Neurodiverse Creators Build Accessibility on TikTok Through 'Critical Infrastructuring'
Category: User-Centred Design · Effect: Moderate effect · Year: 2023
Neurodiverse creators on TikTok proactively redesign platform features and workflows to enhance accessibility, demonstrating a bottom-up approach to improving user experience.
Design Takeaway
Actively involve and observe users, especially those from underrepresented groups, in the design process to understand their unique accessibility needs and the workarounds they create, which can inform more robust and inclusive design solutions.
Why It Matters
This research highlights that accessibility is not solely a top-down implementation but also a dynamic, user-driven process. Understanding how users, particularly those with neurodivergent conditions, adapt and improve digital platforms offers valuable insights for designing more inclusive and adaptable technologies from the outset.
Key Finding
Neurodiverse TikTok creators actively modify the platform's infrastructure to make it more accessible, a process that evolves when the platform introduces its own accessibility features, showing that accessibility is a continuous, user-led effort.
Key Findings
- Neurodiverse creators engage in 'critical infrastructuring' by creating and augmenting video editing and captioning tools to meet their needs.
- The introduction of platform-level auto-captioning features altered the critical infrastructuring practices of creators.
- Accessibility efforts by creators often constitute 'incidental care work', benefiting a wider user community.
- Accessibility is an evolving, context-dependent sociotechnical construct.
Research Evidence
Aim: How do neurodiverse creators on TikTok engage in 'critical infrastructuring' to make the platform more accessible, and how does the introduction of platform-level accessibility features impact these practices?
Method: Qualitative Interview Study
Procedure: Researchers conducted interviews with neurodiverse creators on TikTok to understand their experiences with platform accessibility and their methods for creating workarounds and improvements.
Context: Social Media Platforms (TikTok), Digital Content Creation, Neurodiversity
Design Principle
Empower users to be co-creators of accessibility by designing flexible systems that can be adapted and augmented.
How to Apply
When designing digital products, consider how users might 'hack' or adapt features to suit their needs, and proactively build in flexibility or consult with diverse user groups to anticipate these adaptations.
Limitations
Findings are specific to TikTok and the experiences of neurodiverse creators; generalizability to other platforms or user groups may vary. The study focuses on creators, not all users.
Student Guide (IB Design Technology)
Simple Explanation: People who are neurodivergent on TikTok often create their own ways to make the platform easier to use, like adding their own captions. When TikTok adds features like auto-captions, it changes how these creators make their own accessibility tools.
Why This Matters: This shows that good design isn't just about what the company makes, but also about how users adapt and improve products to fit their lives, especially for accessibility.
Critical Thinking: To what extent should designers rely on users to create accessibility, and what is the ethical responsibility of platforms to provide comprehensive, built-in solutions?
IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights the concept of 'critical infrastructuring,' where users, particularly those with neurodivergent conditions, proactively redesign aspects of a platform to enhance accessibility. This bottom-up approach demonstrates that effective accessibility often emerges from user adaptation and can inform the design of more flexible and inclusive digital environments.
Project Tips
- When researching user needs, look for evidence of users creating their own solutions or workarounds.
- Consider how a product's features might be adapted or improved by users with specific needs.
How to Use in IA
- Reference this study when discussing user-led innovation in accessibility or the importance of user adaptation in your design process.
Examiner Tips
- Demonstrate an understanding that accessibility is an ongoing, user-driven process, not a one-time fix.
Independent Variable: Introduction of platform-level auto-captioning feature.
Dependent Variable: Neurodiverse creators' critical infrastructuring practices.
Controlled Variables: ["Platform (TikTok)","User demographic (neurodiverse creators)"]
Strengths
- Provides a nuanced understanding of user-led accessibility.
- Introduces the valuable concept of 'critical infrastructuring'.
Critical Questions
- How can designers foster and support user-led accessibility initiatives?
- What are the long-term implications of relying on user-generated accessibility solutions?
Extended Essay Application
- Investigate how users of a specific technology adapt it to meet their accessibility needs, focusing on the 'critical infrastructuring' they perform.
Source
"Hey, Can You Add Captions?": The Critical Infrastructuring Practices of Neurodiverse People on TikTok · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2023 · 10.1145/3579490