Talk Title: Rural Computing: Perspectives on Human-Centered Computing from Rural Michigan

Speaker: Jean Hardy, Assistant Professor of Media & Information ; Associate Director of the Quello Center for Media & Information Policy ; Director of the Rural Computing Research Consortium

Location: IRB 4105 and Zoom

Abstract: This talk examines rural computing as an emerging field addressing the technological needs and structural inequalities unique to rural communities. Drawing from over a decade of conducting computing research in rural communities, I present a framework that intentionally bridges social and technical approaches through community-centered design and translational research. Using a case study of digital agriculture adoption with a community farm in a former mining community in Michigan, I demonstrate how translational computing work can democratize access to digital agricultural technologies for disadvantaged rural populations. I also share lessons from adapting design research methods after initial failures in rural deployment to better engage communities in conversations about digital infrastructure. Throughout, I illustrate how rural computing requires not just technological innovation but reimagined research approaches that center rural voices and build community capacity to address digital equity challenges.

 

Bio: Jean Hardy is an Assistant Professor of Media & Information where he serves as the Associate Director of the Quello Center for Media & Information Policy and as Director of the Rural Computing Research Consortium. His research employs ethnographic and design methods to investigate the complex and growing relationship between digital technology and rural economic and community development in the United States.