About me

Image of Naveena, a brown woman with black hair

Hi! I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society and currently on the job market! My research looks at how the design of emerging technologies can address inequities in care economies, such as healthcare and social work. I use qualitative methods to understand how technologies are shaping futures of care work, particularly in the Global South, attending to how social inequities are variously reproduced or disrupted. Through design methods, I ask how we might support more just care infrastructures that better recognize the labor, autonomy, and rights of care workers and care recipients. My research contributes to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD).

I also think a lot about care and work outside of research. I volunteer for SIGCHI as AC for Community Support, which gives me the opportunity to work towards mechanisms for cultivating community among researchers and practitioners in HCI, including students and early career professionals. I'm also active in community organizing and am always happy to chat more about this.

I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Washington, advised by Richard Anderson in the ICTD Lab. I received my undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, advised by Neha Kumar in the Tandem Lab. Previously, I have worked with Microsoft Research India, the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Gram Vaani.

Please reach out at naveenak (at) seas (dot) harvard (dot) edu!

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

Speculating with Care: Worker-centered Perspectives on Scale in a Chat-based Health Information Service

Naveena Karusala, Shirley Yan, Nupoor Rajkumar, Victoria G, Richard Anderson


CSCW 2023



Unsettling Care Infrastructures: From the Individual to the Structural in a Digital Maternal and

Child Health Intervention
Naveena Karusala, Victoria G, Shirley Yan, Richard Anderson
CHI 2023

Towards Conviviality in Navigating Health Information on Social Media
Naveena Karusala and Richard Anderson
CHI 2022

“That courage to encourage”: Participation and Aspirations in Chat-based Peer Support for Youth Living with HIV
Naveena Karusala, David Seeh, Cyrus Mugo, Brandon Guthrie, Megan Moreno, Grace John-Stewart, Irene Inwani, Richard Anderson, Keshet Ronen
CHI 2021, Best Paper Award

Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction
Neha Kumar and Naveena Karusala 
AltCHI 2021

Taking the Long, Holistic, and Intersectional View to Women’s Wellbeing
Neha Kumar, Naveena Karusala, Azra Ismail, and Anupriya Tuli
ToCHI 2020

Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses
Naveena Karusala, Ding Wang, Jacki O’Neill
CHI 2020

Engaging Identity, Assets, and Constraints in Designing for Resilience
Naveena Karusala, Isaac Holeman, and Richard Anderson
CSCW 2019

Street-Level Realities of Data Practices in Homeless Services Provision
Naveena Karusala, Jennifer Wilson, Phebe Vayanos, and Eric Rice
CSCW 2019

Engaging Feminist Solidarity for Comparative Research, Design, and Practice
Neha Kumar, Naveena Karusala, Azra Ismail, Marisol Wong-Villacres, and Aditya Vishwanath
CSCW 2019

Mental Health in the Global South: Challenges and Opportunities in HCI for Development
Sachin R. Pendse, Naveena Karusala, Divya Siddarth, Pattie Gonsalves, Seema Mehrotra, John A. Naslund, Mamta Sood, Neha Kumar, and Amit Sharma
COMPASS 2019

Privacy, Patriarchy, and Participation on Social Media
Naveena Karusala, Apoorva Bhalla, and Neha Kumar
DIS 2019

Engaging Lived and Virtual Realities
Aditya Vishwanath, Naveena Karusala, Marisol Wong-Villacres, and Neha Kumar
CHI 2019

Bringing Shades of Feminism to Human-Centered Computing
Manasee Narvilkar, Josiah Mangiameli, Adriana Alvarado Garcia, Azra Ismail, Daniel Schiff, Danielle Schechter, Jordan Chen, Karthik Bhat, Marisol Wong-Villacres, Anusha Vasudeva, Aparna Ramesh, Michaelanne Dye, Naveena Karusala, Pragati Singh, Savanthi Murthy, Shubhangi Gupta, Udaya Lakshmi, Neha Kumar
AltCHI 2019

Aspirations-based Design
Neha Kumar, Marisol Wong-Villacres, Naveena Karusala, Aditya Vishwanath, Arkadeep Kumar, and Azra Ismail
ICTD 2019

#autism: Twitter as a Lens to Explore Differences in Autism Awareness in India and the United States
Naveena Karusala, Neha Kumar, and Rosa Arriaga
ICTD 2019

#AutismAwareness: A Longitudinal Study to Characterize Tweeting Patterns for Indian and US Users
Safa Quadri, Naveena Karusala, and Rosa Arriaga.
India HCI 2018

Bridging Disconnected Knowledges for Community Health
Azra Ismail, Naveena Karusala, and Neha Kumar
CSCW 2018

Designing for Intersections
Marisol Wong-Villacres, Arkadeep Kumar, Aditya Vishwanath, Naveena Karusala, Betsy DiSalvo, and Neha Kumar
DIS 2018

