Dr. Angela D. R. Smith
Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester, Department of Black Studies
About me
I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. I received my doctoral degree from Northwestern University in Technology & Social Behavior, a joint degree in Communication and Computer Science. My research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and Information Sciences. Specifically, my research asks how Black life, cultural practice, and world-making shape and are shaped by computational systems. Working from critical race and intersectional theory, I move across three registers: diagnosing how algorithmic and institutional systems capture, misread, and extract from Black communities; building generative frameworks centered on Black joy, hope, and flourishing rather than harm alone; and developing pedagogy oriented toward critical consciousness. Through qualitative, participatory, and speculative design methods — including design fiction and Afrofuturist practice — I co-construct knowledge, conscientization, and design interventions alongside the communities I work with.
education
Ph.D., Technology and Social Behavior, Joint Degree in Computer Science and Communications, September 2021, Northwestern University
Dissertation: There’s Hope in the System: Towards a Strength-Driven Design Approach to Support the Information Work of Sheltered Emerging Adults
Chair: Madhu C. Reddy; Committee: Tawanna R. Dillahunt, Darren Gergle, Stephen M. Schueller
M.S., Information Assurance, Concentration in Risk Management and Digital Forensics, December 2012, Eastern Michigan University, School of Technology
B.A., Screen Arts & Cultures, May 2009, University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Publications
A sample of my publications are below. For a full list of my publications, please refer to my Google Scholar or ORCID pages*
Refereed conference papers [*: equal authorship; †: trainee/mentee]
Peer-reviewed archival conference proceedings are considered a primary publication venue in the field of Human-Centered Computing. These papers are rigorously peer-reviewed. Thus, conference proceedings in Human-Centered Computing are comparable in both content and review process to peer-reviewed journal articles in other journal-based disciplines.
The top-tier venues in HCI research include ACM Conferences, such as Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), Fairness Accountability and Transparency (FAccT), Designing Interactive Systems (DIS), and Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp). CSCW transitioned to a hybrid journal structure and was renamed Proceedings of the ACM: CSCW in 2018. I also publish my research in journals or conferences on information science, social sciences, ethical AI, and AI/machine learning.
Angela D. R. Smith, Gabriella Thompson†, Mark Diaz, Chris Dancy, Seyi Olojo, Christina Harrington. 2026. Shaping the Future of Generative AI for Black Communities: A Frame Analysis of Public Discourse and Empirical Research. In Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society.
Ashlynn Campbell†, Angela D. R. Smith. 2026. The Double Bind: Understanding Equity in the Context of Generative AI in Computing Education. In Proceedings of the 2026 RESPECT Annual Conference (RESPECT 2026). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3796496.3811755
Alesandra Baca-Vázquez†, Kiara (Sunny) Dailey, Lynn Dombrowski, Angela D. R. Smith. 2026. Praxis Guides: Community Approaches to Resistance Efforts through Mutual Aid Zineing. In Proceedings of the 2026 DIS Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. Acceptance Rate 21%. BEST PAPER AWARD (Top 1%).
Angela D. R. Smith, Gabriella Thompson†, Bethany Miatta Turay†, Alexandra To. 2026. “You Are the Visuals, Baby”: Sonic Speculation and Interactive Afrofutures in Black Femme Musical Performance. In Proceedings of the 2026 DIS Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. Acceptance Rate: 24%. Honorable Mention (Top 5%).
Chelsea Barabas†, Angela D. R. Smith. 2026. Praxis for Otherwise Worlds: Expanding Emancipatory HCI through Black Studies. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. Acceptance Rate: 25.3% https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790555
Michelle Nashla Turcios, Alicia E. Boyd, Angela D. R. Smith, and Brittany Johnson. 2025. A Preliminary Framework for Intersectionality in ML Pipelines. In Proceedings of the 33rd ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE Companion '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1552–1563. https://doi.org/10.1145/3696630.3728692
Bethany Miatta Turay†, Alesandra Baca Vázquez†, Alexandra To, and Angela D. R. Smith. 2025. “I want to let them in”: Exploring Critical Consciousness Development through Roleplay and Reflection in “Papers, Please”. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 41, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723797
Gabriella Thompson†, Lynn Dombrowski, and Angela D. R. Smith. 2025. Embracing Social Justice within a Computing Curriculum to Foster Social Change. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 586, 1–17. Acceptance Rate: 25.1%. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713125
Tiera Tanksley*, Angela D. R. Smith*, Saloni Sharma, and Earl W Huff Jr. 2025. "Ethics is not neutral": Understanding Ethical and Responsible AI Design from the Lenses of Black Youth. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 200, 1–20. Acceptance Rate: 25.1%. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713510
Eunhye Grace Ko†, Rotem Landesman, Jason C Young, Ahmer Arif, Katie Davis, and Angela D. R. Smith. 2025. Domain Experts, Design Novices: How Community Practitioners Enact Participatory Design Values. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 800, 1–16. Acceptance Rate: 25.1%. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714060
Mark Diaz, & Angela D. R. Smith. (2024, October). What Makes An Expert? Reviewing How ML Researchers Define" Expert". In Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (Vol. 7, pp. 358-370). https://doi.org/10.1609/aies.v7i1.31642
Ishita Chordia, Leya Breanna Baltaxe-Admony, Ashley Boone, Alyssa Sheehan, Lynn Dombrowski, Christopher A Le Dantec, Kathryn E. Ringland, and Angela D. R. Smith. 2024. Social Justice in HCI: A Systematic Literature Review. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 512, 1–33. Acceptance Rate: 25.6%. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642704
Alexandra To*, Angela D. R. Smith*, Dilruba Showkat, Adinawa Adjagbodjou, and Christina Harrington. 2023. Flourishing in the Everyday: Moving Beyond Damage-Centered Design in HCI for BIPOC Communities. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 917–933. BEST PAPER AWARD (Top 1%). https://doi.org/10.1145/3563657.3596057
Yiqun T. Chen, Angela D. R. Smith, Katharina Reinecke, and Alexandra To. 2023. Why, when, and from whom: considerations for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data in HCI. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 395, 1–15. Acceptance Rate: 24.7%. Honorable Mention (Top 5%).https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581122
Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu*, Angela D. R. Smith*, Alexandra To*, and Kentaro Toyama. 2020. Critical Race Theory for HCI. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–16. Acceptance Rate: 24.3%. BEST PAPER AWARD (Top 1%).https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376392
Refereed journal articles
Stephanie T. Jones and Angela D. R. Smith. 2026. Frictions in Cozy Gaming: How Dynamics of Power, Race, and Cultural Flattening Shape World Building in Palia. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 10, 7, Article GAMES028 (November 2026), 31 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3831302
Angela D. R. Smith and Sarah E. Fox. 2026. How to Live in a World on Fire: Algorithmic Exploitation, Mutual Aid, and the Struggle for Resilient Futures. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) (CSCW’26). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article CSCW096, 26 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3816944
Angela D. R. Smith, Gianna Williams, Gabriella Thompson †, Alexandra To. 2025. Constructing a Community of Play: Black Sims Players and Game Modding. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 9, 6, Article GAMES014 (October 2025), 30 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3748609. Honorable Mention (Top 5%).
