University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Outlining a design justice-based social media website for university students in the age of COVID-19

Yingying Han; Daniela M. Markazi; Samual Narang

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114351

Description

Title
Outlining a design justice-based social media website for university students in the age of COVID-19
Author(s)
  • Yingying Han
  • Daniela M. Markazi
  • Samual Narang
Issue Date
2021-11-08
Keyword(s)
design justice, website design, FERPA, color blind, COVID-19
Abstract
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) discontinued in-person classes in favor of online instruction since March 2020 due to COVID-19. Some students were displaced from their dormitories and expected to continue their study as usual, remotely. The sudden shift to online courses was challenging on many levels to university students who have experienced the logistical and emotional upheaval of the abrupt disruption. In such a scenario, to help students keep updated with campus information and be connected with the student community, this project aims to design a social media website which serves the UIUC student community to be updated with campus information and stay connected during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with six participants, the researchers brainstormed their information needs for the website. Meanwhile, the researchers had deep and ongoing reflections on how their racial and cultural backgrounds can impact the design process. In order to design a more inclusive website, at the current stage of the study, this project mainly focuses on building a FERPA-compliant and user-with-color-blindnessfriendly website. A preliminary literature review was conducted. The researchers had a comprehensive survey of the works published relating to FERPA-compliant website design and optimization of a website for/with users who are color blind. The review provides the foundation for the follow-up prototype of both the user interface and system infrastructure. Finally, the researchers demonstrated how current study is limited and how future participatory study is planned to address those limitations.
Series/Report Name or Number
19th CIRN Conference 2021: COMMUNITIES, TECHNOLOGY AND THIS MOMENT
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114351
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114351

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