Children bring a distinct and underexplored perspective to questions about how robots could add meaning to everyday life. We report on a participatory design workshop with 14 children, from Innovators for Purpose (iFp), an afterschool program primarily catering to underrepresented groups in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). We used personal photo probes and a scaffolded speculative design process to elicit and capture how children imagine robots adding value to their everyday lives. Introducing the concept of robots only after participants had articulated their values and challenges, we captured their robot concepts grounded in their everyday experiences. The imagined robots concepts fell within four categories: (1) automating tasks associated with hobbies, (2) fostering environmental stewardship, (3) enhancing educational experiences, and (4) enforcing digital well-being. We illustrate the process of constructing these themes and uncover the values animating these designs. We discuss how the values may conflict and be negotiated, and the reflexive nature of imagining robots as part of everyday life. We contribute a methodology for eliciting value-based speculative design with children and discuss how children imagine future technology.

While HCI scholarship has investigated how Muslim women navigate their menstruation experiences, there remains a limited understanding of how early menstrual education is sought and shaped by religious upbringing, rulings, and values. Drawing on empirical data from the Asynchronous Remote Communities (ARC) method, we investigate how 14 menstruating cisgender Muslim adults in the US constructed and navigated their understanding of menstrual education. Using menarche (first menstruation) as a probe, we unpack the information they received, the gaps that persisted, and the influence of religious upbringing and narratives on their learning. We found that Muslim women gradually refine their early knowledge of menstruation and rely on social and religious support networks to navigate its implications within religious practice. Building on these insights, we present design implications and opportunities to foster menarche education and contribute to the development of robust, supportive, and religiously aligned menstrual information ecosystems.

Managing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is a significant challenge for pregnant individuals. Constant self-monitoring, emotional burden, and the short and long-term implications of GDM make the overall pregnancy experience challenging for these individuals, requiring action, learning, and lifestyle adjustment to manage the pregnancy properly. Prior literature on GDM mostly focuses on the medical and health management of the condition. However, pregnant individuals with GDM often must actively learn and adapt lifestyle strategies quickly without much support. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 pregnant individuals diagnosed with GDM, we investigate how these individuals experience, explore, learn, and reflect on ways to live with and manage GDM. Using Kolb’s Learning Theory to analyze and structure our findings, we built on pregnant individuals’ concrete lived experiences and uncovered the challenges as they navigate the GDM journey, managing their changing relationship with food and supporting emotional well-being while living with an often stigmatized condition in an at-risk pregnancy. Our study contributes to the discussion on the design opportunities to facilitate experiential learning of pregnant individuals’ journey.

Personal Informatics (PI) tools are crucial in helping individuals monitor their physical health, mental health, and overall well-being. Many Muslim women use multiple PI tools to support their religious and spiritual well-being alongside their health. We investigate the religious and health-tracking practices of Muslim women living in the United States during the month of Ramadan. We conducted a month-long diary study and semi-structured interviews with nine (9) Muslim women observing Ramadan. Through this research, we uncover their motivations for tracking, discover the complex interplay between their social roles and religious practices, and identify conflicts arising from competing objectives (tracking their spiritual and physical health). Our findings contribute insights into the inclusive design of Personal Informatics tools tailored to the needs of Muslim women of faith and provide a call to the research community to expand tracking technologies to include aspects that support religious health and wellness. We discuss design considerations for supporting Muslim women during Ramadan and beyond.

The widespread adoption of menstrual tracking applications has garnered much attention with recent research focusing on inclusive design. However, existing literature has yet to explore the impact of religious practices on menstrual tracking behavior. We investigate the menstrual tracking practices of Muslim women of faith in the United States, a population whose personal reproductive health behaviors are deeply influenced by their faith, values, and religious laws We conducted a three-phase study consisting of preliminary surveys (N=133), semi-structured interviews (N=20), and a post-Roe v. Wade survey (N=77). We highlight motivations for tracking and uncover this overlooked population’s challenges as they engage with menstrual tracking technologies. We reveal an intimate connection between menstrual tracking and religious practices. We uncover challenges from engaging with existing menstrual tracking applications and contribute design recommendations for accommodating faith in the design of health tracking technologies. We amplify a call to action for the HCI community to reduce the "othering" of under-represented populations and to better support the inclusive design of technologies that center religious identities and values for individuals of faith.

Researchers are increasingly facilitating qualitative research studies online. While this has made research more accessible for participation, there have been notable encounters with “fraudulent” participants. By fraudulent, we refer to individuals who are deceptive about meeting the inclusion criteria, their identity, or experiences. Fraudulent participants have generated new challenges for researchers who have to interact 1:1 with these individuals, face ethical dilemmas on appropriate next steps, diagnose and prevent the issue from happening again, and deal with their own identity as a scholar. In this study, we interview 16 HCI researchers to understand and learn from their experiences. We contribute: (1) an understanding of how HCI qualitative researchers deal with fraudulent participants; (2) a guide for qualitative HCI researchers on how to handle fraudulence; and (3) a reflection on how the HCI research community might better improve our science and training efforts.