Best paper honorable mention award: ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems

Self Harmony: Rethinking Hackathons to Design and Critique Digital Technologies for Those Affected by Self-Harm

In this paper, we explore the opportunities, challenges and best practices around designing technologies for those affected by self-harm. Our work contributes to the growing HCI literature on mental health and well-being, as well as to understanding how to imbue appropriate value sensitivity within the digital design process in these contexts. The first phase of our study was centred upon a hackathon during which teams of designers were asked to conceptualise and prototype digital products or services for those affected by self-harm. We discuss how value-sensitive actions and activities, including engagements with those with lived experiences of self-harm, were used to scaffold the conventional hackathon format in such a challenging context. Our approach was then extended through a series of critical engagements with clinicians and charity workers who provided an appraisal of the prototypes and designs. Through analysis of these engagements, we expose a number of design challenges for future HCI work that considers self-harm; moreover, we offer insight into the role of stakeholder critiques in extending and rethinking hackathons as a design method in sensitive contexts.