Globally, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have had to adapt to rapid digital changes, a shift accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.In Kenya, this transition has involved a significant move towards digital management tools.While many had already experienced marked digitalization over the last few decades, they completed this work differently from their European and North American counterparts.This study explores how Kenyan SMBs continue to navigate these changes and considers the potential of Generative AI in this context.Applying the concept of socio-tecture-which emphasizes social networks, relational business practices, and employees as knowledge producers-we analyze how these elements influence SMB operations in Nairobi.We highlight how socio-tecture affects business performance and growth, and discuss how an Afro-centric strengths-based approach might offer unique opportunities and challenges with the influx of new technologies like Generative AI.

Research on understanding and supporting the experiences of people with noise sensitivity (PWNS) and their challenges is limited within HCI. Therefore, we build on prior work to understand the challenges they consider and what technological solutions they create to support them. Through eight participatory design workshops involving PWNS and their carers, we considered their needs and challenges and how technology can be designed to support their well-being. Results indicate that wearable and mobile technology can facilitate awareness of sensory triggers and impacts on their well-being. Further, enabling both self and collaborative regulation is also necessary, especially as end users seek independence or interdependence with those around them to manage their experiences. We identified three tensions for designing technology to support PWNS and their sensory experiences.

Noise sensitivity results in a range of experiences, from small annoyances to extreme pain in response to sound. While anyone can experience it, many neurodivergent people report this sensory processing challenge. Novel technologies can help people with noise sensitivity (PWNS) manage their sensitivities. We conducted an interview study with 21 PWNS and 9 caregivers over three months to understand their management and regulation practices and opportunities for technology-mediated support. We found that awareness is a salient factor that influences both management and regulation practices. Based on their awareness, people primarily use avoidance and sound masking approaches or engage in personal coping strategies such as journaling, setting boundaries, and alerting others to regulate. We build on prior research on interdependence, mutual care, and collaborative work to situate the concept of joint awareness to foster collaborative management and regulation for noise sensitivity. Then, we discuss the role of awareness in noise sensitivity management and regulation and provide design principles for the creation of future technology to support noise sensitivity awareness, management, and regulation.

Children who are noise sensitive may be easily distracted, experience discomfort, and react with negative emotions in the presence of loud or sudden sounds and in environments where they cannot control the noise; this can impact their ability to regulate their emotions. Therefore, implementing effective regulation strategies is necessary to support noise-sensitive children. Assistive technology has been shown to be an effective tool for supporting children and self-regulation. By conducting co-design sessions with noise-sensitive children, we will better understand how we might design an assistive application to support emotion regulation in noise-sensitive children. In this work in progress, we present the initial findings of two pilot co-design sessions and considerations for conducting co-design sessions with children who are noise sensitive.

Access to and understanding one's medical history is crucial to maintaining long-term care. As adolescents and young adults childhood cancer survivors age, they must transition and transfer their health care from their pediatric to an adult care institution. In this study, we provide empirical evidence reporting on the after-cancer treatment experiences of childhood cancer survivors through their transition. We report findings from 24 semi-structured interviews with adolescent and young adult cancer survivors participating in a childhood cancer survivorship program that prepares them for adult care. Our findings reveal three parts of their after-cancer treatment experience: the assumption of responsibility for their complex care needs and medical information and the overall transfer and maintenance of the continuity of their care to an adult clinician. Our findings suggest that survivors may play an essential yet unrecognized role in the patient hand-off. Thus, we introduce patient-mediate handoffs and suggest design opportunities.

Digital food journaling can support personal goals, such as weight loss and developing healthy eating behaviors. However, traditional manual tracking demands great effort, often leading to lapses or abandonment. We explore opportunities for journaling with multiple input modalities and devices, leveraging people's daily interactions with a range of technologies. We report on an extended analysis of 15 participants' experiences with ModEat, a prototype supporting journaling with several input modalities on phone, computer, and voice assistants. Participants' modality and device preferences were largely influenced by their goals, but they frequently deviated from those preferences depending on device availability, perceived affordances, and characteristics of foods eaten. Participants rarely combined input modalities in entries, but some described that doing so allowed for more detailed journaling or serve as a placeholder for later. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of multimodal tracking and potential strategies for improving interactions.

Children with ADHD can experience a wide variety of challenges related to self-regulation, which can lead to poor educational, health, and wellness outcomes. Technological interventions, such as mobile and wearable health systems, can support data collection and reflection about health status. However, little is known about how ADHD children interpret such data. We conducted a deployment study with 10 children, aged 10 to 15, for six weeks, during which they used a smartwatch in their homes. Results from observations and interviews during this study indicate that children with ADHD can interpret their own health data, particularly at the moment. However, as ADHD children develop more autonomy, smartwatch systems may require alternatives for data reflection that are interpretable and actionable for them. This work contributes to the scholarly discourse around health data visualization, particularly in considering implications for the design of health technologies for children with ADHD.

Adolescent and young adult childhood cancer survivors experience health complications, late or long-term biomedical complications, as well as economic and psychosocial challenges that can have a lifelong impact on their quality-of-life. As childhood cancer survivors transition into adulthood, they must learn to balance their identity development with demands of everyday life and the near- and long-term consequences of their cancer experience, all of which have implications for the ways they use existing technologies and the design of novel technologies. In this study, we interviewed 24 childhood cancer survivors and six caregivers about their cancer survivorship experiences. The results of our analysis indicate that the challenges of transitioning to adulthood as a cancer survivor necessitate the development and management of multiple societal, relational, and personal boundaries, processes that social computing technologies can help or hinder. This paper contributes to the empirical understanding of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors’ social experiences. We further contribute sociotechnical design provocations for researchers, designers, and community members to support survivors.