Workshop at IndiaHCI 2023 on Nov 23rd from 1.30pm-5pm IST

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into all things technical, there is increasing concern over its lack of diversity, inclusiveness, and accessibility. However, questions such as what it means for AI to be accessible and inclusive, why is inclusive AI required, and how can it be achieved, is an emerging area of research. For researchers interested in or working on these topics, it is important to collaboratively discuss, consider, and collect their methodological tools and experiences – taking stock of what works and what doesn’t. Therefore, we propose a half-day workshop (4 hours) at IndiaHCI 2023 conference where we invite participants explore various tools and methods on designing ethical, inclusive, and accessible AI. Participants will utilize these methods and tools during the workshop, gaining hands-on experience that they can use in their own research and studies in the future for ethical and inclusive technology design. Our method repertoire consists of hands-on Generative AI tasks, speculative and critical design, games for critical AI literacy, and applications for accessible AI. Participants are also welcome to bring in their own methods and tools (as discussed in a pre-workshop meeting).

Objectives

  • Reflect on previous work on Ethical, Inclusive, and Accessible AIAI, through expert presentations by the workshop moderators.
  • Working in small groups, explore one methodological approach:
    • Speculative and critical design
    • Games and critical design / literacy
    • Hands-on tasks and tools, such as ChatGPT, and other generative AI tools
    • User study with an accessible AI application
  • Discussing the experience of the methods in the larger group and creating a combined method repertoire – what works, when, how, why, or why not.

Schedule

The workshop is 4 hours long,  and divided into three parts:

Part 1 (45mins): Introduction to the workshop and agenda, two expert presentations on AIAI.

Part 2 (90 mins): Participants break into smaller groups based on the methods / tool they would like to explore (the list is shared during the workshop and participants can pick any method). For each method / tool, there will be one moderator who conducts a hands-on session and participants experience the method- taking notes on their experiences of the method. For instance, one group will play a game using ChatGPT to solve a problem and consider how well this method supports the exploration of the ethical issues with regards to ChatGPT. All materials for the groups will be provided by the group moderator.

Part 3 (45mins): In the larger group, a moderator goes through each method / group one by one with participants sharing their experiences. The moderator then complies a list of strengthens and weakness for each method/ tool. Participants are invited to reflect on the methods and their experience post workshop, and to co-analyse the methods for a publication.

Expected outcomes

During the workshop, we will create a methods toolkit for designing ethical AI – and collect experiences from the participants on the methods they explore / utilize during the workshop in small groups. After the workshop, we will plan to publish our findings to relevant HCI venues, targeting IndiaHCI 2024. This workshop extends our previous work on researchers’ toolbox for the future and is a part of a project on Accessible and Inclusive AI.

Organizers

Sumita Sharma is a post-doc researcher at the INTERACT Research Unit at the University of Oulu. Her research work focuses on designing inclusive and collaborative technology for marginalized users.

PhD candidate Priyanka Sebastian is exploring how 6G technologies can create an impact in education and schooling through hands-on workshops with students and teachers in India and Finland.

Marianne Kinnula is an Associate Professor of human-centred design and digitalization in INTERACT Research Unit in University of Oulu. Her research focus is on how technology changes our everyday lives in many ways, at society level, organizational level, as well as at individual level.

Netta Iivari is a Professor in Information Systems and research unit leader of INTERACT Research Unit in University of Oulu. Her research addresses critical design, critical Making, empowerment, and inclusion.

Biju Thankachan is a doctoral candidate in Interactive Technology at Tampere University, Finland. His research focuses on designing and developing interactive solutions for emergent and remote users.

Sama Rahman is a master’s student at Tampere University, and through her research work she is exploring the use AI in sign language detection working with children with special needs.

Markku Turunen is a professor of Interactive Technology in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University, Finland (TAU). He is leading a research group on Pervasive Interaction and a M.Sc. programme on Sustainable Digital Life. Recently, he established with his colleagues a research and education unit on accessibility entitled “TACCU - TACCU –Tampere Accessibility Unit” (https://research.tuni.fi/taccu/).

Krishnashree Achuthan is the Dean of Post Graduate Programs at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Prema Nedungadi is Director of AmritaCREATE, an award-winning, research center that focuses on multidisciplinary research at the intersection of Computer Science, Education, Social Sciences. Amrita has a strong emphasis on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and an active Live-in-Labs®program (experiential learning), Cybersecurity Systems and Networks and Next Generation Amrita Technology Business Incubator. Amrita’s core vision lies in providing education for life grounded in intellectual social responsibility through compassion driven research that will translate into a positive global impact.

Vaishnavi Shrivastava is BE, Computer Science student at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, and is currently exploring the possibilities of generative AI for Gen Z through a gamified approach to critical AI literacy.

Dipanjan Chakraborty is an Assistant Professor at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. He completed his PhD from IIT Delhi and his research focuses on HCI and ICTD, specifically on building technology tools that improves the engagement between the citizens and the government. He has also built and deployed IVR tools that let citizens communicate to the government their perception around welfare schemes, easily access scheme related data and flag anomalous data, and connect to civil society volunteers who work to resolve grievance filed by the citizens.

Charu Monga is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her research interests include communication, digital media, animation, cultural construction, and designing for children. Her current research focuses on investigating virtualization techniques to promote cultural construction towards educational areas.

Grace Eden is an independent researcher. She conducts teaching and research with a focus on interaction design and user experience, and human-centered AI, to understand the effects of technology on human behaviour, communication, and social interaction.