We’re excited to announce that Robin Angelini has won the Best Paper Award for his paper Speculating Deaf Tech: Reimagining Technologies Centering Deaf People at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems that took place in Yokohama at the end of April this year. The paper was written together with Katta Spiel and Maartje De Meulder (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht), and critically explores Deaf Tech.

The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the leading international conference in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. This year’s theme, Ikigai —a Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being”— reflects the importance of purpose and balance in the face of global challenges such as climate change, inequality, and technological disruption. The conference encourages attendees to channel their personal passions and skills into a collective mission, referred to as IkiCHI, to create a positive impact.

Congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

About Robin Angelini

Robin Angelini is a Deaf PhD researcher on ACCESSTECH. His research interests lie at the intersection of deaf technology, critical access and emerging technologies. In his work, he challenges the predominant ideologies in the design and development of technologies for deaf people, shifting toward alternative socio-technical narratives grounded in deaf epistemologies. Through this lens, he explores the cultural, social and political meanings that deaf technologies hold within deaf communities, while advocating for deaf-centered design approaches that prioritize deaf lived experiences, desires and needs.

Abstract

This deaf-led work critically explores Deaf Tech, challenging conventional understandings of technologies ‘for’ deaf people as merely assistive and accessible, since these understandings are predominantly embedded in medical and audist ideologies. By employing participatory speculative workshops, deaf participants from different European countries envisioned technologies on Eyeth - a mythical planet inhabited by deaf people - centered on their perspectives and curiosities. The results present a series of alternative socio-technical narratives that illustrate qualitative aspects of technologies desired by deaf people. This study advocates for expanding the scope of deaf technological landscapes, emphasizing the need to establish deaf-centered HCI, including the development of methods and concepts that truly prioritize deaf experiences in the design of technologies intended for their use.

Watch the Video

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