I Participate, Therefore We Benefit: Ubuntu as a Relational Compass for Ethical Compensation in HCICompensation in HCI research is often the primary ethical interface between HCI researchers and low-income communities. Yet, prevailing models of compensation can perpetuate neocolonial extraction and frame participation as transactional labor. This practice risks creating dependency and obscuring power imbalances, ultimately compromising both research integrity and participant dignity. Drawing on the experiences of researchers working in Africa and the southern African philosophy of Ubuntu, this paper employs a decolonial lens to critique the research economy of participation and compensation. We propose a framework for relational compensation, which re-imagines compensation not as payment for data but as a form of restorative justice and relational accountability. Through analytic vignettes, we examine tensions around community-researcher interdependency, gendered care burdens, and community solidarity. We conclude with principles for relational research economies that prioritize communal benefit, long-term data sovereignty, and co-designed terms of engagement, offering HCI a path toward reciprocal praxis.2026JFJaydon Farao et al.University of Cape TownTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)Empowerment of Marginalized GroupsCHI
Collectively Reimagining Artificial Intelligence With Marginalized CommunitiesAs artificial intelligence continues to advance, marginalized communities, particularly in Africa, remain limited in their ability to shape what AI should do, how it should be built, and how it might benefit them. This study adopted a speculative co-design approach with participants from Ocean View, a low-income community in South Africa. The aim was to elicit and facilitate collective visions to reimagine the future of AI and explore ways to make AI technologies more culturally relevant. Our findings reveal participants’ perceptions about AI, which informed a collective vision of AI designs that embed the community's local language and culture as well as services aimed at improving the community’s economic opportunities. Based on these insights, we identified directions for ethical AI design for marginalized communities that recognise and preserve cultural identity, needs for affordable AI designs, and the potential of AI for their socio-economic advancement as trajectories within AI research.2026RORachel Oluwatuyi et al.University of Cape TownDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)AI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityInclusive DesignCHI
From Periphery to Presence: Authorship, Venues, and Education in African HCIHCI in Africa is growing yet fragmented and underrepresented globally. We map 2002–2024 activity via a bibliometric scan of 500+ papers (~300 venues) and an institutional survey in 11 countries, situating results by population, connectivity, and policy readiness, and including work outside HCI labels (e.g., NGOs, tech hubs). We find a post-2020 rise in Africa-led publications and sharper venue stratification: mainstream venues feature mixed teams, while local outlets host much Africa-centered work; teaching shows strong pockets amid capacity, resource, and curriculum constraints. We contribute (1) a continent-scale, context-aware map of authorship and venues; (2) design provocations beyond expansionist logics; and (3) actionable steps for reviewers, venues, and institutions, supported by an open corpus and interactive dashboard.2026HEHouda Elmimouni et al.University of ManitobaDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)Participatory DesignUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)CHI
Building a Digital Ecosystem for Community-Based Rehabilitation: Insights from a Multi-Platform Social Media Strategy in ThailandAccess to rehabilitation services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains critically limited due to inadequate infrastructure, financial constraints, and shortages of trained professionals. Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) addresses these gaps by involving patients, families, and local stakeholders, yet its effectiveness is hindered by resource challenges. Digital technologies, particularly social media platforms, offer promising opportunities to extend CBR’s reach, but their potential remains underexplored in LMIC contexts. This study investigates the design and implementation of a digitally delivered CBR intervention in rural Chiang Mai, Thailand, leveraging Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and LINE to disseminate rehabilitation resources. Using participatory workshops with stakeholders, we identified critical needs and developed video content tailored to local contexts. The intervention’s performance was evaluated through platform analytics, revealing insights into engagement and user interaction. Our findings provide actionable design recommendations for scalable, inclusive digital CBR solutions, addressing gaps in accessibility, content delivery, and stakeholder engagement.2025ANAcarima Nanthanasit et al.Special Education TechnologyCommunity Engagement & Civic TechnologyDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)DIS
