| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 8, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 8, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1951788 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Sylvia Spengler
sspengle@nsf.gov (703)292-7347 CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $149,998.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $149,998.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
660 S MILL AVENUE STE 204 TEMPE AZ US 85281-3670 (480)965-5479 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
P.O. Box 876011 Tempe AZ US 85287-6011 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This one-year planning grant, a collaboration between Arizona State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the Birthworkers of Color Collective (BCC), investigates technology usage in a community of birthworkers in Long Beach, CA to imagine how smart technologies could improve the collection, quality and accuracy of data that is collected through the Los Angeles Mommy and Baby (LAMB) survey. This survey critically influences strategies addressing perinatal issues faced by different LA communities. Despite the importance of LAMB survey data in shaping public health policy and the allocation of resources, the survey currently lags more than two years in publishing survey results, and fails to capture data from vulnerable populations. Important research questions to be addressed include: What are BCC doulas? everyday technology practices? and How can a more diverse practitioner population contribute to the production of a less biased and more secure data collection system? The questions asked in this planning grant aim to 1) document the process of understanding and integrating community partner needs into smart technology design, 2) increase knowledge about mitigating algorithmic biases in synthetic learning and 3) improve the security and trustworthiness of data collection in vulnerable populations.
This project addresses important social and technical dimensions to examine approaches for improving birth outcomes and follow-on care for vulnerable communities. The team takes a multidisciplinary approach to address critical issues including design and assessment of community-based research methods, integrated human and computer systems, while also taking into account the ethics of AI and process-based systems. The proposed planning activities include facilitating three workshops with the BCC doulas to develop trust in the researchers and the integrity of the research process; examine technological systems and infrastructures already in use with BCC and determine technology behaviors; and introduce relevant smart technologies to co-develop an understanding of how the doulas? field expertise can minimize data collection discrepancies.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project conducted four Zoom design workshops with Birthworkers of Color Collective to collect information about birthworkers? technological practices. Significant time was dedicated to researchers-community organization relationship building, as we hypothesized that trust with participants would result in better data collection. The first two workshops were dedicated to developing trust between the participants and the researchers, the third workshop utilized a redesigned community-friendly Equipped Human Reference Architecture series of questions to find out about technological systems and infrastructures already in use, and the fourth workshop began a co-design process learning how doulas could best collect postpartum information from their clients. This project provides the necessary foundation to develop a smart-technology enhanced postpartum data collection system that will be able to capture currently limited information from marginalized populations that can influence future policy and resource allocation.
Our planning grant had four significant outcomes:
1. Developing trust through zoom is quite difficult, and previous relationship building was a key component to successful recruitment for the workshops and data gathering. The PI had a long-standing relationship with the community partner and their previous relationship was the foundation of trust that could be built upon. Otherwise, remote workshops are difficult to develop trust and convince participants to share vulnerable information.
2. When embarking on community research, appropriate compensation and resources for participants are key. Participants need to be treated like they are experts in their own lives, and an understanding of what they are giving up to spend time doing our research is important. For our Zoom workshops, participants were compensated with stipends and a virtual meal credits in the same way they would be fed in an in-person workshop.
3. Researchers' positionalities matter. The PI and one co-PI are women of color, and the presence of their bodies made a difference in being able to develop trust and collect necessary, relevant data with an all women of color collective. In external evaluations, participants voiced some discomfort in the presence of a white male co-PI, which is a valuable lesson in understanding that all bodies are not perceived the same way, particularly in community-based research.
4. Doulas are not a monolithic entity and no single solution will fit best for rectifying data collection discrepancies. In our fourth co-design workshop, we expected some kind of consensus around technology usage to build upon. What we found was that each doula had their own methods for interacting with clients, including some not wanting to use technology at all when engaging in birthwork. There is further research needed here in order to fully be able to develop appropriate data collecting technology.
Outputs:
We redesigned the questions for the Equipped Human Reference Architecture to include data collection points about culture and identity. We worked with an artist to reinterpret the technical engineering chart for better comprehension and public accessibility. Finally, we worked with the same artist to display the Birthworkers of Color?s technological use data in a visual, aesthetically beautiful format that is useful to the organization as they moved in official nonprofit status and for future funding opportunities.
Last Modified: 10/13/2022
Modified by: Alexandrina Agloro
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