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1. Examining Mobility Among People Living with HIV in Rural Areas

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445086  

   F. Maestre, Juan ; Dillahunt, Tawanna ; Andrew Theisz, Alec ; Furness, Megan ; Kameswaran, Vaishnav ; Veinot, Tiffany ; C. Shih, Patrick ( May 2021 , Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems)

   The rise of ridesharing platforms has transformed traditional transportation, making it more accessible for getting to work and accessing grocery stores and healthcare providers, which are essential to physical and mental well-being. However, such technologies are not available everywhere. Additionally, there is a scarcity of HCI work that investigates how vulnerable populations such as rural-dwelling people with HIV face and overcome transportation barriers. To extend past research, we conducted 31 surveys and 18 interviews with people living with HIV (22 surveys, 14 interviews) and their case coordinators (9 surveys, 4 interviews) in rural areas. Contrary to past research, we found that the use of alternative vehicles, extensive support networks, and nonprofit health organizations facilitated transportation. However, distance, the lack of trust and infrastructure, stigma, and other cultural underpinnings made popular forms of urban transportation unappealing. We contextualize our findings with prior research and contribute implications for future research and design.
2. Exploring rural food insecurity in North Carolina: Debunking an urban myth

   Mulrooney, T. ; Mulrooney, E. ; McGinn, C. ( April 2022 , Sociation today)

   The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has utilized the term food desert to highlight regions within low-income communities located far from fresh and healthy sources of food such as supermarkets and farmers markets. Most research on food deserts has revolved around urban areas, which bring about other considerations such as sidewalks, pedestrian access, rideshares, and public transportation, typically not viable options in rural regions. Rural food insecurity is also a problem in North Carolina. Utilizing data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Access Atlas, this paper explored if and to what extent rural food insecurity exists, with findings showing 1) a higher percentage of people living in rural areas live in food insecurity compared to non-rural areas 2) counties in the eastern part of the state are more prone to food insecurity and 3) racial, ethnic minorities, as well as the young (age under 17), are more subjected to food insecurity compared to the majority and older cohorts. This research highlights the need for a rigorous and comprehensive understanding of rural food security that transcends the economic, cultural, and sociological reasons of differential food access with long-term health outcomes that have multi-generational consequences.
3. Spatial accessibility to HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services in Illinois and Chicago, USA

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270404  

   Kang, Jeon-Young ; Farkhad, Bita Fayaz ; Chan, Man-pui Sally ; Michels, Alexander ; Albarracin, Dolores ; Wang, Shaowen ( July 2022 , PLOS ONE)

   Rosenbaum, Janet E. (Ed.)

   Accomplishing the goals outlined in “Ending the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Epidemic: A Plan for America Initiative” will require properly estimating and increasing access to HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services. In this research, a computational spatial method for estimating access was applied to measure distance to services from all points of a city or state while considering the size of the population in need for services as well as both driving and public transportation. Specifically, this study employed the enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method to measure spatial accessibility to HIV testing, treatment (i.e., Ryan White HIV/AIDS program), and prevention (i.e., Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis [PrEP]) services. The method considered the spatial location of MSM (Men Who have Sex with Men), PLWH (People Living with HIV), and the general adult population 15–64 depending on what HIV services the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends for each group. The study delineated service- and population-specific accessibility maps, demonstrating the method’s utility by analyzing data corresponding to the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Findings indicated health disparities in the south and the northwest of Chicago and particular areas in Illinois, as well as unique health disparities for public transportationmore »compared to driving. The methodology details and computer code are shared for use in research and public policy.« less
4. The Challenges of Crowd Workers in Rural and Urban America

   Saviaga, C ; Li, Y ; Hanrahan, B ; Bigham, J ; Savage, S. ( January 2020 , Human computation)

   Crowd work has the potential of helping the financial recovery of regions traditionally plagued by a lack of economic opportunities, e.g., rural areas. However, we currently have limited information about the challenges facing crowd workers from rural and super rural areas as they struggle to make a living through crowd work sites. This paper examines the challenges and advantages of rural and super rural Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowd workers and contrasts them with those of workers from urban areas. Based on a survey of 421 crowd workers from differing geographic regions in the U.S., we identified how across regions, people struggled with being onboarded into crowd work. We uncovered that despite the inequalities and barriers, rural workers tended to be striving more in micro-tasking than their urban counterparts. We also identified cultural traits, relating to time dimension and individualism, that offer us an insight into crowd workers and the necessary qualities for them to succeed on gig platforms. We finish by providing design implications based on our findings to create more inclusive crowd work platforms and tools.
5. The Challenges of Crowd Workers in Rural and Urban America

   Saviaga, C ; Li, Y ; Hanrahan, B ; Bigham, J ; Savage, S. ( January 2020 , Human computation)

   Crowd work has the potential of helping the financial recovery of regions traditionally plagued by a lack of economic opportunities, e.g., rural areas. However, we currently have limited information about the challenges facing crowd workers from rural and super rural areas as they struggle to make a living through crowd work sites. This paper examines the challenges and advantages of rural and super rural Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowd workers and contrasts them with those of workers from urban areas. Based on a survey of 421 crowd workers from differing geographic regions in the U.S., we identified how across regions, people struggled with being onboarded into crowd work. We uncovered that despite the inequalities and barriers, rural workers tended to be striving more in micro-tasking than their urban counterparts. We also identified cultural traits, relating to time dimension and individualism, that offer us an insight into crowd workers and the necessary qualities for them to succeed on gig platforms. We finish by providing design implications based on our findings to create more inclusive crowd work platforms and tools.