Examining the Intersections of Race, Religion & Community Technologies: A Photovoice Study

Title of the Paper

Examining the Intersections of Race, Religion & Community Technologies: A Photovoice Study

Paper Information

• Field of Study: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), community technologies, intersection of race and religion
• Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), community technologies, technospiritual practices, race, religion, photovoice method, asset-based approach

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • Research in the HCI field has shown limited attention to racial issues, despite race playing a significant role in community formation and resource allocation.
  • Current technologies often overlook racial specificities, leading to designs that negatively impact minority groups (e.g., predictive systems based on biased datasets, sensors unable to detect darker skin tones).
  • The critical role of churches in promoting social justice, organization, and health in Black communities has not been sufficiently explored for its potential in technology design.

• Significance:

  • Racial issues are central to community health promotion, building social trust, and technology adoption. Research explicitly addressing racial issues fills design gaps in practice and improves technological support for historically marginalized groups.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Churches have long played a role in advancing social justice and health promotion within communities, but their technological support capabilities are limited.
  • mHealth technologies offer significant opportunities for information dissemination and health promotion, yet few studies explore how digital technologies can enhance these church functions.

Solution

• Methods and Solutions:

  • Adopting a community-based participatory approach with an asset-based perspective to study and design technological systems. The research methods include focus group discussions, affinity diagramming activities, and the photovoice method.
  • Using a social identity framework that integrates race and religion to explore how mHealth technologies can support predominantly Black churches.

• Innovations:

  • Applying the photovoice method to investigate the intersection of race and technology design, where participants are not only data collectors but also key contributors to the analysis process.
  • Disrupting potential power asymmetries in research by emphasizing community self-definition and the diversity of racial and religious identities.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Collaborate with two major Black churches to conduct background research and community-oriented discussions.
  2. Explore the racial and religious history, current practices, and technology usage of the churches through focus group discussions.
  3. Use the photovoice method, allowing participants to take photos that reflect community characteristics and issues, followed by discussions to delve into the relationship between race and technology.
  4. Combine qualitative coding and thematic analysis to extract design insights from the collected images and textual data.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  • Identified the complexity of racial self-definition within church communities and their inclusive vision of multiculturalism, including preferences for labels like "Black church" or "multicultural church within the African American tradition."
  • Revealed tensions between tradition and modernization, such as conflicts between preserving historical church buildings and integrating technology.
  • Highlighted the church's core mission in social justice, emphasizing the need for technological systems to support the management and expansion of these tasks.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • Avoids the insensitivity or over-correction often seen in traditional technology designs by adopting an asset-based approach.
  • Provides concrete design recommendations that respect community culture, history, and aspirations for the future.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Participants captured 83 photos, the majority of which reflected community strengths (e.g., social connections, resource sharing).
  • Significant differences in technology usage were observed between the two churches: Church A maintained traditional practices with minimal technology use, while Church B rapidly adopted advanced technologies.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations: The study focused only on two churches, not covering a broader range of Black religious communities; discussions on racial issues were somewhat delayed.
  • Future Directions:
    • Further research on how design can support asset-based community development.
    • Explore the balance between innovation and preserving core community values in the design of technology for religious spaces.
    • Design digital tools to support social justice missions and enhance volunteer capacity while fostering a sense of belonging in culturally diverse communities.

By exploring the intersections of race, religion, and technology, this study provides critical guidance for designing technologies for Black religious communities and further strengthens the application of community-based participatory design methods in HCI.