Austin Toombs
Austin L. Toombs, PhD
Assistant Professor
toombsa@purdue.edu
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Biography
I am currently an Assistant Professor at Purdue University, in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology within the Purdue Polytechnic Institute.
I have recently completed a postdoc (Research Associate) at Open Lab within Newcastle University. I earned my PhD in Human Computer Interaction Design in 2016 from the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University, with a minor in Inquiry Methodology. I also hold a B.S. in Computer Science from Ball State University and a M.S. in Human Computer Interaction Design from Indiana University.
My research interests center on the impact that digital technologies have on how communities are formed and maintained. I am particularly interested in how certain kinds of relationships between individuals within a community are encouraged while others are discouraged, and how various technologies are used to implicitly enforce these distinctions. How interpersonal relationships are sanctioned (in both senses of the word) plays a vital role in the inclusivity, welcomeness, and diversity of a community.
In recent projects, I have studied maker, hacker, and DIY communities through both physical and digital ethnographies, the participatory design of hackathon-like events, and large-scale listserv communication analyses. In this work, I have focused on explicating the ways in which individuals develop identities as makers/hackers/expert-amateurs, as well as how they participate in their community. In my post-doctoral work on digital civics, I extended the methodological lenses I have developed to threads related to social care, civic engagement, and health informatics, specifically focusing on how individuals transition to their lives as new parents.
Education:
May 2016 Indiana University—Bloomington, IN
Ph.D. Informatics, Human Computer Interaction Design
Minor: Inquiry Methodology
Dissertation: Care and the Construction of Hacker Identities, Communities, and Society
Co-chairs: Jeffrey Bardzell and Shaowen Bardzell
May 2012 Indiana University—Bloomington, IN
M.S. Human-Computer Interaction Design
May 2010 Ball State University—Muncie, IN
B.S. Computer Science
Minor: Mathematics
2021. Corps of Engagement Award for Families Tackling Tough Times Together program, Steering Committee member, Purdue University.
2021. Faculty Engagement Award for Families Tackling Tough Times Together program, Steering Committee member, College of Health and Human Sciences.
2021. Outstanding Design Case Award, AERA SIG Design and Technology.
2019. Recognition for Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion, DIS | C&C Diversity and Accessibility Co-Chairs.
2017. Best Paper Award, ACM DIS Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.
2015. 2 x Best Paper Award Nominations, ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
2014. Best Paper Award Nomination, ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Journal Publications
Gray, C. M., Parsons, P., Toombs, A. L., Rasche, N., & Vorvoreanu, M. (2020). Designing an Aesthetic Learner Experience: UX, Instructional Design, and Design Pedagogy. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 11(1), 41-58.
Lee, A., Toombs, A. L., Erickson, I., Nemer, D., Ho, Y., Jo, E., Guo, Z. (2019). The Social Infrastructure of Co-Spaces: Home, Work, and Sociable Places for Digital Nomads. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3 (CSCW), 1-23.
Bardzell, J., Bardzell, S. Lin, C., Lindtner, S., & Toombs, A. (2018). HCI’s Making Agendas. Foundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 126–200, 2017. DOI: 10.1561/1100000066
Kou, Y., Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & Adams, R. S. (2018). Understanding social roles in an online community of volatile practice: A study of user experience practitioners on reddit. ACM Transactions on Social Computing, 1(4), 1-22.
Toombs, A. L., Gross, S., Bardzell, S., Bardzell, J. (2016). From Empathy to Care: A Feminist Care Ethics Perspective on Long-Term Researcher-Subject Relations. Interacting with Computers: Special Issue “Ethics Matter(s)” 29(1), 45-57. https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iww010
Toombs, A. L., Bardzell, S., and Bardzell, J. (2014). Becoming Makers: Hackerspace Member Habits, Values, and Identities. Journal of Peer Production, 5.
Gestwicki, P., Haddad, A., Toombs, A. L., & Sun, F. (2009). An Experience Report and Analysis of Java Technologies in Undergraduate Game Programming Courses. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 25(1), 102-108.
Conference Proceedings
Peer Reviewed Full Papers
Jo, E., Toombs, A. L., Gray, C. M., & Hong, H. (2020). Understanding Parenting Stress through Co-designed Self-Trackers. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’20). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Toombs, A. L., Whitley, D., & Gray, C. M. (2020). Autono-preneurial Agents in the Community: Developing a Socially Aware API for Autonomous Entrepreneurial Lawn Mowers. In Companion of the 2020 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP ’20). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 69-82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3323994.3369900
Watkins, C. R., Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & Parsons, P. (2020). Tensions in Enacting a Design Philosophy in UX Practice. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 2107-2118).
Talhouk, R., Balaam, M., Toombs, A. L., Garbett, A., Akik, C., Ghattas, H., Araujo-Soares, V., Ahmad, B., & Montague, K. (2019, June). Involving Syrian refugees in design research: Lessons learnt from the field. In Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 1583-1594).
