Fulbright Canada Blog

Building Canada-U.S. Collaborations through Research with Homeless Young People

Jill Woelfer, Fulbright Scholar

I am a PhD Candidate in Information Science at the Information School here at the University of Washington. My field is human-computer interaction, also know as HCI. I investigate the socio-technical aspects of information systems, for example the experiences that people have with mobile phones or with applications like Facebook.

Prior research with homeless young people

Homelessness among young people, up to age 30 is a pressing problem with lasting social and economic consequences in the United States and Canada. Although counting homeless people is fraught with difficulty, experts estimate that up to 3 million young people are homeless each year in the U.S. and 50,000 – 60,000 young people experience homelessness annually in Canada. In order to better understand how technology might help improve the welfare of homeless young people, since 2007 I have engaged in research, service and design projects with homeless young people in Seattle along with my PhD supervisor David G. Hendry. In one of these projects, I helped co-create a community technology center for homeless young people, where I volunteered as an instructor and worked with nearly 100 young people. You can find out more about this project on the University of Washington website.

Collaborations in on-going research in Canada

I received a 2011-2012 Fulbright award to Canada and I have been living in Vancouver, BC since September. My Fulbright project is the basis for my PhD dissertation research – a study which will investigate the role of music in the lives of homeless young people while also considering the ways that location and policies may influence homeless young people’s access to technology. Participants in this research will include homeless young people in Seattle and Vancouver, BC. This research is supported by a number of collaborations, including sharing data with a research team at the University of Southern California. Additionally, there are three important collaborative elements with people and institutions that cross the border between Canada and the U.S.

First, while in Vancouver, I am affiliated with the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS) at the University of British Columbia. My adviser at SLAIS is Lisa Nathan, a PhD alumna of the UW Information School who joined the SLAIS faculty in 2008. Prof. Nathan and I share a common interest in the social aspects of technology and meet regularly to discuss research.

Second, I have established collaborations with youth service agencies and I am exploring the possibility of collaborating with public libraries. I have formed collaborations with two agencies that provide assistance to homeless youth, one in Seattle and one in Vancouver, BC. These agencies will be the research sites for my study, and findings will be shared with both agencies. Additionally, after seeing a presentation that I gave in October 2011 at Simon Fraser University in Surrey, BC, one of the members of the Community-Led Libraries Committee which meets regularly at Vancouver Public Library became interested in hearing more about my research. Subsequently, I gave a presentation in January to introduce the committee to my dissertation research and to talk about potential implications of my study.

Finally, I have also begun conversations with researchers in youth homelessness in Vancouver, BC, facilitated by Prof. Chris Richardson at the UBC School of Population and Public Health. I met with Prof. Richardson and others in January to discuss research and intersections between public health and HCI.

As my time in Canada continues, I look forward to meeting more people and taking part in discussions about future directions and shared projects.

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It’s been busy in the 6 months since I completed my Fulbright experience at Georgetown University.   I have since returned to Ottawa from Washington DC and resumed my job within the federal public service.  While it is great to be back at work, I miss Washington dearly.  I maintain a connection to DC through friends, colleagues and the occasional read of the Washington Post city section. However, the best reminder of my Fulbright experience has been the number of opportunities which have presented themselves as a result.

In July 2011, I presented my research on Colombian refugees at the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference in Uganda.  This was my first experience in Africa and I knew it would not be a typical African experience.  Dubbed the “Pearl of Africa”, Uganda straddles the equator and has a diverse landscape (mountains, rainforests and large freshwater lakes) complete with an abundance of wildlife, including gorillas, elephants, lions and thousands of species of birds.  The IASFM was held in the capital city of Kampala and brought together forced migration researchers from around the world.  Uganda is a perfect setting for such a conference as it has been deeply impacted by the movement of refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.  The overwhelming number of refugees fleeing to Uganda has placed a considerable stress on the state’s already strained resources (25% of Ugandan citizens remain in abject poverty).  Many of these refugees have experienced sexual and gender-based violence, sexual abuse, physical violence, violent conflict and mental health issues.  Struggling to address the needs of much of its native population, the Government of Uganda has largely left international NGOs and humanitarian agencies on the ground to address the needs of refugees in Uganda.  Researchers, practitioners and experts at IASFM highlighted these challenges before the Government of Uganda and discussed potential approaches for addressing them.

