Feminisms and Interaction Design (IxD)

Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: This project was designed by Professor Jennifer Sano-Franchini as the culmination of Issues in Professional and Public Discourse, a course for English majors at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. This course, which won the university’s XCaliber Award for excellence in teaching with technology, invites students to investigate a “wicked problem,” defined by designer and educator Jon Kolko as a “social or cultural problem that is difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements” (qtd. in Sano-Franchini). In an interview about the course, Sano-Franchini describes sexism and gender inequality as wicked problems for which interaction design can offer useful approaches. For the final project, students work in groups to design a conceptual prototype (for a mobile application, game, Web site, interface, performance, etc.) informed by theories, research, and ideas in feminisms and interaction design. The artifact includes learning outcomes, a timeline, grading criteria, and more, all of which could be adapted for other courses