Data science (DS) projects often follow a lifecycle that consists of laborious tasks for data scientists and domain experts (e.g., data exploration, model training, etc.). Only till recently, machine learning(ML) researchers have developed promising automation techniques to aid data workers in these tasks. This paper introduces AutoDS, an automated machine learning (AutoML) system that aims to leverage the latest ML automation techniques to support data science projects. Data workers only need to upload their dataset, then the system can automatically suggest ML configurations, preprocess data, select algorithm, and train the model. These suggestions are presented to the user via a web-based graphical user interface and a notebook-based programming user interface. Our goal is to offer a systematic investigation of user interaction and perceptions of using an AutoDS system in solving a data science task. We studied AutoDS with 30 professional data scientists, where one group used AutoDS, and the other did not, to complete a data science project. As expected, AutoDS improves productivity; Yet surprisingly, we find that the models produced by the AutoDS group have higher quality and less errors, but lower human confidence scores. We reflect on the findings by presenting design implications for incorporating automation techniques into human work in the data science lifecycle.

Power blackouts (outages) are a common occurrence in Kenyan households. They affect people's livelihoods, and damage their property (household electrical items). We explore the role of GridAlert-a sensor-based technology we designed-in monitoring power blackouts. We worked with local technicians to design GridAlert's housing and integrate GridAlert with Kenya's electricity infrastructure. Then, we used interview, observation, diary, and data logging methods to understand 18 households' experiences using the system. Our findings provide insights for using sensor-based technology to monitor power usage and blackouts in Kenyan households. We also present participants' thoughts about GridAlert's housing, and about how it influenced their actions when using the system. We use these findings to discuss design insights for power monitoring systems, and to offer new perspectives on the role of technology in monitoring blackouts in Kenyan households.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now automate the algorithm selection, feature engineering, and hyperparameter tuning steps in a machine learning workflow. Commonly known as AutoML or AutoAI, these technologies aim to relieve data scientists from the tedious manual work. However, today's AutoAI systems often present only limited to no information about the process of how they select and generate model results. Thus, users often do not understand the process, neither do they trust the outputs. In this short paper, we provide a first user evaluation by 10 data scientists of an experimental system, AutoAIViz, that aims to visualize AutoAI's model generation process. We find that the proposed system helps users to complete the data science tasks, and increases their understanding, toward the goal of increasing trust in the AutoAI system.

Information communication technologies for development (ICTD) can support people with chronic illnesses living in rural communities. In Kenya, ICTD use in areas where undetected cases of hypertension and high HIV infection rates exist is underexplored. Partnering with a health facility in Migori, Kenya, we report on the uses of technology in managing HIV. We see the use of technology to manage HIV was influenced by the roles and routines of patients and clinicians, trust between practitioners and patients, and sources of data that clinicians use for patient examination. We use these results to inform the design of technologies that can support patients living with comorbid HIV and hypertension, as well as their care providers, to manage their care in similar settings. We also reiterate the important mediatory role that community health volunteers (CHVs) can play in the adoption of technology as patients manage their condition(s) once out of hospital.

Farmers in rural areas of Kenya generally rely on traditional agricultural practices inherited from past generations. However, population increases and climate changes have put pressure on resources such as land and water. These resource pressures have created a need to broaden and expand farming practices. We conducted an exploratory study with farmers in Tharaka Nithi, Kenya to explore their practices, if and how they used ICT, and how the technologies used might be designed to aid their practices, if at all. Overall, our results show that farmers desired more knowledge to enable them apply ICT interventions in ways that improved yields. Farmers were also interested in accessing information on soil fertility, water predictability and market opportunities. These findings suggest opportunities for technology design to support farming practices among rural communities in rural settings. We also articulate social challenges that designers will face when thinking about coming up with such solutions.

The advent of mobile money in Kenya has accelerated the development and deployment of financial inclusion products for the previously unbanked or underbanked population. However, the focus on cash loans to individuals has not been directly matched with an increase in lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that operate in the informal economy. For the majority of SMEs in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa access to lending products as a business remains limited due to high cost associated with risk uncertainty, lack of appraisable collateral, and incompatible loan size. This has resulted in Sub-Saharan Africa having the lowest lending utilizations for SMEs worldwide. In this note we describe a distributed platform aimed at easing the offering of financial products to SMEs by integrating stakeholders in the retail trade sector in Kenya. The note covers the framework of the system and the design criteria used to develop the technology including the utilization of a blockchain backend built on hyperledger fabric and mobile phone applications for stakeholders to engage with system. Lastly, we describe the intended usage and pilot study for deployment and testing of the technology platform.