Despite their troubles, Ugandans are extremely welcoming and friendly.  It is impossible to move through a crowd in busy Kampala without stopping to chat.  In fact, it is considered rude to ask questions of someone without an initial greeting (e.g. Hello. How are you? Can you tell me where X is?).  I took to the opportunity to tour Kampala and visited the King’s Palace.  The Palace is a beautiful landmark set atop a hill overlooking all of Kampala and is a focal point for much of Uganda’s modern history.  A tour of Idi Amin’s torture chamber for political prisoners is found a few hundred yards away from the Palace and is not for the faint of heart.  I recall the chills that ran down my spine as I looked at the bloody hand prints of prisoners and their last words written on a cement wall.  Beyond the Palace gates, the city is a buzz with music, traffic and commerce.  Given the financial situation of ordinary Ugandans, even seemingly small gestures can have huge impacts.  For example, upon realizing that a 16 year old boy was wearing worn out slippers as shoes, my colleague gave the boy his own shoes (a perfect fit) and the equivalent of $10 CDN.  His mother broke into tears and erupted in screams of joy.  A small cost for us, but a tremendous relief for them.

In October, I participated in the Transatlantic Forum for Migration and Integration in Trivandrum, India.  This was my first time visiting India and despite my heavy reading, there was no way I could be prepared for what I was about to experience.  Someone once told me, “for everything that is true about India, the opposite is also true.”  To me, this sums up how people who have lived their entire lives in India can claim to only understand 1% of the country.  As someone preoccupied with migration issues, Trivandrum piqued my intellectual curiosity.  The state of Kerala (of which Trivandrum is the capital) has a population of around 32 million people.  Amazingly, 220,000 persons migrate to the Gulf Countries each year for work and send home over $11B in remittances to Kerala. This staggering level of migration has resulted in large houses being built all over Kerala with remittance money, international airports with direct flights to Qatar and Dubai built in nearly every city and a cultural expectation that young men will emigrate for work.  The work available in the Gulf is mainly of the 3D variety- dangerous, dirty and demeaning.  Migrant rights are largely fiction in most Gulf countries. Most of the persons with Gulf work experience I encountered had personal stories of exploitation and abuse. I was pleased to learn that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is adopting a more proactive role in ensuring the rights of Indian’s working abroad and providing greater support for Indian migrants. India’s economy is expanding exponentially and the country is positioned to be a global leader in the knowledge-based economy.  Millions of Indian students have begun studying in fields least favoured by North American students- science, technology, math and engineering.  These are precisely the types of students that Western countries are going to great lengths to attract and retain.

Despite its economic growth, the disparity between rich and poor is never more stark than it is in India’s major cities, like Mumbai.  For example, Dobi Ghat is a small slum set between rows of train track buried in the heart of busy Mumbai.  There you can see people washing clothes by hand in the shadows of Mumbai’s most posh hotels.  At first, the sight of people sleeping in the streets was shocking.  Over the course of my three weeks in Indian, I found myself becoming ‘acclimatized’ to the sights, sounds and smells of the streets.  However, I remain unfamiliar with the nuances of Indian culture.  It is clear that Indians put the greatest value in friends and family.  In fact, the first questions people most often posed to me in India were: What’s your name? Where are you from? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Can I take a picture with you? While having my picture taken with strangers seemed odd initially, I eventually found it to be a very welcoming experience. I noticed that I was rarely asked about my vocation. I found this family focus refreshing.  As the holiday season approaches, I will be sure to keep this in mind.

In 2010-11, Ian was the Fulbright-TD Student Award Recipient at Georgetown University.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index is at the highest level ever recorded. Wheat crops have failed in Russia and in China due to severe heat and draught. International food access issues are stirring local public and private responses, one of which is urban farming. To ascertain the community impacts of urban farming, I propose the development of an urban farming census to measure the economic, social and environmental outcomes of urban farming.

Read the rest, here.

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