Holland Kowalkowski, Angela D. R. Smith. 2025. Belonging and Social Media: Latinx Teenagers’ Experiences in a YPAR Study. Social Media + Society, 11(1). Impact Factor: 6.8. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251319577
Caroline Figueroa, Hikari Murayama, Priscila C. Amorim, Alison White, Ashley Quiterio, Tiffany Luo, Adrian Aguilera, Angela D. R. Smith, Courtney R. Lyles, Victoria Robinson, and Claudia von Vacano. 2022. Applying the Digital Health Social Justice Guide. Methods, Frontier Digital Health - Human Factors and Digital Health. Vol. 4. Impact factor: 2.2.
Book chapters
Angela D. R. Smith, Alexandra To, Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu. 2022. Racial Justice and Scholar Activism: Reflections on Critical Race Theory for HCI. In Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices. Rowman & Littlefield.
Refereed short papers and extended abstracts
Angela D. R. Smith, Brittany Johnson-Matthews, Meme Styles, Paulette Blanc. 2026. It Takes A Village: Engaging Marginalized Groups in Computing Survey Research. Communications of the ACM.
Lisa Egede†, Ebtesam Al Haque†, Gabriella Thompson†, Alicia Boyd, Angela D. R. Smith, and Brittany Johnson. 2025. Exploring Culturally Informed AI Assistants: A Comparative Study of ChatBlackGPT and ChatGPT. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA'25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 242, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3720136
Chelsea Barabas † and Angela D. R. Smith. 2025. Dear Laura: Ethnographic Lettering as Critical Technical Practice in Design. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 625, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3716213
Gabriella Thompson†, Nissi Otoo†, Jaden Christopher Fisher, Irene Sibi, Angela D. R. Smith, and Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu. 2024. Technology Use in the Black Church: Perspectives of Black Church Leaders Preliminary Findings. In Companion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW Companion '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 223–227. https://doi.org/10.1145/3678884.3681855
Alesandra Baca-Vázquez†, Kayla M. Booth, and Angela D. R. Smith. 2024. Maintaining a Community of Care: Opportunities and Challenges of ICTs for Contemporary Mutual Aid. In Companion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW Companion '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1145/3678884.3681857
Gabriella Thompson†, Ebtesam Al Haque†, Paulette Blanc, Meme Styles, Angela D. R. Smith, Brittany Johnson-Matthews. 2024. An Investigation of Experiences Engaging the Margins in Data-Centric Innovation. HCOMP 2024: The Twelfth AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing. Work in Progress.
Yiqun T. Chen, Angela D. R. Smith, Katharina Reinecke, and Alexandra To. 2022. Collecting and Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data in HCI. In Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 327, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3519685
teaching
I 320J / I 220S: Design for Social impact, Instructor of Record, UT Austin, School of Information, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025 (Undergraduate)
This course draws on science & technology studies, technology design, and the arts to analyze the values embodied in technology design, and to design technologies to promote positive social impact. Encourages students to question what social and cultural values technology designs consciously or unconsciously promote, to what degree can social impact be “written into” a technology, and how can we take social and cultural values into account in design?
I 310J: Introduction to Social Justice Informatics, Instructor of Record, UT Austin, School of Information, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025 (Undergraduate)
This course considers how justice theories can inform how information and communication technologies (ICTs) and communities can respond to implicit and explicit biases among historically excluded populations. It also critically reflects on existing orientations towards social justice with its commitments to punitive sanctions, and examines alternative approaches like restorative and transformative justice, which advocate for systems of accountability.
INF 391F: Participatory Design & Research with Vulnerable Populations, Instructor of Record, UT Austin, School of Information Fall 2021 (Graduate)
INF 391F: Advanced Topics in Research Methods, Methodologies, & Design Qualitative Research Methods, Guest Lecturer, UT Austin, School of Information, Fall 2021 (Graduate)
Contact
Email: a.smith (at) rochester.edu
Based in Rochester, New York