Lynn Dombrowski

About

Dr. Lynn Dombrowski is an Associate Professor at the College of Computing, specializing in Human-Centered Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, Social Computing, and Design. Her research employs design and empirical methods to explore how computing technologies can address social inequality. She studies the development of designs and prototypes of human-centered computing technologies aimed at intervening in large systemic social issues such as hunger and wage violations. Her work contributes to the fields of human-computer interaction, ubiquitous and social computing, and design, with a focus on understanding the limitations and strengths of applying design methods to contemporary social issues. Her research themes include power, empowerment, politics, ethics, values, advocacy, and social justice within the context of the design and use of sociotechnical systems. Dr. Dombrowski's goal is to deepen the understanding of how information and communication technologies may foster or inhibit social change, producing analytic, theoretic, and pragmatic contributions within HCI. Her work aims to explore how design can influence social inequality and promote social justice.

Research topics

• Computer science
• Public relations
• Sociology
• Political science
• Business

Selected publications

• The Denizen Designer Project: Practices, Relationships, and Principles of Activist-Led Design

  Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2024-11-07 · 14 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Design activism is a way for designers and researchers to negotiate societal inequities and resulting implications for design practices. Within HCI and design, community-based methods are a common way to situate design engagements among those directly impacted by social inequities. Despite its potential for social impact, current approaches to design activism can be extractive and at odds with community-aligned advocacy. Drawing on interviews with 32 individuals who use design to address local,…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Healing Structures: Sociotechnical Mechanisms for Centering Survivors of Domestic Violence within US-Based Marginalized Communities

  Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2024-11-07 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Domestic violence (DV) survivors from marginalized communities face serious challenges when seeking governmental services and community resources. Current resources often overlook victim-survivors' needs, neglecting their choices and autonomy. Through studying the context of DV within the US-based Muslim community and embracing a Survivor-Centered Transformative Justice approach, we introduce healing structures, structures promoting justice for victim-survivors and their communities, where heali…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Whose, Which, and What Crisis? A Critical Analysis of Crisis in Computing Supply Chains

  2025-07-23 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Embracing Social Justice within a Computing Curriculum to Foster Social Change

  2025-04-24 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Datafication Dilemmas: Data Governance in the Public Interest

  2024-11-11 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Within CSCW, there is a robust body of literature examining the infrastructures, institutions, and labor processes enabling pervasive processes of datafication. Key public sectors and industries are being increasingly datafied, often in the service of implementing AI tools to improve the efficiency, efficacy, and equity of public goods and services. This panel specifically examines the role of CSCW scholars in advancing public-interest technologies by engaging with datafication through the regis…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CHS: Small: Collaborative Research: Reconstructing the data-driven workplace

  NSF · $16k · 2019–2022

• CHS: Small: Designing Collaborative and Transparent Work Information Systems

  NSF · $494k · 2017–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Gillian R. Hayes

  University of California, Irvine

  20 shared

• Travis Faas

  Ball State University

  17 shared

• Erin Brady

  14 shared

• Bill Tomlinson

  University of California, Irvine

  13 shared

• Melissa Mazmanian

  University of California, Irvine

  13 shared

• Ankita Raturi

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  13 shared

• Juliet Norton

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  13 shared

• Andrew Miller

  Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

  12 shared

Education

• PhD, Informatics

  University of California, Irvine

  2015

• Human-Computer Interaction/Design M.S., Informatics

  Indiana University

  2010

• Computer Information Systems and Web and Digital Media Production B.S., Computing and New Media Technologies

  University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

  2008

Similar researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology

• Frank Dellaerth-65
• Mark Borodovskyh-64
• Irfan Essah-63