how returning citizens in the United States experience digital job search and how digital platforms and job search tools could be improved. We find that returning citizens are uncertain about when and how to disclose their felony status, and develop unique tactics in response. When faced with concerns about employment discrimination, especially racism, returning citizens maintained a practical outlook. And, participants expressed specific features they sought in technology platforms for job search: clear, simple job descriptions; auto-fill for commonly occurring input fields; and options for human assistance. Throughout, we pay special attention to Black/African American returning citizens, who have historically been discriminated by the criminal justice system in the United States.

The human-computer interaction community has made some efforts toward racial diversity, but the outcomes remain meager. We introduce critical race theory and adapt it for HCI to lay a theoretical basis for race-conscious efforts, both in research and within our community. Building on the theory's original tenets, we argue that racism is pervasive in everyday socio-technical systems; that the HCI community is prone to "interest convergence", where concessions to inclusion require benefits to those in power; and that the neoliberal underpinnings of the technology industry itself propagate racism. Critical race theory uses storytelling as a means to upend deep-seated assumptions, and we relate several personal stories to highlight ongoing problems of race in HCI. The implications: all HCI research must be attuned to issues of race; participation of underrepresented minorities must be sought in all of our activities; and as a community, we cannot become comfortable while racial disparities exist.

Returning citizens (formerly incarcerated individuals) face great challenges finding employment, and these are exacerbated by the need for digital literacy in modern job search. Through 23 semi-structured interviews and a pilot digital literacy course with returning citizens in the Greater Detroit area, we explore tactics and needs with respect to job search and digital technology. Returning citizens exhibit great diversity, but overall, we find our participants to have striking gaps in digital literacy upon release, even as they are quickly introduced to smartphones by friends and family. They tend to have employable skills and ability to use offline social networks to find opportunities, but have little understanding of formal job search processes, online or offline. They mostly mirror mainstream use of mobile technology, but they have various reasons to avoid social media. These and other findings lead to recommendations for digital literacy programs for returning citizens.