Analysing research findings
& design ideation
Final Major Project blog 03
Week Commencing 26 August and 2 September
Thematic Analysis
To analyse our research, we used thematic analysis to cluster our insights and reveal our research themes ((Braun and Clarke, 2024; Martin and Hanington, 2018; Goldman et al 2022). We realised some of the themes were our project values, others potential design directions and some we descoped to narrow focus.
Fig. 1 Outcome from affinity mapping
Fig. 2 showing our affinity mapping process and finishing with three sections one on design areas, projects why's and values
Crazy eights and storyboarding
We each selected three themes and used the Crazy Eights method to quickly generate eight ideas (Maguire, 2022). My focus included participatory design with the trans community, enhancing AI datasets to better capture trans experiences, and exploring "Tenderithms vs. algorithms" to reimagine AI. Teddi focused on the everyday lives of trans people and how AI could support. The Crazy Eights exercise helped us transition our research into design concepts. We discussed creating either a critical reflection on AI or a practical tool for the Trans+ community.​
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Two ideas we turned into storyboards to illustrate user interactions and speed-date the ideas with the trans+ community. In design, speed-dating involves quickly introducing target users to a series of imaginative scenarios to explore what they might want in futuristic scenarios (McInnis et al, 2024).
Fig. 3 Storyboard exploring AI datasets as flexible and collaborative digital spaces representing trans, non binary and gender fluid experiences.
Fig. 4 Storyboard exploring AI as a support tool for the trans community. By providing advice and objects.
Readings: Glitch Feminism and Design Justice
We revisited Design Justice by Costanza-Chock (2020), which emphasises viewing the community we design for as co-designers and co-researchers rather than test subjects. This prompted me to reflect on our language and design methods to ensure the trans+ community plays a credited co-design and research role and the process is uplifting for the community. Principles 7 'sharing design knowledge and tools' and 8 'creating sustainable, community-led outcomes' by Design Justice Network (2018) offer a guide for achieving this.
I began reading Legacy Russel Curator and writer’s Glitch Feminism, A Manifesto (2020) which explores how the digital space could be an empowering space to explore gender beyond the binaries established within physical society. They suggest not performing to gender rules is a glitch, a celebrated strategy of non-performance and refusal. They give an example of Lil Miquela 2016 AI created by company Brud which champions LGBTQ experiences. This led me to consider how AI can be used to showcase and celebrate the lives of the trans community.
Reflections
Taking our research into design has led me to consider whether, although AI is the focus of our research, does it needs to be part of our design outcome? I wonder if including AI is deciding our solution without fully exploring alternative directions. However, if we do include AI, we must assess whether it can meet our ambitions for it. It will be interesting to speed-date our ideas with the community, especially those interested in AI. This may help inform these consideration and shape our direction.
Speed-dating and workshop planning
Final Major Project blog 04
Week Commencing 9 September & 16 September
Not a phase interview & speed dating ideas
We interviewed a colleague at Not a Phase a social enterprise for Trans-adults. We reutilised the discussion guide from the Trans in the city interview, adding an opportunity to speed-date our storyboards for feedback.
Fig 5. Discussion guide for interview with Not a Phase
The interview explored how AI is useful for drafting emails and how the community has use it to reimagine themselves at high school. It also highlighted the downside of AI for example, miss-gendering on zoom auto scripts. Feedback on the storyboards were limited, we may need to adapt our facilitation method to make the research more conversational and embody them into the storyboards so people can relate and feel comfortable sharing thoughts.
Fig 6. Figma board with feedback on storyboards
Survey creation and circulation
We revisited the draft survey we had created to explore people experiences with AI. We added a section on how we were storing peoples responses and made the decision to delete all peoples data by January 2025. This was so people could make well informed decisions on participating.​
We also realised only looking at AI may cause us to miss aspects of the trans experience where AI doesn’t play a role. So, we added an additional question to explore meaningful moment in peoples journeys.​
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I worried a survey was not the right approach for the community, so, Teddi asked the Trans in the City network if they could circulate and we received 16 responses, which I look forward to analysing.
Fig. 7 images of survey questions
Trans-forming AI workshops
Furthermore, we’d like to do workshops with the trans community to reimagine AI using physical materials and storytelling.
Whilst we will be using this workshop for our research, we’d like to ensure people get something from it, by creating a fun safe place for our community to connect. To do this we discussed the workshop values and I researched locations which would foster a safe and inclusive space. I reached out to a range of places and we are planning to host at the UAL Post-Grad community, LGBTQ Centre and Common Press.
Fig. 8, 9 & 10 images of the advertisement within the Post-Grad newsletter, LGBTQ Centre Eventbrite and Common Press platform
Readings: Trans as an analytical tool
Robinson and Stones (2024) article on Trans family system frameworks, highlights how the trans experience can be an analytical tool to interrogate and disrupt cisnormative gender practices (Robinson and Stones, 2024). When sharing this with Teddi she reflected this view uplifts the trans community, for if something is ‘enough’ you can use it to analyse something else. Could the Trans experience also be an analytical tool in our research on AI?
The study also suggests, an alternative method for surveys to measure peoples gender, using scales of masculinity and femininity that are not mutually exclusive, so people can rate having high femininity and masculinity. In our survey we chose a tick box method, however, the result may have differed if we chose this approach instead. This Highlighted how our tools of measurement play a role in the research we uncover and to always consider and account for this when analysing research.
References
Braun, V. and Clarke, V (2024) Understanding TA. Available at: https://www.thematicanalysis.net/understanding-ta/(Accessed: 27 November 2024).
Costanza-Chock, S. (2020) Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need. Available at https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12255.001.0001 (Accessed: 27/12/2023).
Design Justice Network (2018) Design Justice Network Principles. Available at: https://designjustice.org/read-the-principles (Accessed: 21/12/2023).
Martin, B. And Hanington, B. (2019) Universal methods of design. Beverly: Rockport Publishers.
Goldman, A., Espinosa, C., Patel, S., Cavuoti, F., Chen, J., Cheng, A., Meng, S., Patil, A., Chilton, L.B. and Morrison-Smith, S., 2022, April. Quad: Deep-learning assisted qualitative data analysis with affinity diagrams. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, pp. 1-7.
McInnis, B.J., Pindus, R., Kareem, D., Gamboa, S. and Nebeker, C., 2024. Exploring the Future of Informed Consent: Applying a Service Design Approach. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW1), pp.1-31.
Robinson, B.A. and Stone, A.L., 2024. Trans family systems framework: Theorizing families' gender investments and divestments in cisnormativity. Journal of Marriage and Family, 86(5), pp.1205-1227.
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Russell, L., 2020. Glitch feminism: A manifesto. Verso Books.