Understanding How Parents Deal With the Health Advice They Receive: A Qualitative Study and Implications for the Design of Message-based Health Dissemination Systems for Child HealthMessage-based health information dissemination systems can potentially improve maternal and child health (MCH). By conveying health information to parents, SMS- and chatbot-based systems can support parents’ learning and empower them to make better health decisions for their children. However, there is limited design advice for creating message-based dissemination systems for MCH. To help address this gap, we conducted 14 participatory workshops with 42 parents from Portugal and South Africa, exploring how parents learned to care for their children’s health. Our findings showed how parents reflected on the health advice they received, by assessing the fit of the advice to their child’s characteristics, their values and beliefs, the advice’s feasibility, or the intention and competence of the advice giver. Based on these insights, we propose four design implications for creating message-based health information dissemination systems tailored to parents and their children.2024BFBeatriz Félix et al.Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC)Special Education TechnologyMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesDIS
Reconsidering Priorities for Digital Maternal and Child Health: Community-centered Perspectives from South AfricaEspecially in developing regions, parents are rarely given a direct voice in the design of digital maternal and child health (MCH) interventions. Instead, MCH needs and requirements are driven by organizations and health workers. In this research, we engage with both rural and urban parents and community leaders to better understand their challenges and priorities for digital MCH and propose a parent-centered agenda for human-computer interaction research. This paper reports on the community-based, digital MCH priorities identified in our research and describes how we approached community discourse and co-design of digital initiatives for these priorities, through parent-centered workshops with low-resource South African communities. Furthermore, we provide the parent-centred design opportunities and tensions we discovered for digital MCH in South African contexts, such as designing for local contexts and languages, designing for accessibility and connectedness, and highlighting the underdeveloped digital MCH niches to design for. Finally, we highlight the importance of facilitators for co-design workshops, such as using intermediaries and design cards.2023TCToshka Coleman et al.CSCW Across BordersCSCW
Research Ethics RoundtableAn ongoing challenge within CSCW research communities is understanding research ethics’ norms and expectations as our methods and technologies evolve. This panel provides an annual opportunity to interface with SIGCHI’s research ethics committee, which advises SIGCHI reviewers on changing norms in HCI and social computing research ethics. Although the panel is open to questions about research ethics and the broad work of the committee, this year, we will have a particular focus on research power and voice.2020MDMelissa Densmore et al.Research Ethics RoundtableCSCW
Exploring Co-design with Breastfeeding MothersDesigning mobile applications for breastfeeding mothers can be challenging; creating spaces to foster co-design – when a mother’s primary focus is on her child rather than on design activities - is even more so. In this paper we discuss the development of the Milk Matters mobile application, a tool developed to motivate women to donate their surplus breast milk to the local milk bank. We look at the importance of different approaches to understanding the mothers, comparing workshops, surveys, and cultural probes. Through our work we identify three factors to consider when co-designing with and for mothers: 1) interrupted interactions 2) elements that might distract a baby and 3) the importance of empowering mothers through positive reinforcement. Based on these factors we examine our methodological approaches, suggesting ways to make future research with breastfeeding mothers more productive.2018CWChelsea-Joy Wardle et al.University of Cape TownEarly Childhood Education TechnologyParticipatory DesignCHI
Research Ethics for HCI: A Roundtable DiscussionAn ongoing challenge within the HCI research community is the development of community norms for research ethics in the face of evolving technology and methods. Building upon a successful town hall meeting at CHI 2017, this panel will include members of the SIGCHI Research Ethics Committee, but will be structured to facilitate a roundtable discussion and to collect input about current challenges and processes. The panel will pose open questions and invite audience discussion of best practices focused on issues such as cultural and disciplinary differences in ethical norms. There will also be discussion of how ethical issues are handled in SIGCHI paper submission and reviews, processes for how we might create and disseminate ethics resources, and regulatory issues such as the recent IRB changes for U.S. institutions.2018CFCasey Fiesler et al.University of ColoradoResearch Ethics & Open ScienceCHI