Title: Communication about sensors and communication through sensors: localizing the Internet of Things in rural communities
Abstract Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks are an emerging technology at the center of the datafication and optimization of far-reaching environmental infrastructures—from “smart cities” to workplace efficiencies. However, this low-power, low-cost technology is also well suited to local deployments in rural communities, which are often overlooked by digital development initiatives. Therefore, we used a social construction of technology approach to study how various U.S.-based IoT stakeholders—including designers and advocates as well as citizen stakeholders—understand and value sensor network technologies. Through observational methods, in-depth interviews, and participatory design research in a rural Upstate New York municipality, we worked to design sensor networks with rural community members to generate data about and for community members to further local knowledge. We found that designing rural sensor networks requires stakeholders to navigate obstacles of communication about sensors and communication through sensors to facilitate secure, ethical, and localized sensing in rural communities. more »« less
Özkul, Didem; Halegoua, Germaine R; Wilken, Rowan; Humphreys, Lee
(, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication)
Özkul, Didem; Halegoua, Germaine R; Wilken, Rowan; Humphreys, Lee
(Ed.)
Abstract This special issue examines mediated communication through the rise of sensors. Sensors are increasingly in the phones we carry, in the cars we drive, and throughout the homes and communities in which we live. In this introduction to the special issue, we define sensor-mediated communication (SMC) and argue the embedded, automatic, and datafied nature of sensors belie the glitches and biases in sensor mechanisms, networks, and infrastructure. The collection of articles in this issue explores SMC across a variety of contexts and cases, including municipal infrastructure, community, health, industry, and the domestic. They represent studies of voice assistants, self-tracking apps, self-driving cars, fitness games, home health care, as well as municipal sensor networks in urban, indigenous, and rural communities. Across them all we see the different ways through which mediated communication is initiated, transformed, and maintained by sensing technologies. Together they represent an important evolution in the study of computer-mediated communication.
Greenlee, Eric; Rothrock, Blaine; Kim, Hyeonwook; Zegura, Ellen; Hester, Josiah
(, ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies)
Current environmental challenges have profound local consequences and often benefit from the collection of fine-grained microclimate data. Advances in wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things have led to technologies nominally suited to support remote sensing; however, in practice long-running deployments of in-field environmental sensors are rare. Field conditions are often remote and culturally sensitive, with limited power, Internet, transportation, and human infrastructure; advances in device technology alone will not suffice. We ask how communities, Internet of Things researchers, government, and other interested parties can work together to co-design useful, low burden, sustainability-focused infrastructure. Toward this end, we conducted 11 semi-structured interviews with 13 experts who use or rely on environmental sensing technology. To complement our interview data, we engaged in three months of participant observation while immersed in organizations specifically working toward manoomin (wild rice) conservation. We make two primary contributions. First, we confirm and enrich a five-stage model, the microclimate sensor lifecycle, focusing on desired features and persistent challenges. Second, we outline a space for co-design of microclimate sensors with emphasis on the cost of experience, the generally unaddressed issue of technical usability in the messy field, and the opportunity for community engagement to improve technical design and outcomes. Furthermore, we discuss future design opportunities, recommendations, and challenges in the microclimate sensor design, deployment, and sustainability space.
Luehmann, April; Zhang, Yang; Boyle, Heather; Tulbert, Eve; Merliss, Gena; Sullivan, Kyle
(, Journal of Research in Science Teaching)
Abstract We find ourselves at a time when the need for transformation in science education is aligning with opportunity. Significant science education resources, namely the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework, need an intentional aim of centering social justice for minoritized communities and youth as well as practices to enact it. While NGSS and AST provide concrete guidelines to support deep learning, revisions are needed to explicitly promote social justice. In this study, we sought to understand how a commitment to social justice, operationalized through culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, Culturally sustaining pedagogies and our futures.The Educational Forum, 2021; 85, pp. 364–376), might shape the AST framework to promote more critical versions of teaching science for equity. Through a qualitative multi‐case study, we observed three preservice teacher teams engaged in planning, teaching, and debriefing a 6‐day summer camp in a rural community. Findings showed that teachers shaped the AST sets of practices in ways that sustained local culture and addressed equity aims: anchoring scientific study in phenomena important to community stakeholders; using legitimizing students' stories by both using them to plan the following lessons and as data for scientific argumentation; introducing local community members as scientific experts, ultimately supporting a new sense of pride and advocacy for their community; and supporting students in publicly communicating their developing scientific expertise to community stakeholders. In shaping the AST framework through culturally sustaining pedagogy, teachers made notable investments: developing local networks; learning about local geography, history, and culture; building relationships with students; adapting lessons to incorporate students' ideas; connecting with community stakeholders to build scientific collaborations; and preparing to share their work publicly with the community. Using these findings, we offer a justice‐centered ambitious science teaching (JuST) framework that can deliver the benefits of a framework of practices while also engaging in the necessarily more critical elements of equity work.
