Karin Danielsson

As the director of Humlab, I aim to initiate, inspire and develop the interaction between traditional humanities, culture and digitalization in research, postgraduate education and teaching. Humlab is a strong competence center at Umeå University with access to an advanced technical environment for digital humanities. We work inter- and transdisciplinary and find the meeting across disciplinary boundaries to be central.

In my research, I focus on collaborative and participatory methods during design and evaluation of digital materials in different contexts and environments for different target groups.

My current research interests are:

User participation during design of Artificial Intelligence

AI systems are increasingly prevalent in today’s society. When we develop and implement these systems, people are affected in different ways. Therefore, is important to consider representativeness (who is involved in the development and implementation of AI systems?), co-creation and participatory design (in what way, with which tools and methods, can citizens influence the development and implementation of AI systems?) and social change (how do we want these systems to change our society?). Questions like these have previously been addressed during design of interactive technologies and systems, using design approaches such as Participatory Design (PD). I investigate whether, if and how, participatory approaches and co-creation can be used during design and implementation of AI-systems in various contexts. In base my research on critical theory, feminist techno-science, and norm-creative methods. I collaborate in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research projects.

Health care and digitalization

Workplaces have been digitalized for a long time. Within healthcare, new challenges emerges, partly due to the shift to person-centered care. Presently, healthcare often includes new, digital solutions for communication and treatment. In my research, I focus on methods, tools, and techniques to support the development and implementation of innovation ideas by health care staff. Moreover, in the research project DiOn, I research on dietitians’ experience of working in digital environments, and how their work situation changes, with the increased use of digital tools in telepresence care.

I mainly teach at the department of Informatics. I teach and develop courses at basic, advanced and postgraduate level.

My main teaching areas are Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Digital Media Production and Artificial Intelligence in Society.

During 2011-2019 I was the program director for the bachelor's program Digital Media Production.