“I had to give my fingerprints just to get food for my kids.”
That’s what one refugee told us during our study on digital platforms used in humanitarian crises.
These platforms are meant to help. But in practice, they often force people to choose between survival and privacy, between speed and dignity.
In our new ICIS – The International Conference on Information Systems short paper, we tried to understand how these ethical dilemmas play out in real life and then tested prototype designs that make tech more fair, more human, and more trustworthy – even under crisis conditions.
Here’s what we learned:
– Privacy isn’t a luxury. It’s often the first thing people lose.
– Algorithmic decisions without explanations erode trust.
– Community support is still more reliable than most apps.
As a result, we formulate 4 design principles for tech used in refugee response.
Whether you work in tech, government, social impact, or policy, this research offers actionable insights for building platforms that serve most vulnerable.
Read the paper: Here
Congrats to Renjun Tang on her first paper! Firsts are never easy but also most memorable. Kudos to the whole author team, Gianluca Miscione, Zoya Katashinskaya, and DIZH for supporting this research.