"Only if you use English you will get to more things": Using Smartphones to Navigate Multilingualism
Naveena Karusala, Aditya Vishwanath, Aditya Vashistha, Sunita Kumar, and Neha Kumar
CHI 2018

Care as a Resource for Underserved Learning Environments
Naveena Karusala*, Aditya Vishwanath*, Arkadeep Kumar, Aman Mangal, and Neha Kumar
CSCW 2018, Diversity and Inclusion Recognition

#ifafricawasabar: Participation on Twitter across African Borders
Naveena Karusala, Trevor Perrier, and Neha Kumar
#Identity: Twitter and The Politics of Representation 2017

Women’s Safety in Public Spaces: Examining the Efficacy of Panic Buttons in New Delhi
Naveena Karusala and Neha Kumar
CHI 2017

Addressing Patient Waiting Times in Low-Resource Environments
Neha Kumar, Rajesh Chandwani, and Naveena Karusala
ICTD 2016


Select Organized Workshops & SIGs

The Future of Hybrid Care and Wellbeing in HCI
Karthik Bhat, Azra Ismail, Amanda Hall, Naveena Karusala, Helena Mentis, John Vines, Neha Kumar
CHI 2023

Human-Computer Interaction and the Future of Work
CHIWORK Collective
, Naveena Karusala, Nabil Ch, Diana Tosca, Alberta Ansah, Emeline Brulé, Nadia Fereydooni, Le-En Huang, Azra Ismail, Pranjal Jain, Wendy Khoo, Isabel Muñoz, Clemens Schartmüller, Himanshu Verma, Preeti Vyas, Susanne Boll, Sarah Fox, Noopur Raval, Max Wilson, Anna Cox, Christian P. Janssen, Helena Mentis, Neha Kumar, Orit Shaer, and Andrew Kun
CHI 2022

The Changing Landscape of Care Work in the Global South
Naveena Karusala

CHI Doctoral Consortium, 2022

The Future of Care Work: Towards a Radical Politics of Care in CSCW Research and Practice Naveena Karusala*, Azra Ismail*, Karthik Bhat, Aakash Gautam, Sachin Pendse, Neha Kumar, Richard Anderson, Madeline Balaam, Shaowen Bardzell, Nicola J Bidwell, Melissa Densmore, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Anne Marie Piper, Noopur Raval, Pushpendra Singh, Austin Toombs, Nervo Verdezoto, and Ding Wang
CSCW 2021

Following the Trail of Citational Justice: Critically Examining Knowledge Production in HCI Citational Justice Collective, Gabriela Molina León, Lynn Kirabo, Marisol Wong-Villacrés, Naveena Karusala, Neha Kumar, Nicola Bidwell, Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, Pranjal Protim Borah, Radhika Garg, Sushil K Oswal, Tee Chuanromanee, and Vishal Sharma.
CSCW 2021

Intersectional Computing
Neha Kumar and Naveena Karusala
Interactions 2019

Talks & Panels

2023      Citational Justice: Why and How to Consider our References, UW-Madison
2022      Being in Community: Volunteering with SIGCHI, ACM SIGCHI Symposium for HCI and Friends
2021      Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Care Work, CHIWORK Online Series
2021      On Bread and Roses, MISC, University of Michigan
2020      Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction, University of Washington
2020      Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction, Vienna University of Technology
2020      On Bread and Roses, DUB Seminar, University of Washington
2020      Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses, India HCI
2020      Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses, University of Toronto
2019      Human-Centered AI: Closing the Implementation Gap, Wadhwani Institute for AI
2018      The Design of Digital Payment Processes in Organizational Contexts, Digital Financial                   Services Workshop, University of Washington
2018      “Only if you use English you will get to more things”: Using Smartphones to Navigate                   Multilingualism, Microsoft Research India - University of Washington Symposium
2017      Care as a Resource for Underserved Learning Environments, Change Seminar, University of                   Washington

Teaching

Guest Lectures

2023      Gender, Labor, and Technology, CSE580: CS for Social Good, University of Washington


2023      Qualitative Methods, CS 276: Design, Technology, and Social Impact, Harvard University
2023      Solidarity Across Borders, CS 4803: Gender and Global Development, Georgia Tech
2022      The Future of Care Work, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2022      Alumni Panel, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2022      Innovation with Care: Health Interventions through Feminist Lenses, Facilitation of Design
                  Processes and Technological Innovation, Aalborg University
2021      Automation, Labor, and Where Power Lies, CSE 478: Robotics, University of Washington
2020      Feminisms, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2017      Gender and ICTD, CSEP 590: ICTs and International Development, University of Washington
2017      Feminist HCI and Healthcare, CS 8803: Technology and Poverty, Georgia Tech