Mobile devices have begun to raise questions around the potential for overuse when in the presence of family or friends. As such, we conducted a diary and interview study to understand how people use mobile devices in the presence of others at home, and how this shapes their behavior and household dynamics. Results show that family members become frustrated when others do non-urgent activities on their phones in the presence of others. Yet people often guess at what others are doing because of the personal nature of mobile devices. In some cases, people developed strategies to provide a greater sense of activity awareness to combat the problem. Mobile phone usage was sometimes perceived as beneficial by providing a mechanism for needed disengagement from family members. These findings suggest several opportunities for redesigning mobile device software to mitigate emergent frustrations, and open up new opportunities for nurturing social interactions among family members.

Family communication and technology designed to support it is a widely studied topic. However, most research that focuses on family communication in North America tends to assume high degrees of connectivity and Internet access. We present a study of family communication practices in rural and northern areas of Manitoba, Canada where Internet connectivity is intermittent or severely limited in some communities. Our results show the ways in which individuals stay connected with outside relatives can be hampered by communication infrastructure challenges. In particular, these challenges can dictate how, where and how often conversations with loved ones take place. Our results also indicate that these experiences, many of which are negative, can create lasting impressions that may be difficult to alter as infrastructure improves. This suggests opportunities for designing family communication technologies for outdoor locations with better connectivity, scheduling communication during times with better connectivity, and combating social isolation.

Video chat systems such as Skype, Google+ Hangouts, and FaceTime have been widely adopted by family members and friends to connect with one another over distance. We have conducted a corpus of studies that explore how various demographics make use of such video chat systems in which this usage moves beyond the paradigm of conversational support to one in which aspects of everyday life are shared over long periods of time, sometimes in an almost passive manner. We describe and reflect on studies of long-distance couples, teenagers, and major life events, along with design research focused on new video communication systems—the Family Window, Family Portals, and Perch—that explicitly support “always-on video” for awareness and communication. Overall, our findings show that people highly value long-term video connections and have appropriated them in a number of different ways. Designers of future video communication systems need to consider: ways of supporting the sharing of everyday life rather than just conversation, providing different design solutions for different locations and situations, providing appropriate audio control and feedback, and supporting expressions of intimacy over distance.

Much ICTD research for sub-Saharan Africa has focused on how technology related interventions have aimed to incorporate marginalized communities towards global economic growth. Our work builds on this. We present results from an exploratory qualitative study on the family communication practices of family members who communicate both within and between rural, suburban, and urban settings in Kenya. Our findings reveal that family communication focuses on economic support, well-being, life advice, and everyday coordination of activities. We also outline social factors that affect family communication, including being an eldest child, having a widowed sibling, and having reduced access to technology because of gender, literacy, or one's financial situation. Lastly, we discuss new opportunities for technology design and articulate the challenges that designers will face if creating or deploying family communication technologies in Kenya.

Mobile payment services have recently emerged in North America where users pay for items using their smartphones. Yet we have little understanding of how people are making use of them and what successes and challenges they have experienced. As a result, we conducted a diary and interview study of user behaviors, motivations, and first impressions of mobile payment services in North America in order to understand how to best design for mobile payment experiences. Participants used a variety of services, including Google Wallet, Amazon Payments, LevelUp, Square and company apps geared towards payments (e.g., Starbucks). Our findings show that users experience challenges related to mental model development, pre-purchase anxiety and trust issues, despite enjoying the gamification, ease-of-use, and support for routine purchases with mobile payments. This suggests designing a better mobile payment experience through the incorporation of users' routines and behaviors, gamification and trust mechanism development.

Group shopping sites are beginning to rise in popularity amongst eCommerce users. Yet we do not know how or why people are using such sites, and whether or not the design of group shopping sites map to the real shopping needs of end users. To address this, we describe an interview study that investigates the friendship networks of people who participate in group shopping sites (e.g., Groupon) with the goal of understanding how to best design for these experiences. Our results show that group shopping sites are predominently used to support social activities; that is, users do not use them first and foremost to find 'deals'. Instead, group shopping sites are used for planning group activities, extending and building friendships, and constructing one's social identity. Based on these findings, we suggest improved social network integration and impression management tools to improve user experience within group shopping sites.

When a patient has a chronic illness, such as heart disease or cancer, it can be challenging for distributed family members to stay aware of the patient's health status. A variety of technologies are available to support health information sharing (e.g., phone, video chat, social media), yet we still do not have a detailed understanding of which technologies are preferred and what challenges people still face when sharing information with them. To explore this, we conducted a mixed-method study-involving a survey and in-depth interviews--with people about their health information sharing routines and preferences for different technologies. Regardless of physical distance between distributed family members, synchronous methods of communication afforded the opportunity to provide affective support while asynchronous methods of communication were deemed to be the least intrusive. With family members adopting certain roles during the treatment of chronic illnesses, our findings suggest the need to design tools that mediate sharing health information across distance and age gaps, with consideration to respecting patient privacy while sharing health information.

This workshop explores the future of personal video communications where systems and designs move beyond supporting conversations to a new design paradigm consisting of shared activities and experiences between distance-separated family and friends.