The upcoming Supporting At-Risk Users Through Responsible Computing workshop seeks to bring together a diverse group of researchers to discuss the challenges and possible solutions when working with at-risk populations, building frameworks for future research.
CCC is pleased to host this event due to the extensive work done by the organizers in this area. Here are a couple of projects that exemplify the need for this workshop.
Pam Wisniewski – The Double-Edged Sword of Heightened Risks versus Needed Support: Disentangling the Online Experiences of LGBTQ+ Youth
This study found that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience high-risk conversations in private online spaces like direct messages (DMs), including explicit content, harassment, and self-injury discussions. These risks are particularly severe and affect their mental health, with LGBTQ+ youth experiencing higher rates of online harassment, which correlates with increased self-harm behaviors.
Despite the online risks, LGBTQ+ youth often turn to social media as an important source of support, connection, and information about their gender and sexual identities. For many, online spaces provide a sense of community and belonging that may be missing in offline environments. To address these complex challenges, the study concluded that it’s crucial for policymakers and tech companies to create safer online spaces while keeping these supportive resources.
“Since publishing this study, my SocioTechnical Interaction Research (STIR) Lab continues to build a body of evidence-based research on the risks teens face online, as well as proactive ways to create effective interventions to keep them safe online,” Wisniewski said.
Kevin Butler – Examining Interpersonal Discomfort from Continuous Location-Sharing Applications
Continuous location sharing (CLS) applications such as Apple’s Find My, Google Maps, and Life360 are widely used for safety and social convenience. However, these applications have privacy concerns that can be used for control and harm, and a subset of these apps can facilitate stalking and other adversarial behavior. To understand the nature of concerns that users face, a study was performed on 3000 users, 1500 of whom use CLS applications, and surveyed 896 of these users to understand how they used these apps.
The study found that 55 participants identified as having uncomfortable experiences with these apps, and the researchers performed 23 semi-structured interviews with these participants. They found that these experiences could be broadly characterized into three broad and increasingly severe categories of overstepped boundaries, continued discomfort, and lifestyle impacts as a result of location-sharing-related discomfort, grounding their analysis using frameworks of power dynamics and social exchange theory. Based on their interviews and analysis, researchers developed recommendations on modifying location-sharing applications to increase benefits and reduce potential harms.
Stay tuned for more findings after the event!
