Ph.D. Alumna: Krithika Jagannath
Krithika Jagannath (she/her/hers)
I am on a mission to help create kid-friendly virtual/online spaces including playgrounds that are safe and developmentally appropriate for young adolescents (typically 7-14 years)
Contact: krithikajagannath@berkeley.edu
Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); Developmental Science; Digital Play; Young Adolescents; Kid-friendly design; Online Governance; Socio-technical Community Moderation; AI Bots; Minecraft; Discord; Mixed Methods; Design-based Research
Twitter/Minecraft/Discord: @ResearcherKrit
Find me on LinkedIn here
About
My research is situated at the intersection of the allied disciplines of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Developmental Science, and Digital Play. I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Human Development, at UC Berkeley. I work with Dr. Ron Dahl to integrate the principles of Developmental Science on adolescent development into design-led research in HCI. I am also a CERES scholar.
Currently, I lead the research of Experience Craft, a virtual play-based program within Minecraft and Discord for young adolescents who are grieving. Experience Craft is a research-practice partnership between two
youth-serving organizations – Experience Camps and Connected Camps, and the Institute of Human Development at UC Berkeley. My current research is funded by the Bezos grant and by the CERES program.
My research aims are two-fold – i) to inform the design
of socio-technical systems within virtual playgrounds for adolescents, and ii) to help advance evidence-based research in Developmental Science and HCI. I use design-led research & mixed methods to understand how socio-technical interventions within online environments, especially play-based, might promote healthy social learning in young adolescents. My work also is focused on how emergent technologies like Discord bots can be designed to promote healthy social outcomes at the community level.
I earned my PhD in Informatics at UC Irvine where my doctoral dissertation was focused on the design features and socio-technical governance mechanisms in kid-friendly servers within the Minecraft and Discord platforms.
Current Projects
- Experience Craft (press coverage for project here)
- Virtual Playgrounds for Young Adolescents (CERES)
Past Projects
- Governance in Kid-friendly Minecraft & Prosocial Bots on Discord Servers (dissertation here and here)
- ListoAmerica Digital Clubhouse on Discord: Research-Practice partnership with ListoAmerica and Connected Learning Lab (blog post here)
- Data Science in Digital Play
- Raising Good Gamers (here)
- Building A Discord Server: Research-Practice partnership with DreamYard and MSS
- CC-SPL Case Study: Research-Practice partnership with Seattle Public Library (SPL) and Connected Camps
- Survival Lab Research: Research on SEL Intervention-based program for youth in a Minecraft server
Publication List
C: Conference Papers; J: Journal articles; D: PhD Dissertation; B: Blog posts; BC: Book Chapters; W: Workshop Papers
C3: Krithika Jagannath and Katie Salen. 2022. Beyond Just Rules: Server Rules for Shaping Positive Experiences in an Online Play Community for Youth. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact, 6, CHI PLAY, Article 222 (October 2022), 28 pages (forthcoming publication https://doi.org/10.1145/3549485) (conference paper, peer-reviewed)
C2: Krithika Jagannath, Katie Salen, and Petr Slovàk. 2020. “(We) Can Talk It Out…”: Designing for Promoting Conflict-Resolution Skills in Youth on a Moderated Minecraft Server. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 4, CSCW1, Article 049 (May 2020), 26 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3392855 (conference full paper, peer-reviewed)
C1: Krithika Jagannath, Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Petr Slovak. 2019. Designing Healthier Youth-Led Online Communities: Toward a Conceptual Framework. Proceedings of the 2019 Connected Learning Summit (Vol. 1). Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press. (conference short paper, peer-reviewed)
J3: Krithika Jagannath, Ron Dahl, Katie Salen Tekinbas. 2022. Virtual Playgrounds (journal paper, abstract accepted, editor and peer-reviewed, forthcoming)
J2: Du, Y., Grace, T. D., Jagannath, K., & Salen Tekinbas, K. (2021). Connected Play in Virtual Worlds: Communication and Control Mechanisms in Virtual Worlds for Children and Adolescents. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(5), 27. http://mdpi.com/2414-4088/5/5/27 (journal paper, peer-reviewed)
J1:Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Krithika Jagannath, Ulrik Lyngs, and Petr Slovák. 2020. Designing for Youth-Centered Moderation and Community Governance in Minecraft.J. ACM37, 4, Article 111 (August 2020), 41 pages. [To appear in ToCHI 2021] (journal paper, peer-reviewed)
Krithika Jagannath. 2021. Beyond “Mischief Managed”: A Mixed-Methods Empirical Study of Online Governance in Kid-Friendly Minecraft Server Ecosystems. PhD Thesis. Committee: Dr. Katie Salen Tekinbaş (chair and PhD advisor), Dr. Gillian Hayes, Dr. Melissa Mazmanian
B1: Krithika Jagannath, Remy Cross, and Katie Salen Tekinbaş. 2021. When the Clubhouse Doors Close: Discord Opens New Spaces to Create and Connect. Connected Learning Lab. Web Blog Post for Spaces of Refuge Series. Retrieved May 26, 2021 from https://connectedlearning.uci.edu/blog/when-the-clubhouse-doors-close-discord-opens-new-spaces-to-create-and-connect/ (B1: blog post, lightly peer-reviewed)
BC1: Katie Salen Tekinbaş & Krithika Jagannath. 2020. Minecraft and Socially Situated Student Centered Learning. Book Chapter. Teaching in the Game-Based Classroom. Practical Strategies for Grades 6-12. Edited by David Seelow, Ph.D. 2021. Routledge (BC1: book chapter)
W2: Krithika Jagannath, Eugenia Ha Rim Rho. 2018. Intelligent Agents in Everyday Settings: Leveraging a Multi-Methods Approach. 2018 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18) (workshop paper, lightly reviewed
W1:Fatema Akbar, Krithika Jagannath. 2018. Personalized Models for Health and Wellbeing: Insights from an Ongoing Project on Unobtrusive Stress Tracking with Smartphones. 2018 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18) (workshop paper, lightly reviewed)