Navigating Equity and Reflexive Practices in Gigwork Design: A Journey Mapping Experience

How do we create ethical and equitable experiences on global platforms? How might UX designers and developers incorporate reflexive practices--a continuous self-evaluation of one's assumptions and biases--to mitigate assumptions and workers' experience? This tutorial will explore ways to build equitable user experiences using gig work platforms as a target use case. With the rise of gig work platforms, the informal digital economy has altered how algorithmic systems manage occasional workers; its questionable assumptions have spread worldwide. Concerns over autonomy, gamification, and worker privacy and safety are amplified as these practices expand worldwide. We will practice reflexive techniques within this context by implementing an equity-focused journey-mapping experience. Journey mapping allows designers to map out the customer experience and identify potential pain points at each step that could hinder the user experience. Using a ride-sharing scenario, participants will be guided through a custom journey map highlighting equitable considerations that can facilitate responsible user experience innovation. NOTE: The tutorial was presented at Fairness, Accountability and Transparency Conference (FAccT '24) in Rio de Janeiro.