🌈 I will be taking on new PhD students in Fall'24. Please apply via the HCII PhD program. 🌈

I am an Assistant Research Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I received my PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

I'm an interdisciplinary scholar situated at the intersection of human-computer interaction, communications, and public policy. Broadly, I study the social, ethical and policy implications of digital platforms and algorithmic systems, with a strong emphasis on bias, fairness, social justice and power relations in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. My work has been generously supported by Amazon, Block Center for Technology and Society, Cisco, CyLab, New America, the National Science Foundation and more. A complete list of my publications can be found on my Google Scholar page.

• 09/2023: We received a grant from The Public Interest Technology University Network to develop a community-centered toolkit for advancing critical AI literacy (PI).

• 07/2023: Together with Tianshi Li, Toby Jia-Jun Li, Joon Sung Park, and Diyi Yang, we are organizing a Special Interest Group on Shaping the Emerging Norms of Using LLMs in Social Computing Research at CSCW'23. Please come and join us!

• 04/2023: Our paper Understanding Frontline Workers’ and Unhoused Populations’ Perspectives on AI Used in Homeless Services has received a Best Paper Award (top 1% of submissions) at CHI'23!

• 03/2023: We received a grant from CyLab to study AI and surveillance in the homeless communities (PI).

• 02/2023: Three papers accepted to CHI'23: AI in Homeless Services, User-driven AI Auditing on Twitter and User-driven AI Auditing in Industry Practice.

I'm recruiting students who are interested in working on the following three interrelated research questions (but I'm always open to hear your thoughts):

• How can we develop non-expert-oriented toolkits for explainable AI to enable public understanding and interrogation of AI systems? (Sample publication: Design Alternative Representations of Confusion Matrices)


• How can we build community-centered AI to directly engage impacted community members into the design, deployment, evaluation and governance of AI systems that will be deployed in their communities? (Sample publication: The Model Card Authoring Toolkit)


• How can we support buttom-up, collective interventions against harmful machine behaviors in a wide range of digital platforms and algorithmic systems? (Sample publication: Everyday Algorithm Auditing)

PAPERS

• Shen, H., Tianshi Li, Toby Jia-jun Li, Joon Sung Park, Diyi Yang (2023). Shaping the Emerging Norms of Using Large Language Models in Social Computing Research. In Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW’23 Companion). [PDF]

• Kuo, T.†, Shen, H.†, Geum, J. S., Jones, N., Hong, J.I., Zhu, H.‡ , Holstein, K.‡ (2023). Understanding Frontline Workers’ and Unhoused Populations’ Perspectives on AI Used in Homeless Services. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’23). [PDF] Best Paper Award 🏆

• Deng, W. H., Guo, B., DeVos, A., Shen, H., Eslami., M.‡, Holstein, K.‡ (2023). Understanding Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities for User-driven Algorithm Auditing in Industry Practice. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’23). [PDF]

• Li, R.†, Kingsley, S.†, Fan, C., Sinha, P., Wai, N., Lee, J., Shen, H. , Eslami, M., Hong, J.I. (2023). Participation and Division of Labor in User-Driven Algorithm Audits: How Do Everyday Users Work Together to Surface Algorithmic Harms? In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’23). [PDF]

• Shen H. (2022). A New Perspective on the Importance of the State in Global Internet Governance: Tracing China’s Participation. In Media Governance - A Cosmopolitan Critique, Ganter S. and Badr B. (Eds.), pp. 185-203, Palgrave Macmillan. [LINK]

• Shen H. and He Y. (2022). The Geopolitics of Infrastructrualized Platforms: The Case of Alibaba. Information, Communication & Society, 1-18. [PDF]

• Shen H., Wang L., Deng W., Ciell, Velgersdijk R. and Zhu H. (2022). The Model Card Authoring Toolkit: Toward Community-centered, Deliberation-driven AI Design. In Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT’22). (pp. 440-451). [PDF]

• DeVos A., Dhabalia, A., Shen H., Holstein K. and Eslami M. (2022). Towards User-driven Algorithm Auditing: Investigating Users’ Search and Sensemaking Strategies for Uncovering Harmful Algorithmic Behavior. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’22), Article 626, 1-19. [PDF]

• Shen H. (2021). Alibaba: Infrastructuring Global China, Routledge. [LINK]

• Shen H.†, DeVos A.†, Eslami M.‡ and Holstein K.‡ (2021). Everyday Algorithm Auditing: Understanding the Power of Everyday Users in Surfacing Harmful Algorithmic Behaviors. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput.Interact 5, CSCW2, Article 433 (October 2021). [PDF]

• Shen, H., Deng W., Chattopadhyay A., Wu Z.S., Wang X and Zhu H. (2021). Value Cards: An Educational Toolkit for Teaching Social Impacts of Machine Learning through Deliberation. In Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT'21). (pp. 850-861). [PDF]

• He Y. and Shen H.. (2021). Beyond the Great Power Competition Narrative: Exploring Labor Politics and Resistance behind AI Innovation in China. Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs, 7, 2021: 5-15. [PDF]

• Jin H., Shen H., Jain M., Kumar S and Hong J. I. (2021). Lean Privacy Review: Collecting Users’ Privacy Concerns of Data Practices at a Low Cost. ACM Transactions on Human Computer Interaction (TOCHI), 28, 5, Article 34 (July 2021). [PDF]

• Lu Z., Shen C., Li J., Shen H. and Wigdor D. (2021). More Kawaii than a Real-Person Streamer: Understanding How Viewers Engage with and Perceive Virtual YouTubers. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'21), Article 137, 1–14. [PDF]

• Shen, H., Jin H., Cabrera A., Perer A., Zhu H and Hong J. I. (2020). Design Alternative Representations of Confusion Matrices to Support Non-Expert Public Understanding of Algorithm Performance. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 4, CSCW2, Article 153 (October 2020). [PDF]

• Shen, H., Cabrera A., Perer A., Hong J. I. (2020). 'Public(s)-in-the-Loop': Facilitating Deliberation of Algorithmic Decisions in Contentious Public Policy Domains. CHI2020 Fair & Responsible AI Workshop. [PDF]

• Shen, H., Faklaris C., Jin H., Dabbish L., Hong J. I. (2020). ‘I Can’t Even Buy Apples If I Don’t Use Mobile Pay?’: When Mobile Payments Become Infrastructural in China. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 4, CSCW2, Article 170 (October 2020). [PDF]

• Shen H. (2019). China’s Tech Giants: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent. In Panorama – Insights into Asian and European Affairs. [PDF]

• Shen H. (2019). Platform as Infrastructure and the Rise of Ant Financial in China. In Platform Politick: A Series. [PDF]

• Shen, H. (2018). Building a Digital Silk Road? Situating the Internet in China's Belt and Road Initiative. International Journal of Communication, 12, 2683-2701. [PDF]

• Shen, H. (2016). China and Global Internet Governance: Toward an Alternative Analytical Framework. Chinese Journal of Communication, 9 (3), 304-324. [PDF]

Carnegie Mellon Univeristy

• 90-769/90-442: Critical AI Studies for Public Policy, School of Public Policy and Management.
• 05-499/05-899: Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Ethics (FATE) in Sociotechnical Systems, School of Computer Science.