From Mapping to Practice: A Guide and Evaluation of Feminist HCI Guidelines

Abstract

Feminist HCI aims to explore how gender relations shape the use, interaction, and design of technologies and how we can address computational issues without perpetuating the marginalization of women or other groups. Despite its relevance, recent research has indications that the quality criteria proposed by Feminist HCI are not widely adopted. Thus, this research aims to identify guidelines that support interaction design and user interface according to Feminist HCI principles. The results of the Systematic Literature Mapping (SLM) allowed for the identification of design guidelines related to the collection and analysis of gender-sensitive data, the adoption of inclusive design strategies, and the promotion of public engagement. On the other hand, we found few guidelines for interface design in practice, such as using information that does not reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. Although the studies point out the benefits of Feminist HCI, such as promoting inclusion, contributing to equity, and preventing stereotypes, there are still many challenges, such as the need for further knowledge deepening, a lack of interest in creating inclusive guidelines, and a lack of consensus regarding criteria and practices. We noted that there are still no consolidated guidelines for adopting Feminist HCI in interactive systems design, which represents barriers to its adoption in practice. Thus, we refined the identified guidelines and created a guide to support inclusive design. We conducted a preliminary evaluation using the TAM model to assess the guide’s usefulness, ease of use, presentation, and content. The results in this study demonstrated a positive perception among professionals with practical experience in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) design, indicating that the proposed guide can contribute to the advancement of Feminist HCI and to reducing the gap between theory and practice.