Abstract:

Modern software is not soft. People have little power over shaping the software they use, and collaboration with others requires converging in the same closed platforms. This impedes digital sovereignty, a concern spanning from individuals to nation-states. In my research, I focus on its personal and collective dimensions: the ability of individuals and collectives to control, adapt, and understand the computational environments that shape their lives. I demonstrate how software can be made malleable in use and shareable beyond silos, across devices, platforms, and interaction modalities. Most recently, I show how artificial intelligence can act as a catalyst for malleability, making it accessible beyond the computationally literate few. I also show how to leverage AI to reclaim our traces of computational activity. Today these traces are mostly extracted from us; they should instead be a first-class resource, collectively owned by those who produce them. I will use these recent results as a springboard to sketch my vision for the future of software we shape, rather than software that shapes us.

This research program in human-computer interaction combines system building, empirical studies, and participatory design, spanning collaborative systems, cross-reality computing, and computing education. It is grounded in a decades-long commitment to building real, working systems that let us explore what software could become.