Browsing by Subject "online communities"
Item Coming to America: Iranians' use of Telegram for immigration information seeking(Emerald, 2020) Nikkhah, Sarah; Murillo, Angela P.; Young, Alyson Leigh; Miller, Andrew D.; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and ComputingPurpose This study examines Iran-US migrants' use of the most popular messaging application in Iran—Telegram—and shows how they use it to manage their migration information practices. Design/methodology/approach This study took a qualitative observation approach. Over the course of six months, over 80 h of observations were conducted on Iran-US migration-related settings within Telegram. Findings This work identifies the information practices that emerge as users seek and share information related to Iran-US migration. Telegram plays a vital role across the immigration stages, predominantly in the pre-migration stage. This work also shows how the constraints and features of Telegram influence users' information sharing and seeking practices. Practical implications The findings support the implication that a social media platform that provides multiple ways to interact is likely to better support niche or unanticipated uses. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind to explore Iranian Immigrants information practices in the US. The immigration information practices observed during this study represent a valuable example of end-user appropriation within extraordinary constraints, which may be of use in other information-seeking contexts where dedicated or bespoke tools are impractical or ill-advised.Item Exploring outlooks towards generative AI-based assistive technologies for people with Autism(ACM, 2023-04-28) Giri, Deepak; Brady, ErinThe last few years have significantly increased global interest in generative artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, which are synthetically created videos, emerged as an application of generative artificial intelligence. Fake news and pornographic content have been the two most prevalent negative use cases of deepfakes in the digital ecosystem. Deepfakes have some advantageous applications that experts in the subject have thought of in the areas of filmmaking, teaching, etc. Research on the potential of deepfakes among people with disabilities is, however, scarce or nonexistent. This workshop paper explores the potential of deepfakes as an assistive technology. We examined Reddit conversations regarding Nvdia’s new videoconferencing feature which allows participants to maintain eye contact during online meetings. Through manual web scraping and qualitative coding, we found 162 relevant comments discussing the relevance and appropriateness of the technology for people with Autism. The themes identified from the qualitative codes indicate a number of concerns for technology among the autistic community. We suggest that developing generative AI-based assistive solutions will have ramifications for human-computer interaction (HCI), and present open questions that should be investigated further in this space.Item Telegram as An Immigration Management Tool(ACM, 2018-11) Nikkah, Sarah; Miller, Andrew D.; Young, Alyson L.; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and ComputingThis paper describes an ongoing study that examines Iranian immigrants' use of communication tools and online communities throughout the immigration process. We conducted observations on 30 Iranian immigration-related groups on the Telegram messaging application to understand its impacts on immigrants' collaboration, information-seeking, and information-sharing behavior. This research has implications to support immigration practices through technology.