While post-secondary enrollment rates have increased for all groups over the last 40 years, higher education enrollment, and specifically enrollment in engineering programs, continues to vary based on demographic characteristics. As a result, efforts to spark interest in engineering among PreK-12 underrepresented students have increased substantially in recent years. However, as past work has demonstrated, interest is not always sufficient to help students pursue engineering majors, particularly for rural students. In many rural communities, strong family networks, community values, and local economic drivers often play a significant role in shaping students’ career choices. To account for these contextual factors, this project shifts the focus from individual students to the communities themselves to understand how key stakeholders and organizations support engineering as a major choice. Our research aims to gain a holistic understanding of the rural communities by employing three phases: 1. Focus groups and interviews with undergraduate engineering students from selected rural high schools that are known for producing high numbers of engineering majors. 2. Interviews with key individuals (e.g. teachers, guidance counselors, community leaders) and observations of activities that emerged as salient in Phase 1. 3. Participatory design workshops to share findings from the first two phases and foster creative dialogue among the rural schools and communities. The focus groups and individual interviews conducted in Phase 1 provided a rich understanding of how and why undergraduate students from rural high schools selected engineering as a college major. They also laid the foundation for the second phase of this project, which includes interviews with key members of the students' home communities and observations of programs and/or events that emerged as salient. Data collection for Phase 2 will continue through the Spring 2019 semester and our poster will present high-level insights from the interviews and observations.The findings from this phase will allow us to triangulate students’ perceptions with the perceptions and practices of others and will provide a rich understanding of the goals, attitudes, and experiences of community members who often play a key role in students’ decisions.
D. McNair, Lisa; Nicewonger, Todd; Fritz, Stacey
(, NSF Arctic Data Center)
This study initiated an exploration into how community members, specialists in housing issues, and social scientists might collaborate to address homelessness in Alaska. Through interviews and participant observation of planning meetings and related activities, the researchers are gathering insights from design experts, community organizers, and experts working on urban-rural homelessness in Alaska. This includes gathering information about cold weather design processes and issues facing urban-rural homelessness in Alaska, as well as the identification of possible research questions that can inform the development of a grant application for a multi-year research study. The study includes in-person as well as virtual research activities. Because of geographic distances, the majority of initial research activities were conducted virtually, but in-person field site visits began to take place June 15, 2021, and subsequent trips have taken place from August 2021-onward. These research trips involve site visits, participation in meetings, and in-person interviews when possible. Phase 1: 24 initial interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders about housing insecurity in Alaska and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes interviewees from remote villages, from the Association of Alaskan Housing Authorities (AAHA), homeless advocates, designers, social scientists, engineers, and builders. Topics included myths about homelessness, homeless versus houseless terminology, research organizations, policies, impacts of pandemic, housing needs, and contrasting strategies. Analysis and synthesis with subsequent data is ongoing. 01: policy 02: interview with researcher 03: homelessness - Anchorage - rural communities - data sharing 04: design in rural communities 05: housing shortages in rural communities 06: technical issues in housing - collaborating with rural communities 07: homeless community in Fairbanks 08: history of Cold Climate Housing Research Center 09: design - homelessness - Anchorage 10: homelessness - rural/hub/urban - need for housing design repository 11: homelessness - Nome - Savoonga - designers need to visit villages 12: reverse interview - designer interviews researchers 13: homelessness - Anchorage - Bethel - housing costs 14: homelessness - rural/hub/urban spectrum - subsistence - houseless term 15: homelessness data and Bethel - impacts of pandemic - myths 16: homelessness data and Bethel - impacts of pandemic 17: ISERC (Integrated Security Education and Research Center) research 18: homelessness data and Bethel - CARES Act 19: homelessness data (gaps) and Bethel - CARES Act 20: homelessness data and Bethel 21: designer - public awareness and museum exhibits 22: veterans and community organizer 23: AAHA staff member 24: homelessness - Fairbanks - pandemic impacts on rescue missions Phase 2: 49 additional interviews were conducted with support from NSF funding (NSF 2103356: RAPID: COVID-19, Remote Ethnography, and the Rural Alaskan Housing Crisis). A meta-data description of the participants and topics are attached ('RAPID_interview_list___Descriptions').
Butkowski, Chelsea, Chan, Ngai_Keung, Berniker, Talia, Rodriguez, Alfredo, Schlather, Kenneth, Max_Zhang, K., Humphreys, Lee, and Özkul, ed., Didem. Communication about sensors and communication through sensors: localizing the Internet of Things in rural communities. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 28.5 Web. doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmad005.
Butkowski, Chelsea, Chan, Ngai_Keung, Berniker, Talia, Rodriguez, Alfredo, Schlather, Kenneth, Max_Zhang, K., Humphreys, Lee, & Özkul, ed., Didem. Communication about sensors and communication through sensors: localizing the Internet of Things in rural communities. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 28 (5). https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad005
Butkowski, Chelsea, Chan, Ngai_Keung, Berniker, Talia, Rodriguez, Alfredo, Schlather, Kenneth, Max_Zhang, K., Humphreys, Lee, and Özkul, ed., Didem.
"Communication about sensors and communication through sensors: localizing the Internet of Things in rural communities". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 28 (5). Country unknown/Code not available: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad005.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10445402.
@article{osti_10445402,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Communication about sensors and communication through sensors: localizing the Internet of Things in rural communities},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10445402},
DOI = {10.1093/jcmc/zmad005},
abstractNote = {Abstract Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks are an emerging technology at the center of the datafication and optimization of far-reaching environmental infrastructures—from “smart cities” to workplace efficiencies. However, this low-power, low-cost technology is also well suited to local deployments in rural communities, which are often overlooked by digital development initiatives. Therefore, we used a social construction of technology approach to study how various U.S.-based IoT stakeholders—including designers and advocates as well as citizen stakeholders—understand and value sensor network technologies. Through observational methods, in-depth interviews, and participatory design research in a rural Upstate New York municipality, we worked to design sensor networks with rural community members to generate data about and for community members to further local knowledge. We found that designing rural sensor networks requires stakeholders to navigate obstacles of communication about sensors and communication through sensors to facilitate secure, ethical, and localized sensing in rural communities.},
journal = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
volume = {28},
number = {5},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
author = {Butkowski, Chelsea and Chan, Ngai_Keung and Berniker, Talia and Rodriguez, Alfredo and Schlather, Kenneth and Max_Zhang, K. and Humphreys, Lee and Özkul, ed., Didem},
}
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