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Abstract:
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities of deploying design probes in rural communities to understand Internet connectivity experiences and needs. We share the results of a study in two rural communities in the Midwestern United States where traditional design probes initially failed due to technical barriers, time constraints, and trust issues between researchers and participants. Learning from this failure, we developed a more effective game-based probe that created a time-bounded, collective, and playful experience. This redesigned approach successfully captured nuanced rural connectivity experiences related to community bonds, resource access, and digital infrastructure. The research shares methodological recommendations for how we can adapt design methods for rural contexts, emphasizing co-creation, relationship building, and designing from the rural rather than merely for rural people. We contribute to rural computing by advocating for human-centered infrastructure design that recognizes connectivity as contextual, variable, and intertwined with rural identity and community structures, challenging simplistic approaches to addressing the digital divide.
Citation
Hardy, J., Gleason, M., & Battocchio, A. F. (2025). Playing with Rural Design: Design Probe Failure and Community Disconnections. In 12th International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2025), July 20–23, 2025, Siegen, Germany (pp. 339–355). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3742800.3742830
@inproceedings{hardyPlayingRuralDesign2025,
title = {Playing with Rural Design: Design Probe Failure \& Community Disconnections},
author = {Hardy, Jean and Gleason, Megan and Battocchio, Ava Francesca},
date = {2025-07-20/2025-07-23},
booktitle = {12th International Conference on Communities \& Technologies},
series = {C\&T 2025},
pages = {339--355},
publisher = {ACM},
location = {Siegen, Germany},
doi = {10.1145/3742800.3742830}},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3742800.3742830}}