Improving Accessibility in Office
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Research & Concept Ideation
Indiana University | Fall 2020
Addressing challenges of remote work with five new accessibility features
Reimagining Sex Education through Interaction Design
Reimagining Sex Education through Interaction Design
HCI/d Capstone Thesis | Spring 2021
Spring 2021
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Spring 2021
Product Management
Fall 2020
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Product Management | Fall 2020
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Spring 2021
Product Management
Fall 2020
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Product Management | Fall 2020
Inclusivity at Microsoft
Spring 2021
Product Management | Fall 2020
Overview
For my Human-Computer Interaction Design MS Capstone Thesis, I took a critical look at sex education in the U.S. and generated interaction design proposals for age- and gender-sensitive sex education. My proposals are grounded in a critical analysis of existing pedagogical interventions, popular media, and related online content.
The Problem
"Hands on Wisconsin: Conservatives aren't interested in preventing abortions" (Hands, 2019)
In the U.S., only 18 states require sex education to be medically accurate and only 3 states cannot promote religion in the process. [1] When sex education is taught, it mainly promotes abstinence. Yet, abstinence-only education is known to be ineffective as it often pushes misconceptions and misinformation in place of medically accurate knowledge. [2] Proponents of abstinence commonly use fear mongering and present misleading statistics regarding the efficacy of birth control and barrier methods in an attempt to scare young people into avoiding sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage. [3]
"Learning the Hard Way: Teen pregnancy, STI rates significantly higher in conservative states due to inadequate sex education" (Salzmann, 2017)
Guttmacher Institute, 2017
Outside of school-based education, few other preventative measures exist and resources like Planned Parenthood are sparse in areas where they are needed most. [4] In some cases, individuals often face additional barriers when seeking health or educational interventions, as medical professionals even deny care on the basis of religious or political beliefs. [5]
"'You’re soaking perverseness into them, lust into them … You're setting them up to get raped, (to) change their sex.'" (KETV, 2016)
Given this widespread lack of education, it is not surprising teens and young adults turn to internet-based resources as well as community forums for information and advice. Unfortunately, my own analysis of popular media shows that online sources do not always provide practical and credible information, and risk doing more harm than good if consumed uncritically. Specifically, I learned that:
Access to education depends on values, beliefs, and cultural norms. Political and religious divides create resistance and halt progress in the development and distribution of comprehensive education. In some areas, education may be highly controlled through local political views and beliefs, including those of individual educators, which creates limited and inconsistent learning opportunities.
"Parents opposed to comprehensive sex education pull children out of schools, stage rallies across Southern California" (Bharath, 2019)
There is a lot of mixed information across both reputable and popular sources, which creates an illusion of credibility and a challenge for audiences to distinguish between fact and opinion. Younger audiences, in particular, are more vulnerable to misinformation and less likely to consider how political or religious beliefs shape views and knowledge.
Screenshots from Mayo Clinic (n.d.; captured 2021), Men's Health (2020), and Cosmopolitan (2021).
Obligatory warning: please do not open a condom wrapper with your teeth or store condoms in your wallet. Or car. Or sunning in your bay window.
The visual and aesthetic experience of learning about sex is either unappealing or alienating. Sources either suffer from poor design sensibility and discoverability or inappropriately apply styling that reproduces gender stereotypes and misconceptions. Moreover, existing designs do not take into account the unique needs of gender diverse individuals. [6]
Screenshots from Scarleteen (evolution of logo; current top and bottom menus)
Based on my research, a successful design intervention in this space should:
Communicate credible information in an inclusive and useful way without reproducing gender stereotypes or stigmatizing learning.
Leverage multi-media and interaction design to create engaging learning opportunities and encourage critical consumption of information.
Lower the cultural and societal barriers by providing greater autonomy as well as protect users' privacy.
Concepts
I came up with 17 concepts to explore these opportunities; I have selected the following five design proposals to represent some of the core functionalities.
Personal Knowledge Bases
What if users could build their own personal knowledge bases to save the information that is relevant to them?
It is more efficient to reference information in bite-sized pieces already deemed useful by the individual themselves than to bookmark articles found across a variety of sources. Moreover, the functionality of creating customized boards, storing and organizing articles, adding personal notes, and categorizing and cross-categorizing the content all contribute to contextualizing information and improving the review, learning, and retention process while creating opportunities for deep engagement and reflection.
Booklet Creation Tool
What if users were empowered to construct narratives around their knowledge and experiences?
Complete creative control over the outcome of one’s learning is rarely granted through traditional mediums or educational tools. The booklet creation tool offers a hands-on approach to meaningfully engage with the content and results in reflective and social artifacts that can be shared with others.
Whether it be a playful scrapbook to provide a sibling with a resource, a structured report to formally demonstrate knowledge, or a satirical comic to broach a taboo topic, it is an opportunity for people to feel empowered to educate one another.
Image Obstruction Options
What if users could quickly and easily obscure images at the time they are encountered or beforehand?
As people search for information on topics related to sex education and reproductive health, they will inevitably be met with photos or diagrams (sometimes with little warning or mental preparation). Offering flexibility in viewing options improves the experience and offers peace of mind to those concerned that images may lead to discomfort, awkwardness, or parental intervention.
Blurring or collapsing all images can be triggered instantaneously, as they require only a tap or double tap to a single button at the bottom of the screen. Returning images to their normal state requires long-press, as it is less likely to be triggered by accident and is more user-friendly than hiding it in a menu or forcing people to handle each image individually.
Customizable App Profiles
What if users could customize profiles to facilitate discrete use?
Designs should respect privacy and provide additional security measures to prevent unwanted intervention or stigma associated with searching taboo health topics. With preset profiles, users can immediately test and take advantage of styles already designed for discrete use. Currently, presets include an eTextbook and an intentionally-vague “MyBoard'' app profile with an icon reminiscent of sticky notes. They’re incognito without the characteristic “incognito” look.
Customization options include changing the name, icon, color scheme, and how images appear by default (blurred and/or collapsed). The ability to customize presets or start from scratch empowers users to take full control over the style of the app. Game? eTextbook? Digital bible, even? Whether they stick with one to switch between them, they define and implement their own incognito mode, whatever it may look like in the context of their lives or location at any given time.
Risk Assessment Activity
What if people could learn to make informed decisions by assessing the risk of various sexual behaviors?
Given that only a few states require medically accurate information, misinformation about the efficacy of contraceptive methods create a barrier to informed sexual activity.
Through a combination of a word bank, glossary, risk scale, and straightforward explanations, people can make comparisons between different sexual behaviors and verify the accuracy of information they’ve received in the past while learning about effective harm reduction strategies and safer sex practices.
Whew! You made it! Care to stick around for another project?
Psst: if you're reading this and Webflow has added support for subscript and superscript characters (or if you know how some way around it) and I have missed the memo, it would be so very kind of you to let me know :)
Sex and HIV Education. (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
- Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008)
- Abstinence-Only Curricula (ACLU, n.d.)
Abstinence-only education doesn’t work. We’re still funding it. (Santelli, 2021) - States with more Planned Parenthood clinics have fewer teen births and sexually transmitted diseases (Yaver, 2017)
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options (Romero, 2017) - Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth (Liang et al., 2020)
- Learning from Experience: Where Religious Liberty Meets Reproductive Rights (Sonfield, 2018)
Refusing to Provide Health Services (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
1
Sex and HIV Education. (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
2
Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008)
3
Abstinence-Only Curricula (ACLU, n.d.)
Abstinence-only education doesn’t work. We’re still funding it. (Santelli, 2021)
4
States with more Planned Parenthood clinics have fewer teen births and sexually transmitted diseases (Yaver, 2017)
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options (Romero, 2017)
5
Learning from Experience: Where Religious Liberty Meets Reproductive Rights (Sonfield, 2018)
Refusing to Provide Health Services (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
6
Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth (Liang et al., 2020).
Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum. Retrieved October 04, 2020, from https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/abstinence-only-sex-education-curriculum
American Civil Liberties Union (n.d.). Abstinence-Only Curricula. Retrieved October 04, 2020, from https://www.aclu.org/issues/reproductive-freedom/abstinence-only-curricula
Altavena, L. (2019, June 25). Arizona board of EDUCATION decides to LEAVE sex ed unchanged after intense meeting. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2019/06/24/state-board-education-leaves-sex-ed-unchanged-after-intense-meeting/1549659001/
Bharath, D. (2019, May 18). Parents opposed to comprehensive sex education pull children out of SCHOOLS, stage rallies across Southern California. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.ocregister.com/2019/05/17/parents-opposed-to-comprehensive-sex-education-pull-children-out-of-schools-stage-rallies-across-southern-california/
Calvin A. Liang, Katie Albertson, Florence Williams, David Inwards-Breland, Sean A. Munson, Julie A. Kientz, and Kym Ahrens. 2020. Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth. In Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 108–120. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3392063.3394404
Contraceptive effectiveness in the United States. (2020, April 17). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-effectiveness-united-states
Cuzzone, K. (2021, May 04). All the side effects you might notice if you ditch your bc. Retrieved May 06, 2021, from https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a36328009/quitting-birth-control-side-effects/
Hands, P. (2019, May 19). Hands on Wisconsin: Conservatives aren't interested in preventing abortions. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://madison.com/wsj/opinion/cartoon/hands-on-wisconsin-conservatives-arent-interested-in-preventing-abortions/article_264b056d-9325-5770-b4a5-be8f42606c7e.html
Maddow-Zimet, I., & Kost, K. (2021, April 14). Pregnancies, births and abortions in the United states, 1973–2017: National and State trends by age. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/report/pregnancies-births-abortions-in-united-states-1973-2017
Matthew Wood, Gavin Wood, and Madeline Balaam. 2017. Sex Talk: Designing for Sexual Health with Adolescents. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC '17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 137–147. DOI:https://doi-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/10.1145/3078072.3079747
Matthews, M. (2021, March 03). The 14 best condoms for you and your partner. Retrieved May 06, 2021, from https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/g19544914/10-best-condoms/
Refusing to Provide Health Services (2021, October 1). Retrieved November 05, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/refusing-provide-health-services
Romero, Y. (2017, June 1).
