HCI Designer, Trans Tech Researcher, and Educator

Trans Technologies is an emerging field focused on how technology is designed, built, and used to support trans individuals and communities. Oliver Haimson’s interviews with over 100 Trans Tech creators show that most tools are made by independent creators and activists with limited resources, and only about 19% draw on HCI methods. Without grounding in established design frameworks and critical theories, these tools risk reproducing harms, such as reinforcing transnormative assumptions or excluding trans people of color, disabled trans people, and nonbinary individuals. Because many creators work outside academia, the methods and theories of HCI often stay out of reach of the people who need them most. This work presents a theoretical framework for Trans Tech at the intersection of HCI, Feminist, Queer, and Decolonial theories that centers diverse trans experiences and community expertise, with a focus on Afro-Latin Decolonial theories to make resources accessible to creators working outside traditional academic contexts.

This project builds on survey findings from 52 transmasculine participants about how they seek sexual education. Participants reported low trust in school curricula and medical practitioners and relied on peers, romantic partners, and online media instead. Few technologies currently provide sexual education that reflects transmasculine bodies and experiences. Building on these findings, this follow-up study conducts an Asynchronous Remote Community (ARC) with 20 transmasculine participants through Microsoft Teams to explore their experiences, perspectives, and design preferences for a sexual education tool. The goal is to inform the design of a platform that combines educational rigor with community perspectives.

Lex is a queer-owned and -operated social networking app where users post personal ads for friendship, dating, tasks, and other local connections. During development, founder Kel Rakowski faced scrutiny for overlooking queer people of color and promised features such as a QPOC-only filter, which was never implemented. In September 2024, the mobile app conglomerate 9count acquired Lex, signaling a shift from an independent, community-driven network toward Rainbow or Trans Capitalism through venture-capital funding. These changes raise the need to study the experiences of Lex users who are trans people of color, especially in the Midwest, where queer and trans resources are limited. We interviewed 10 TPOC users in the Midwest to understand how Lex’s changing governance, design priorities, and unfulfilled promises shape their experiences, and what these shifts suggest about the platform’s trajectory as a queer social media space.

Trans Technologies research explores how technology can support trans individuals, but few technologies provide sexual education for trans bodies. Trans people often struggle to find relevant and accurate sexual education because U.S. curricula focus mostly on cisgender and heterosexual experiences. This study examines the transmasculine community’s experiences with sexual education, both in person and online. We surveyed 52 transmasculine participants about how they seek sexual education, which sources they trust, and which features they want in a trans-focused platform, and found low trust in school curricula and medical practitioners, with participants relying on peers, romantic partners, and online media instead. Based on these findings, the paper calls for trans-focused sexual education platforms that combine educational rigor with community perspectives.

Trans people of color have historically been silenced in white trans spaces for not fitting transnormativity, the typical white, binary, skinny, and privileged image of trans people, and for raising concerns about race, culture, and ethnicity. Online communities support trans people, but TPOC need more support to combat systemic oppression and discrimination while navigating their cultural backgrounds. We used the Reddit API to collect 145 posts and 2,867 comments containing “people of color” or “POC” from r/ftm, r/mtf, r/trans, and r/Non-Binary, and thematic analysis produced three themes: alienation, support, and existing in physical spaces. Posts showed that TPOC feel overshadowed by white trans individuals online and want to connect with other TPOC both online and in person. We propose design recommendations for Reddit and subreddit moderators to grow TPOC networks, improve communication between users and moderators, and center POC voices.

Asynchronous Remote Communities (ARC) is a versatile research method that has grown in use since its introduction to the HCI community in 2016. Especially useful for engaging underrepresented populations, the ARC method engages participants in a remote, online space through activities over a period of time, often encouraging social interactions and community-building among participants. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current state of ARC by reviewing 33 unique studies published in 40 papers that adopted this method. Our evaluation includes an in-depth account of the justifications for using ARC, study designs and activities, analytical approaches, and participants’ demographics. Additionally, we reflect on activity selection, study preparation, and platform selection. We identify existing gaps in the current literature and provide recommendations to support the further development of ARC studies.

The legality of abortion in the United States of America is rapidly shifting, creating a nebulous, challenging context for pro-choice abortion activists. In this in-progress work, we align ourselves with pro-choice activism as "academic accomplices" and investigate the technological habits and needs of pro-choice activists in the conservative US state of Indiana. To date, we have conducted 14 design interviews with potential / current pro-choice activists in Bloomington, Indiana, and have designed a cultural probe to examine the role of technology in pro-choice activism. We aim to understand the challenges of pro-choice activism and opportunities for supportive technology.

Families can facilitate beneficial discussions on healthy eating, and in so doing provide important support for each other's health habits. However, distance, e.g., an adult child moving away, makes this interchange more challenging. In this paper, we introduce Cooking Stories, a research tool designed to investigate how the sharing of cooking experiences between remote families can be supported by HCI researchers. We conducted an IRB approved interview study with five participants between the ages of 20-67. Preliminary findings indicated that Cooking Stories addressed sharing barriers that study participants had experienced in previous systems. Based upon our participants’ engagement with the Cooking Stories prototype, we identified three themes: focusing on cooking experiences, incorporating cooking processes, and emphasizing familial community. We discuss the potential for these themes to be expounded upon by future work, in order to better support the sharing of full cooking experiences between distanced family members.