Gray, C. M., Kou, K., Battles, B., Hoggat, J., & Toombs, A. L. (2018). The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper 534, 14 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108
Kou, Y., Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & Adams, R. S. (2018). Knowledge Production and Social Roles in an Online Community of Emerging Occupation: A Study of User Experience Practitioners on Reddit. In Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS) (pp. 2068-2077). Waikoloa Village, HI. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/50148
Kou, Y. Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & Nardi, B. (2018). The Politics of Titling: The Representation of Countries in CHI Papers. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper alt16, 10 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188409
Strohmayer, A., Bellini, R., Meissner, J., Finnigan, S. M., Alabdulqader, E., Toombs, A. L., & Balaam, M. (2018). #CHIversity: Implications for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Campaigns. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper alt03, 10 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188396
Toombs, A. L., Morrissey, K., Simpson, E., Gray, C. M., Vines, J., & Balaam, M. (2018). Supporting the Complex Social Lives of New Parents. In CHI’18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173994
Toombs, A. L., (2017). Hackerspace Tropes, Identities, and Community Values. In DIS’17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems. (pp.1079-1091). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/3064663.3064760 [Awarded Best Paper, top 1%]
Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & McKay, C. (2016). Meaning Reconstruction as an Approach to Analyze Critical Dimensions of HCI Research. In CHI EA ’16: CHI’16 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 328-340). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2892571
Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., & Gross, S. (2015). Flow of Competency in UX Design Practice. In CHI’15: Proceedings of the 2015 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702579 [Received the SIGCHI Best of CHI Honorable Mention Award, top 5%]
Toombs, A. L., Bardzell, S., & Bardzell, J. (2015). The Proper Care and Feeding of Hackerspaces: Care Ethics and Cultures of Making. In CHI’15: Proceedings of the 2015 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702522 [Received the SIGCHI Best of CHI Honorable Mention Award, top 5%]
Pace, T., Toombs, A. L., Gross, S., Pattin, T., Bardzell, J., & Bardzell, S. (2013). A tribute to Mad Skill: Expert Amateur Visuality and World of Warcraft Machinima. In CHI’13: Proceedings of the 2013 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2019-2028). New York, NY: ACM Press.
Bardzell, S., Gross, S., Wain, J., Toombs, A. L., & Bardzell, J. (2011). The Significant Screwdriver: Care, Domestic Masculinity, and Interaction Design. In Proceedings of the 25th BCS Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 371-377). Swinton, UK: British Computer Society.
Peer Reviewed Short Papers and Posters
Clepper, G., Martinez, J. S., Farooq, A., Allred, A. M., McDonald, K., Carr, I., Toombs, A. L., & Tan, H. Z. (2020). Feeling Creepy: A Haptic Haunted House (Demo). IEEE.
Lee, A., & Toombs, A. L. (2020,). Robots on Campus: Understanding Public Perception of Robots using Social Media. In Conference Companion Publication of the 2020 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 305-309).
Parsons, P., Gray, C. M., Rasche, N. J., & Toombs, A. L. (2020). Vertical Integration in UX Design Studios. 2nd Annual ACM SIGCHI Symposium on HCI Education (EduCHI 2020).
Lee, A., Toombs, A. L., & Erickson, I. (2019). Infrastructure vs. Community: Co-Spaces Confront Digital Nomads’ Paradoxical Needs. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’19). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Murdoch-Kitt, K., Gray, C. M., Parsons, P., Toombs, A. L., Louw, M., & Van Gent, E. (2019). Developing Students’ Instrumental Judgment Capacity for Design Research Methods. Dialogue: Proceedings of the AIGA Design Educators Community Conferences (Decipher, Vol. 1)(pp. 108-115). doi: 10.3998/mpub.11688977.
Toombs, A. L., Davidge, M. A., Park, J., Sirko, G., & LaPeter, M. (2019, November). Algorithmically-Generated Communities: A Case Study. In Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 387-391).
Toombs, A. L., Gray, C. M., Zhou, G., & Light, A. (2018). Appropriated or Inauthentic Care in Gig-Economy Platforms: A Psycho-linguistic Analysis of Uber and Lyft. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper LBW532, 6 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188657
Townshend, J., Hayes, L., Hails, S., Toombs, A. L., & Balaam, M. (2018). Development of an online resource to support paedaitric asthma management: www.beatasthma.co.uk. European Respiratory Journal, 52, PA3134. DOI: 10.1183/13993003.congress-2018.PA3134
Bardzell, J., Bardzell, S., & Toombs, A. L. (2014). “Now that’s definitely a proper hack”: Self-made Tools in Hackerspaces. In CHI’14: Proceedings of the 2014 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 473-476). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557221 [Received the SIGCHI Best of CHI Honorable Mention Award, top 5%]
Invited or Juried
Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., Light, A., & Vines, J. (2018). Ethics, Values, and Designer Responsibility. Proceedings of the Design Research Society, 1.
