"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Belén Barros Pena; Nelya Koteyko; Martine Van Driel; Andrea Delgado; John Vines

doi:10.1145/3544548.3580673

"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Belén Barros Pena, Nelya Koteyko, Martine Van Driel, Andrea Delgado, John Vines

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

In this paper, we critically examine the design of mainstream social media platforms from the point of view of autistic experiences and perspectives, drawing inspiration from the neurodiversity movement, the notion of autism as neurodivergence, and the concept of autistic sociality. We conducted 12 participatory design sessions with 20 autistic adult collaborators. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, we identify seven challenges our participants experienced when using social media, and a set of imagined features that represent their vision of how design could better support their social media use. We discuss how mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed to address neurotypical sensitivities, and fail autistic adults through lack of user control, inadequate mechanisms for expressing tone and intention, and an orientation towards phatic interactions. To close, we outline how autistic sociality can inspire the design of kinder and more considerate social media platforms.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	ACM Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	1-16
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450394215
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673
Publication status	Published - 19 Apr 2023
Event	2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Hamburg, Germany Duration: 23 Apr 2023 → 28 Apr 2023 https://chi2023.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Abbreviated title	CHI 2023
Country/Territory	Germany
City	Hamburg
Period	23/04/23 → 28/04/23
Internet address	https://chi2023.acm.org/

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

autistic adults
autistic sociality
participatory design
social media

Access to Document

10.1145/3544548.3580673Licence: All Rights Reserved

Reimagining the design_BARROS PENA_AFV_CC BYAccepted author manuscript, 689 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/29923/Licence: All Rights Reserved
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3580673Licence: All Rights Reserved

Autistic adults online: Understanding and enabling autisitic sociality in digital networking environments
Vines, J. (Principal Investigator)
ESRC
1/12/20 → 30/11/22
Project: Research

Cite this

Barros Pena, B., Koteyko, N., Van Driel, M., Delgado, A., & Vines, J. (2023). "My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults. In CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-16). Article 40 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). ACM Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673

Barros Pena, Belén ; Koteyko, Nelya ; Van Driel, Martine et al. / "My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults. CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Association for Computing Machinery, 2023. pp. 1-16 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

@inproceedings{5000ed62925b4ac3b9e453f323b13729,

title = "{"}My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy{"} - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults",

abstract = "In this paper, we critically examine the design of mainstream social media platforms from the point of view of autistic experiences and perspectives, drawing inspiration from the neurodiversity movement, the notion of autism as neurodivergence, and the concept of autistic sociality. We conducted 12 participatory design sessions with 20 autistic adult collaborators. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, we identify seven challenges our participants experienced when using social media, and a set of imagined features that represent their vision of how design could better support their social media use. We discuss how mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed to address neurotypical sensitivities, and fail autistic adults through lack of user control, inadequate mechanisms for expressing tone and intention, and an orientation towards phatic interactions. To close, we outline how autistic sociality can inspire the design of kinder and more considerate social media platforms.",

keywords = "autistic adults, autistic sociality, participatory design, social media",

author = "{Barros Pena}, Bel{\'e}n and Nelya Koteyko and {Van Driel}, Martine and Andrea Delgado and John Vines",

note = "Funding Information: This work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (grant no. ES/T016507/1). We would also like to thank the autistic lay advisory board and the scientifc advisory board of the Autistic Adults Online project, Autistica, Autistic Nottingham and, most importantly, all autistic participants who shared their experiences with us. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 ACM.; 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2023 ; Conference date: 23-04-2023 Through 28-04-2023",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1145/3544548.3580673",

language = "English",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",

publisher = "ACM Association for Computing Machinery",

pages = "1--16",

booktitle = "CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

url = "https://chi2023.acm.org/",

}

Barros Pena, B, Koteyko, N, Van Driel, M, Delgado, A & Vines, J 2023, "My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults. in CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 40, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, ACM Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 1-16, 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 23/04/23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673

"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults. / Barros Pena, Belén; Koteyko, Nelya; Van Driel, Martine et al.
CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Association for Computing Machinery, 2023. p. 1-16 40 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - "My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

AU - Barros Pena, Belén

AU - Koteyko, Nelya

AU - Van Driel, Martine

AU - Delgado, Andrea

AU - Vines, John

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (grant no. ES/T016507/1). We would also like to thank the autistic lay advisory board and the scientifc advisory board of the Autistic Adults Online project, Autistica, Autistic Nottingham and, most importantly, all autistic participants who shared their experiences with us. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 ACM.

PY - 2023/4/19

Y1 - 2023/4/19

N2 - In this paper, we critically examine the design of mainstream social media platforms from the point of view of autistic experiences and perspectives, drawing inspiration from the neurodiversity movement, the notion of autism as neurodivergence, and the concept of autistic sociality. We conducted 12 participatory design sessions with 20 autistic adult collaborators. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, we identify seven challenges our participants experienced when using social media, and a set of imagined features that represent their vision of how design could better support their social media use. We discuss how mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed to address neurotypical sensitivities, and fail autistic adults through lack of user control, inadequate mechanisms for expressing tone and intention, and an orientation towards phatic interactions. To close, we outline how autistic sociality can inspire the design of kinder and more considerate social media platforms.

AB - In this paper, we critically examine the design of mainstream social media platforms from the point of view of autistic experiences and perspectives, drawing inspiration from the neurodiversity movement, the notion of autism as neurodivergence, and the concept of autistic sociality. We conducted 12 participatory design sessions with 20 autistic adult collaborators. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, we identify seven challenges our participants experienced when using social media, and a set of imagined features that represent their vision of how design could better support their social media use. We discuss how mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed to address neurotypical sensitivities, and fail autistic adults through lack of user control, inadequate mechanisms for expressing tone and intention, and an orientation towards phatic interactions. To close, we outline how autistic sociality can inspire the design of kinder and more considerate social media platforms.

KW - autistic adults

KW - autistic sociality

KW - participatory design

KW - social media

U2 - 10.1145/3544548.3580673

DO - 10.1145/3544548.3580673

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85160005376

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

SP - 1

EP - 16

BT - CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - ACM Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Y2 - 23 April 2023 through 28 April 2023

ER -

Barros Pena B, Koteyko N, Van Driel M, Delgado A, Vines J. "My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults. In CHI '23 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Association for Computing Machinery. 2023. p. 1-16. 40. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3544548.3580673

"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Autistic adults online: Understanding and enabling autisitic sociality in digital networking environments

Cite this