Participation, Trauma, and Privacy in Studying Digital Safety

Date and time: Tuesday 27 May 2025, 14:00-15:00 CEST
Speaker: Emily Tseng, Microsoft Research / University of Washington

Where: Digital Futures hub , Osquars Backe 5, floor 2 at KTH main campus OR Zoom

Abstract: The digital safety problems of today and tomorrow ask a lot of our research infrastructures. As computing technologies become more social and more complex, so too do the vulnerabilities and exploits that attackers use to sow harm. We need to learn about technology’s role in harm to develop mitigations. But deep, empathetic, and nuanced research into these experiences asks survivors to repeatedly relive one of the worst moments of their lives; and asks researchers to repeatedly consider volumes and volumes of others’ pain and suffering. How do we learn about these experiences in ways that respect the dignity of harm survivors and the vicarious trauma of researchers — and provide the rigorous science we need to create positive real-world impact?

This talk will cover my past, present and future work exploring these questions in the contexts of tech-facilitated intimate partner violence, trauma-informed computing, participatory AI and AI red-teaming. I’ll conclude with future directions for allied research communities across computer science, HCI, and design, towards research infrastructures that help us safely ensure safety for us all.

Bio

Emily Tseng’s research examines how computing comes to mediate harm, how to intervene, and what it means to do so. Trained as a scientist-advocate for survivors of gender-based violence, she works across interpersonal, organizational, and societal levels of harm to build the sociotechnical infrastructures we need to make digital technology safer for everyone. 

Her current research interests include psychological safety in generative AI and AI red-teaming, and building participatory LLMs with and for journalists.

Emily publishes at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction (ACM CHI, CSCW) and computer security and privacy (USENIX Security, Oakland). With her collaborators, she has earned several Best Paper distinctions and an Internet Defense Prize, third place. Currently a postdoctoral research scientist at Microsoft Research, she will soon join the faculty of the University of Washington, in Human-Centered Design and Engineering.