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-planned-parenthood-locations-states/
Salzmann, M. (2017, April 20). Learning the Hard Way: Teen pregnancy, STI rates significantly higher in conservative states due to inadequate sex education. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://hilite.org/50903/perspectives/learning-the-hard-way-teen-pregnancy-sti-rates-significantly-higher-in-conservative-states-due-to-inadequate-sex-education/
Santelli, J. (2021, October 28). Analysis | abstinence-only education doesn't work. we're still funding it. Retrieved November 04, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/21/abstinence-only-education-doesnt-work-were-still-funding-it/
Scarleteen timeline. (2019, April 26). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/blog/sam_w/scarleteen_timeline
Sex and HIV Education. (2021, April 9). Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv-education
Sonfield, A., & Guttmacher Institute. (2018, September 18). Learning from experience: Where religious liberty meets reproductive rights. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2016/learning-experience-where-religious-liberty-meets-reproductive-rights
Teens and sex: Protecting your teen's sexual health. (2020, September 17). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/teens-and-sex/art-20045927Union of Concerned Scientists (2008, November 18).
Images & Article Content in Concepts
Corinna, H. (2014, January 20). Stamp out cramps (without the pill). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from
https://www.scarleteen.com/article/advice/stamp_out_cramps_without_the_pill
Corinna, H. (2017, July 11). STI risk assessment: The Cliff's Notes. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexual_health/sti_risk_assessment_the_cliffs_notes?language=deCorinna, H. (2019, June 19).
Condom basics: A user's manual. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from
https://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexual_health/condom_basics_a_users_manual?language=es
Corinna, H., & Hu, P. (2021, February 22). Can I get pregnant, or get or pass on an sti from that? Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/can_i_get_pregnant_or_get_or_pass_on_an_sti_from_that
Glossary. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/glossary
Reilly, C. (2020, March 12). Endometriosis - why you shouldn't ignore severe period pains. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/endometriosis_why_you_shouldnt_ignore _severe_period_pains
Reproductive health Supplies COALITION (@RHSUPPLIES): Unsplash photo community. (2019, December 11). A range of contraceptive methods: contraceptive pills, emergency contraception, condom, IUD, vaginal ring, implant. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/@rhsupplies?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium
=referral&utm_content=creditCopyTextRotman, H. (6430, January 01).
Smith, S., & Wall, S. (2020, January 11). Trans Summer School: Gender Expression Gear. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/trans_summer_school_gender_expression_gear
maryburt.uxd@gmail.com
Sex and HIV Education. (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
- Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008)
- Abstinence-Only Curricula (ACLU, n.d.)
Abstinence-only education doesn’t work. We’re still funding it. (Santelli, 2021) - States with more Planned Parenthood clinics have fewer teen births and sexually transmitted diseases (Yaver, 2017)
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options (Romero, 2017) - Learning from Experience: Where Religious Liberty Meets Reproductive Rights (Sonfield, 2018)
Refusing to Provide Health Services (Guttmacher Institute, 2021) - Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth (Liang et al., 2020)
Psst: if you're reading this and Webflow has added support for subscript and superscript characters (or if you know how some way around it) and I have missed the memo, it would be so very kind of you to let me know :)
1
Sex and HIV Education. (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
2
Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008)
3
Abstinence-Only Curricula (ACLU, n.d.)
Abstinence-only education doesn’t work. We’re still funding it. (Santelli, 2021)
4
States with more Planned Parenthood clinics have fewer teen births and sexually transmitted diseases (Yaver, 2017)
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options (Romero, 2017)
5
Learning from Experience: Where Religious Liberty Meets Reproductive Rights (Sonfield, 2018)
Refusing to Provide Health Services (Guttmacher Institute, 2021)
6
Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth (Liang et al., 2020).
Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum. Retrieved October 04, 2020, from https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/abstinence-only-sex-education-curriculum
American Civil Liberties Union (n.d.). Abstinence-Only Curricula. Retrieved October 04, 2020, from https://www.aclu.org/issues/reproductive-freedom/abstinence-only-curricula
Altavena, L. (2019, June 25). Arizona board of EDUCATION decides to LEAVE sex ed unchanged after intense meeting. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2019/06/24/state-board-education-leaves-sex-ed-unchanged-after-intense-meeting/1549659001/
Bharath, D. (2019, May 18). Parents opposed to comprehensive sex education pull children out of SCHOOLS, stage rallies across Southern California. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.ocregister.com/2019/05/17/parents-opposed-to-comprehensive-sex-education-pull-children-out-of-schools-stage-rallies-across-southern-california/
Calvin A. Liang, Katie Albertson, Florence Williams, David Inwards-Breland, Sean A. Munson, Julie A. Kientz, and Kym Ahrens. 2020. Designing an online sex education resource for gender-diverse youth. In Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 108–120. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3392063.3394404
Contraceptive effectiveness in the United States. (2020, April 17). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-effectiveness-united-states
Cuzzone, K. (2021, May 04). All the side effects you might notice if you ditch your bc. Retrieved May 06, 2021, from https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a36328009/quitting-birth-control-side-effects/
Hands, P. (2019, May 19). Hands on Wisconsin: Conservatives aren't interested in preventing abortions. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://madison.com/wsj/opinion/cartoon/hands-on-wisconsin-conservatives-arent-interested-in-preventing-abortions/article_264b056d-9325-5770-b4a5-be8f42606c7e.html
Maddow-Zimet, I., & Kost, K. (2021, April 14). Pregnancies, births and abortions in the United states, 1973–2017: National and State trends by age. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/report/pregnancies-births-abortions-in-united-states-1973-2017
Matthew Wood, Gavin Wood, and Madeline Balaam. 2017. Sex Talk: Designing for Sexual Health with Adolescents. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC '17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 137–147. DOI:https://doi-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/10.1145/3078072.3079747
Matthews, M. (2021, March 03). The 14 best condoms for you and your partner. Retrieved May 06, 2021, from https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/g19544914/10-best-condoms/
Refusing to Provide Health Services (2021, October 1). Retrieved November 05, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/refusing-provide-health-services
Romero, Y. (2017, June 1).
Planned Parenthood Closings Leave Some Patients With No Options. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-planned-parenthood-locations-states/
Salzmann, M. (2017, April 20). Learning the Hard Way: Teen pregnancy, STI rates significantly higher in conservative states due to inadequate sex education. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://hilite.org/50903/perspectives/learning-the-hard-way-teen-pregnancy-sti-rates-significantly-higher-in-conservative-states-due-to-inadequate-sex-education/
Santelli, J. (2021, October 28). Analysis | abstinence-only education doesn't work. we're still funding it. Retrieved November 04, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/21/abstinence-only-education-doesnt-work-were-still-funding-it/
Scarleteen timeline. (2019, April 26). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/blog/sam_w/scarleteen_timeline
Sex and HIV Education. (2021, April 9). Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv-education
Sonfield, A., & Guttmacher Institute. (2018, September 18). Learning from experience: Where religious liberty meets reproductive rights. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2016/learning-experience-where-religious-liberty-meets-reproductive-rights
Teens and sex: Protecting your teen's sexual health. (2020, September 17). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/teens-and-sex/art-20045927Union of Concerned Scientists (2008, November 18).
Images & Article Content in Concepts
Corinna, H. (2014, January 20). Stamp out cramps (without the pill). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from
https://www.scarleteen.com/article/advice/stamp_out_cramps_without_the_pill
Corinna, H. (2017, July 11). STI risk assessment: The Cliff's Notes. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexual_health/sti_risk_assessment_the_cliffs_notes?language=deCorinna, H. (2019, June 19).
Condom basics: A user's manual. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from
https://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexual_health/condom_basics_a_users_manual?language=es
Corinna, H., & Hu, P. (2021, February 22). Can I get pregnant, or get or pass on an sti from that? Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/can_i_get_pregnant_or_get_or_pass_on_an_sti_from_that
Glossary. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/glossary
Reilly, C. (2020, March 12). Endometriosis - why you shouldn't ignore severe period pains. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/endometriosis_why_you_shouldnt_ignore _severe_period_pains
Reproductive health Supplies COALITION (@RHSUPPLIES): Unsplash photo community. (2019, December 11). A range of contraceptive methods: contraceptive pills, emergency contraception, condom, IUD, vaginal ring, implant. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/@rhsupplies?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium
=referral&utm_content=creditCopyTextRotman, H. (6430, January 01).
Smith, S., & Wall, S. (2020, January 11). Trans Summer School: Gender Expression Gear. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.scarleteen.com/trans_summer_school_gender_expression_gear