Toombs, A. L. (2015). Enacting Care Through Collaboration in Communities of Makers. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference Companion on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW’15 Companion, Doctoral Consortium paper) (pp. 81-84). New York, NY: ACM Press. doi:10.1145/2685553.2699326
Gross, S., Toombs, A. L., Wain, J., & Walorski, K. (2011). Foodmunity: Designing Community Interactions Over Food. In CHI ’11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1019-1024). New York, NY: ACM Press.
Trade Publications
Gray, C. M., Toombs, A. L., Owczarzak, M., & Watkins, C. (2019). Digital civics goes abroad. Interactions, 26(2), 74-77.
Toombs, A. L., Ferri, G., Grimme, S., Gross, S., Stallings, M. D., Bardzell, J., and Bardzell, S. (2016). Making a critical playshop. interactions 24, 1 (December 2016), 34-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3019006
Peer Reviewed Conference Presentations
Nemer, D., & Toombs, A. L. (2019). Care and Emotional Labor in the Gig Economy. Power Struggles in the Digital Economy. Panel Discussion at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). New Orleans, LA.
Gray, C. M., & Toombs, A. L. (2018, April). Forming a Design Identity in Computing Education Through Reflection and Peer Interaction. Paper Session at the 2018 AERA Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.
Book Chapters
Gray, C. M., Parsons, P., & Toombs, A. L. (2020). Building a holistic design identity through integrated studio education. In Educational Technology Beyond Content (pp. 43-55). Springer, Cham.
Toombs, A. L., Bardzell, S., and Bardzell, J. (2014). Becoming Makers: Hackerspace Member Habits, Values, and Identities. In J. Söderberg & Maxigas (Eds.) Book of Peer Production: Special FSCONS Edition (pp. 36-45). Aarhus, DK: NSU Press. [Invited from Special Issue of Journal of Peer Production]
Workshops Convened
Gray, C. M., Chivukula, S. S., Toombs, A. L., & Light, A. (2018). Visualizing Values to Analyze Designers’ Ethical Responsibility. Design Research Society. Limerick, Ireland.
Toombs, A. L., Devendorf, L., Shih, P., Kaziunas, E., Nemer, D., Mentis, H., & Forlano, L. (2018). Sociotechnical Systems of Care. In Companion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 479-485).
Toombs, A. L., Dow, A., Vines, J., Gray, C. M., Dennis, B., Clarke, R., & Light, A. (2018). Designing for Everyday Care in Communities. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS ’18 Companion). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 391-394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3197391.3197394
Lazar, A., Toombs, A. L., Morrissey, K., Kenning, G., Boger, J., & Brankaert, R. (2018). HCIxDementia Workshop: Engaging People Living with Dementia. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper W01, 7 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3170613
Morrissey, K., Toombs, A. L., Lazar, A., and Boger, J. (2017). HCIxDementia: The Role of Technology & Design in Dementia. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’17). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3027083
Invited Talks and Presentations
2021, March 26. Toombs, A. L. Unpacking Parent Experiences with Family-Focused Digital Communities and Social Tools. Human Development and Family Studies department and Military Family Research Institute.
2020, June 9. Toombs, A. L., “Faculty Panel: Design Thinking in the Polytechnic (UX),” Purdue Polytechnic Institute.
2020, May 13. Toombs, A. L., Connecting in the community: Digital technology and built environment approaches to preventing mental health problems, ““we’re so much more than the in-game clan”: how a game session scheduling platform created hundreds of online communities,” Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Research Network, London, United Kingdom.
2019, March 13. Toombs, A. L., NORTH Lab Talks, “Ideas in progress: What can HCI and CSCW scholars learn from algorithmically defined communities?,” Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
2018, June 4. Gray, C. M., Parsons, P., Toombs, A. L., Polytechnic Summit, “The Integrated Design Studio as an Approach to Transdisciplinary Design Learning,” UTEC, Lima, Peru.
2018, January 26. Toombs, A. L., SIS Talks, “From Hackerspaces to Parent Groups: Everyday Care in Sociotechnical Communities,” University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
2017, July 17. Gray C. M., & Toombs, A. L. Qualitative Inquiry: Thematic Analysis, Meaning Reconstruction, and Data Management. Open Lab, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
2016, November 18. Gray, C. M., & Toombs, A. L. Tracing Meaning-Making Through Reconstructive Analysis. Participatory Information Technology Colloquium, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
2013, October 8. Guest Lecturer, INFO-I310: Media, Arts, and Technology. Expert Amateur Visual Practices in WoW Machinima. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
2013, October 7, 14, & 21. Guest Lecturer, INFO-I590: Advanced Prototyping. Interactive Prototyping with Sensors. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
2013, October 3. Invited Speaker, IU Makes Lecture Series. Self-Made Tools in Hackerspaces. Bloomington, IN.
Invited Research Institute
2015. Summer Institute, Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST). Florissant, CO.
Consulting:
2019 - current. External Research Consultant for Facebook