Ria is a fourth-year PhD student, researching at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the School of Information. His research focuses on community-based, participatory design practices to forefront multi-marginalized experiences in socio-technical contexts. They use embodiment as a key framework to challenge harmful techno-hegomonies and systems in technology.

Hana is a second-year PhD student in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Using participatory design methods centered around queer experiences of intimate partner violence, she investigates technology's role in both help-seeking behavior and the perpetration of abuse.

Soyoun Jang is a PhD candidate in Digital Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research expands historical approaches to speculative design through methods drawing on media studies and media archaeology, foregrounding continuities, forgotten trajectories, and alternative pasts/presents to inform sustainable and inclusive design futures.

MinYoung Yoo is a PhD candidate in the Homeware Lab at Simon Fraser University. Min’s research investigates blind people’s reminiscence experiences, engaging with participants in a 7-year participatory design process. Min is also interested in practicing a more reciprocal co-design process and sharing research outcomes beyond written publications and academic boundaries through Alternative Research Outcomes (AROs). 

Angela D. R. Smith is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information. Her research in Human-Computer Interaction examines how critical and intersectional frameworks can inform participatory, assets-based technology design with historically marginalized communities, centering questions of power, empowerment, ethics, and social justice.

Sam is a PhD student in the Homeware Lab at Simon Fraser University. He is a design researcher, interested in how speculative methods can support the development of critical data literacies.

Alesandra is a PhD student in Human-Centered Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She partners with local organizations to investigate the intersection between technology, mutual aid, and activism in Latine communities and activist organizations in Atlanta. 

Jay D. Bolter is the author of several books in media studies, including Remediation (1999), with Richard Grusin and RealityMedia with Maria Engberg and Blair MacIntyre (2021). Bolter is also the Director of the Augmented Environments Lab and works with colleagues and students on the design of augmented and mixed reality experiences for cultural heritage, informal education, and expression and entertainment.

Gabriela Marcu is an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. Her research focuses on improving the role of technology in fostering social connection and community, especially among marginalized populations. She has used participatory design for promoting behavioral and mental health. 

Kentaro Toyama is W. K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. His research focuses on digital technology and its relationship to community development, research he could not do without the participation of partner communities.