Papers by Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2022
The goal of an engineer's career is solving real problems for social and ecological betterment. A... more The goal of an engineer's career is solving real problems for social and ecological betterment. At the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima, Peru, this vision is promoted from the earliest stages of a student's engineering career to enable them to embrace their creativity while developing meaningful solutions for ecosystems in need. In this article, an educational methodology is presented that uses a project-based collaborative learning approach with the aim of evaluating, selecting and developing community-oriented engineering solutions in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). Communication strategies and evaluation of projects based on co-design methods implemented among engineering students and isolated rural communities in the highlands of Peru are discussed. In conclusion, the process to select a community is analyzed and the most important criteria are determined. In addition, we highlight the importance of defining elements to understand the context (community and place) and to establish future objectives (group and projects) during the exploration period that will help facilitate the decision to select a community.
Engenharias e outras práticas técnicas engajadas. Volume 1: Redes e Movimientos, 2021
Proceedings of the 17th Participatory Design Conference 2022. Volume 1, 2022
In this paper, we present a performative exercise aimed at revisiting, from Latin American "South... more In this paper, we present a performative exercise aimed at revisiting, from Latin American "Southern" perspectives, two seminal articles in Participatory Design (PD): "Co-creation and the new landscapes of design" by Sanders & Stappers, and "Participation in Design Things" by Ehn. The goal is to turn peer review into a critical tool to inform established knowledge in PD with Latin American perspectives, using five principles: citational justice, epistemic justice, emancipation, relationality and positionality. Through this exercise we offer reflections, experiences, and literature to critically expand PD's core as the field moves to global contexts. We discuss two tensions in this move: 1) design as socio-historical production, and 2) emancipatory commitments of participation when 'turning South'. We end with a critical reflection about the potential and limitations of our reformulation of peer review and its Southern politics. We offer these reflections to PD as a way to invite radical political solidarities across borders.
Design Research Society Conference 2020, 2020
New forms of co-design, as a mechanism for collaboration with historically marginalized communiti... more New forms of co-design, as a mechanism for collaboration with historically marginalized communities, continue to emerge. From short academic experiences to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, these programs attempt to highlight the value and importance of co-design in reducing equity gaps, producing relevant outcomes, and broadening participation across stakeholders. In doing so, these initiatives run at risk of reproducing a variety of challenges related to power, ethics, and gender among others, therefore requiring continuous examination and experimentation to address such issues. In this paper, we analyze the implementation of an interdisciplinary course in design carried out at two coffee farms in rural Colombia. Using the EquityXDesign framework, we critically analyze how the course approaches these known challenges in community-based design, and discuss modifications to the framework towards more inclusive and equity-driven design.
Proceedings of the 16th Participatory Design Conference 2020 - Participation(s) Otherwise - Volume 1, 2020
Evidence and analysis of Community-Based Participatory Design (PD) and Co-Design programs are not... more Evidence and analysis of Community-Based Participatory Design (PD) and Co-Design programs are not abundant. Filling this gap allows for better understanding of (1) the value programs offer from a quantitative standpoint, and (2) how to formalize participation within PD. In this paper, we present evidence from a series of International Development Design Summits (IDDS), a PD-oriented program focused on low-cost technology co-design and co-production, in collaboration with local communities. The purpose is to provide opportunities for learning and practicing community-based PD in an intercultural setting. We examine data from five summits in Colombia between 2015-2018. We discuss the value of this approach across multiple groups, and how it can be understood as a measure of participation. We present evidence of participant benefits, including an exploratory analysis of self-perception using sentiment analysis. Finally, we discuss the challenges and potential directions for this work. This paper contributes to further understand the value of participation (the "co") in the context of community-based PD. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; Participatory design.
Tech Otherwise, 2021
In this report, we dive into the history of public investment in technologies at the foundation o... more In this report, we dive into the history of public investment in technologies at the foundation of Big Tech, and the imbalances between these investments and the returns to the public sector. We delve into the problematic labor and user relations underlining the value-creation machine Big Tech has assembled, and the perverse social and environmental costs of these socio-technical systems. We set out arguments for why Big Tech should be defunded, and offer potential actions Big Tech companies, governments and policymakers, tech workers, researchers, civil society organizations, social movements and individual citizens could take to redirect resources. We end by offering prospects for what refunding community could look like, how another tech is possible.
Journal of Peer Production, 2018
Collaborations with academia, international organizations, governments and civic society are both... more Collaborations with academia, international organizations, governments and civic society are both an opportunity and a challenge for grassroots associations to achieve their mission while maintaining their values and philosophy. Little research has been done on programs leveraging these collaborations to increase capacity for community-based, peer-production and innovation in economically constrained environments. This article presents the case study of a grassroots organization, C-Innova, in its leading role as organizer of two international design summits hosted in Colombia in 2015 and 2016. The goal of these summits focuses on increasing participants' understanding of design and technical skills, while fostering aspects of self-fulfillment and psychological needs. These experiences attempt to support and catalyze the emergence of local innovation initiatives. Both summits were organized and implemented through partnerships with local government, cooperation agencies, universities both local and international and members of civic society. We analyze the success of these collaborations across three dimensions: (1) program's objectives, (2) systemic changes across partners as a result of these partnerships and (3) structural improvements and challenges for C-Innova. We find significant changes across all dimensions, suggesting this as a viable model for grassroots organizations to achieve their goals without significantly compromising their core values and beliefs.
Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018
Current HCI research overlooks an opportunity to create human-machine interaction within the uniq... more Current HCI research overlooks an opportunity to create human-machine interaction within the unique cognition ongoing during dreams and drowsiness. During sleep onset, a window of opportunity arises in the form of Hypnagogia, a semi-lucid sleep state where we begin dreaming before we fall fully unconscious. To access this state, we developed Dormio, the first interactive interface for sleep, designed for use across levels of consciousness. Here we present evidence for a first use case, directing dream content to augment human creativity. The system enables future HCI research into Hypnagogia, extending interactive technology across levels of consciousness.
2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2020
In recent decades, engineering education within universities in the United States has shifted tow... more In recent decades, engineering education within universities in the United States has shifted towards engaging learners through various forms of applied learning. These models provide an opportunity to connect academia with real-world environments. One connection of particular importance is the one linking engineering education and society: how can engineering education connect learning with some of the most pressing global sustainability challenges we currently face? As a result, universities are turning to communities globally in search for opportunities to connect students with sustainability related issues. The appearance of academic offerings including international courses, global exchanges and fellowships abroad among others, are a testament to the efforts within higher institutions to create these bridges. From a scholarly perspective, literature describing these kinds of community-based programs has been on the rise. However, the majority of these programs, and the research surrounding them, are almost exclusively focused on the potential transformation this connection brings to learners, much less on what community-based interaction means for engineering education transformation. This paper is an effort in bridging that gap. The "Technology Design for Coffee Production: A Co-Design Experience", is a community-based course on technology design and engineering offered to an interdisciplinary group of graduate students, primarily from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The course was facilitated directly from within coffee farms in Colombia in collaboration with local groups over the course of a month. We conclude that three principles are promising for future community-based engineering education offerings: 1) community immersion; 2) positioning local community members as learning instructors; 3) thick contextualization of the engineering design process. We discuss how each of these principles is reflected in the curriculum of the course, and how they were implemented. Future work includes further examining lessons and expanding them into other engineering education offerings at MIT including a revised second edition of the course to graduate students from all five schools at MIT.
Jóvenes, transformación digital y formas de inclusión en América Latina, 2018
Encuentre esta y otras publicaciones en el Repositorio institucional del Centro de Estudios Funda... more Encuentre esta y otras publicaciones en el Repositorio institucional del Centro de Estudios Fundación Ceibal: digital.fundacionceibal.edu.uy Acceda al sitio de la publicación y conozca los detalles de la convocatoria: jovenes.digital Conozca las creativas destacadas durante la convocatoria: jovenes.digital/postulaciones-creativas Diseño de tapa: Gabriela López Intrioni Diseño interior: Claudio de los Santos Pliego de imágenes: Limonada Bandida @limonadabandida Creative Commons Usted es libre de: Compartir: copiar y redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato; Adaptar: remezclar, transformar y crear a partir del material. Bajo los siguientes términos: Atribución: Usted debe darle crédito a esta obra de manera adecuada, proporcionando un enlace a la licencia e indicar si se han realizado cambios. No Comercial: Usted no puede hacer uso del material con fines comerciales o de lucro. Compartir Igual: Si usted mezcla, transforma o crea nuevo material a partir de esta obra, usted podrá distribuir su contribución siempre que utilice la misma licencia que la obra original. El licenciante no puede revocar estas libertades en tanto usted siga los términos de la licencia. Las opiniones expresadas en los artículos son enteramente responsabilidad de los autores.
Participation reimagined: co-design of the self through territory, memory, and dignity, 2021
Participation is a key theoretical and methodological aspect at the nexus of tensions between des... more Participation is a key theoretical and methodological aspect at the nexus of tensions between design as professional practice and design in community settings. In this article, we navigate some of these tensions by thinking with a case of community-based co-design in Colombia. We build on the work of participatory design scholars to surface the challenges posed by participation when dealing with design’s critical examination, and the need for new frameworks for theory and practice, especially when working with historically underrepresented populations. Using narrative inquiry, we centre and explore the methodology used by an ‘experiencia comunitaria’ (communal experience) in Colombia: the ‘Saber y Vida’ programme. We highlight three key aspects of the programme’s propositions: (1) identity as an anchor to participation; (2) symbolic language as a device mediating between individuals and communities; and (3) dignity as a pre-condition to participation. We end by reflecting on how these features are in tension and resonance with current design theory and practice.
Thesis Chapters by Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar
Master Thesis, 2018
Empathy is a fundamental socio-emotional human ability. It allows us to regulate our emotions in ... more Empathy is a fundamental socio-emotional human ability. It allows us to regulate our emotions in reference to other's emotions, to understand and interpret others' emotional states, and to act accordingly. Recent studies show how levels of empathy, particularly across young populations in the United States, are on a steady decline (Konrath, O'Brien, & Hsing, 2011). Although numerous interventions to address this issue have been tested, to the best of my knowledge, no work to date has explored the potential of social robots to support behavior, understanding and expression of human empathy among children. In this thesis, I present the results of an experiment with children from two countries, exploring how social robots can help in further understand and support the development of empathy in this particular population. In light of the challenge of decreasing levels of empathy, I raised the question of how interactions with social robots can help foster empathic skills in children with aggressive tendencies. I also stressed the importance of cross-cultural studies in order to broaden our understanding of the potential this technology holds for this specific application. I developed a novel interaction using two social robots, geared towards tapping into children's empathic models; evoking empathy and capturing relevant information either through behavior, understanding or physiology metrics. I found that empathy interventions using robotic companions can be an efficient tool to engage children. I also found significant differences in a cross-cultural sample, showing the importance of this approach. I present results indicating how through interaction with social robots, behaviorally-challenged children can successfully perceive, act, reflect, and practice empathy. These findings are encouraging when considering the potential of this technology for future interventions.
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Papers by Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar
Thesis Chapters by Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar