OUR RESEARCH FOCUS Our research focus in 2007 and 2008 is working with Pittsburgh neighborhoods, community groups, and advocacy groups. Our initial research focused on the learning and empowerment that occurs through participatory design workshops that use sensing and robotic technologies to address topics of community safety and revitalization.

As we move forward in our research, we expect the following results from the Neighborhood Networks project:

•Ethnographic descriptions of the process of technology engagement and use at the community level

•Invention, documentation, and evaluation of participatory design methods and support materials for use among communities

•Prototypes of potential products and services in the form of videos, working artifacts and systems

Our hope is that the results from this project, in the form of published papers, video documentation, and prototypes, can be put into practice by community groups, museums, and other advocacy and informal learning organizations.

As we publish our research, we will post it here.