Principal Investigator
Associate Prof. Arvind Satyanarayan, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science; Prof. Graham Jones, Anthropology
Fund:
Education Innovation Funds
Funding Period:
AY2026
Department/Lab/Center:
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
We propose to spend this summer developing a team-taught subject, Humane User Experience (UX) Design, that will be piloted next fall as a special subject and then offered annually as a regular subject. Bridging our fields, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Cultural Anthropology, the course will teach students the end-to-end process of user experience design starting with using qualitative research methods such as ethnography and semi-structured interviewing to develop design decisions grounded in human subjects’ data, and then seeing these decisions through to the technical considerations and implementation of visual and interactive user experiences. This holistic approach to “humane design” offers a richer and more deeply integrated framework for ethics, particularly when it comes to culturally relevant and socially aware technology.