About the Workshop

Background and Motivation

Conducting research with communities who are at risk of being stigmatized can be a challenging endeavor. It is often difficult to reach and recruit individuals for research purposes regarding a stigmatized condition or situation. Yet, researchers in our field have recognized the importance of work in this area and have individually developed a range of strategies to reach, recruit, and work with these populations.

In this sense, a comprehensive discussion about experiences working with stigmatized populations is needed to understand these and other challenges. We need to come together to discuss these in an ongoing manner because of the ever-evolving nature of technology (think of all the scandals related to data use recently,) then specifically hit on how these issues may be even more important to stigmatized populations. Furthermore, while researchers are developing and utilizing various strategies to overcome these challenges, we do not have a set of general "best practices" for working with stigmatized populations specifically in the context of HCI and CSCW.

This workshop will bring researchers and practitioners together to present, discuss, and compare strategies and experiences when working with stigmatized communities in the context of the ever-evolving nature of technology. The organizers of the workshop will certainly share their own experiences, challenges, and lessons! The outcomes of the workshop will include an outline for an article that participants could co-author with the organizers. This article would summarize the strategies and practices discussed as well as highlight approaches that have led to the best outcomes across different populations.

Topics to Be Discussed

The main topics and questions (among others) to be discussed during the workshop are the following:

• Recruitment: What are the current methods used to reach and recruit participants to conduct research with stigmatized populations? What are the differences, advantages, and challenges between online and offline recruitment strategies?
• Data collection/analysis: How do researchers collect and analyze sensitive data? Do researchers need to create rapport with participants before or during data collection? Are there any data collections methods that work better than others? Does the methodology depend on the type of stigmatizing context? How do we create safe spaces for data collection?
• Research outcomes: What types of outcomes are typically produced by research with stigmatized communities? Are findings/results of research being disseminated? How do we assess whether the outcomes could further stigmatize or harm individuals who are stigmatized?
• Privacy and confidentiality: How can research ensure privacy and confidentiality? How much privacy and confidentiality is possible in any given setting or context? What are the current practices and protocols used to protect participants' information and identities? Should existing methodologies be further adapted to ensure anonymity for stigmatized populations? Is complete anonymity always desirable or practical?
• Ethical considerations: What are the most important ethical considerations that need to be discussed and addressed when working with stigmatized populations? Should the current informed consent process be improved so that participants are aware of all the potential risks? Are there better ways to conduct informed consent? How can we design technology that does not further stigmatize people? Should we, and how could we validate our findings with the communities they affect?