Department of Informatics

This issue of the California Journal of Politics and Policy is produced in collaboration with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.Drawing on the expertise of political scientists, economists, and practitioners from 13 west-ern states, the reports summarize each state’s budget for the 2017‒2018 fiscal year. These reports delve into how the states’ financial well-being affected legislation and just as importantly how legislation affected the states’ financial well-being.While most states seem to be financially sound, if not thriving, each report highlights possi-ble threats in the coming years, whether they be political, economic, or natural concerns. One theme across this year’s budget reports is how the 2016 election of President Donald Trump has affected legislation and fiscal health of the states. A second theme in the budget papers is the need to plan for the next recession.

The unequal mathematics education system in the U.S. highlights the need to examine racial and ethnic differences in mathematics subjective task values as precursors to participation in mathematics-related careers. We investigated whether and to what extent mathematics subjective task values (i.e., interest, utility, and attainment) vary across the four largest U.S. racial/ethnic groups (i.e., Asian, Black, Latine, and White) among boys and girls, separately. We also tested whether these patterns replicated across high school years and across datasets. Using two U.S. large-scale longitudinal datasets (i.e., CAMP and HSLS), results showed that adolescents of color reported higher mathematics subjective task values than White adolescents, with differences favoring Asian over White adolescents and Black over Latine adolescents. These patterns were consistent across gender, though slightly more pronounced among boys, and replicated across both datasets. The findings demonstrate racial and ethnic variability in mathematics values within gender groups, highlighting the need for intersectional approaches to understanding adolescents’ motivational experiences and identifying the barriers that prevent Black and Latine adolescents from fully leveraging their motivational strengths in mathematics learning.

The developmental processes underlying in-group-favoring math stereotypes (i.e., beliefs that favor one's own gender over another gender in math ability) and their associated motivational benefits in adolescence remain understudied. Guided by developmental intergroup theory and situated expectancy-value theory, the present study examined (a) the reciprocal relations between in-group-favoring math stereotypes and perceived math teacher support; (b) their associations with math motivational outcomes (i.e., math expectancies, math identity, and math grade point average); and (c) gender differences in these associations among adolescents within each of four largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States (i.e., Asian, Black, Latine, and White). Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (N = 18,419; M_age = 14.53, SD = 0.63 in nineth grade), we found that Asian and White girls' female-favoring math stereotypes and their perceived math teacher support reinforced one another from early to late adolescence, but not among other groups. In-group-favoring math stereotypes positively predicted math motivational beliefs among boys across all racial/ethnic groups, but only among Black and White girls. These stereotypes indirectly predicted math grade point average (GPA) via motivational beliefs only for White adolescents. Findings suggest that gender differences in the development of in-group-favoring math stereotypes and the benefits of stereotype lift are not the same across race/ethnicity. Rather, gender norms that vary across different racial/ethnic groups may shape who develops and benefits from in-group-favoring math stereotypes, underscoring the need to consider intersectionality to better capture motivational processes in real-world contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Patient-controlled data-sharing systems are increasingly promoted as a way to empower patients with greater autonomy over their health data. Yet it remains unclear how different stakeholders, especially patients and health system leaders, perceive the benefits and challenges of enabling granular control over the sharing of de-identified medical data for research. To address this gap, we developed a high-fidelity prototype of a patient-controlled, web-based consent platform and conducted a two-phase mixed-methods study: semi-structured interviews with 16 health system leaders and a survey with 523 patient participants. While both groups appreciated the potential of such a platform to enhance transparency and autonomy, their views diverged in meaningful ways. Leaders viewed transparency and granular control through the lens of informed consent and institutional ethics, whereas patients interpreted these factors as safeguards against potential risks and uncertainties. Our findings underscore critical tensions such as individual control and research integrity. We offer design implications for building trustworthy, context-aware systems that support flexible granularity, provide ongoing benefit‑centered transparency, and adapt to diverse literacy and privacy needs.

Recent HCI research emphasizes the importance of considering children’s care ecosystems in the design of technologies, extending the focus beyond families to include teachers, peers, therapists, and institutions. While this ecosystem perspective opens opportunities for more inclusive and collaborative technologies, it also introduces challenges such as recruitment, power dynamics, reconciling diverse perspectives, and complex ethical considerations. This CHI 2026 workshop builds on prior community efforts at IDC 2023, CHI 2024, and IDC 2025. Its primary focus is on children’s care ecosystems, but we also welcome researchers working with other populations who wish to apply an ecosystem lens. The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss opportunities, challenges, and methods, and to collaboratively articulate a research agenda for care ecosystem-centered HCI. Participants will engage in mapping and synthesis activities that produce care ecosystem maps and a shared artifact capturing priorities and open questions for care ecosystem-centered HCI, while also fostering collaboration and building community ties across disciplines and stakeholder contexts.

Family health informatics tools can help support well-being with shared data tracking. Prior work typically focused on shared data review, but often in specific moments, like bedtime, or centered on caregiving of children or elderly members. To investigate how tracking can support mutual health collaboration between family members pervasively across daily contexts, we designed and deployed FamilyBloom, a glanceable smartwatch and home display system for mood and goal tracking. Twelve families with both neurotypical and ADHD members used FamilyBloom for three months on average. Our findings reveal how family-centered tracking created collaboration opportunities and tensions across multiple ecological systems: individual self-regulation, collaborations within family dynamics, involvement of care networks with varying trust levels, institutional school constraints and cultural stigma, and temporality of regular routines and crisis periods. We discuss an ecosystem-aware approach to family informatics, wherein design can attend to how families navigate multiple contexts while sustaining family-level collaboration.

Existing research has explored various methods to support people with noise sensitivity (PWNS), from desensitization therapies to technological solutions. However, there is a gap in systems that identify and monitor characteristics of noise sensitivity experiences to help PWNS and their companions better understand their condition and make informed management decisions. To fill this gap, we developed AudioBuddy, an app with sensing and tracking features designed to promote awareness between PWNS and their companions. We tested AudioBuddy as a technological probe over a two-week field deployment. Our results show that AudioBuddy can support awareness of how sounds and environments influence the psychophysiological states of PWNS, aiding in understanding noise sensitivity experiences. Nonetheless, technical limitations impacted the depth of awareness participants could attain. We discuss challenges and opportunities for future systems to facilitate awareness among PWNS and their companions.

Autistic people often have an interest in and spend a substantial amount of time engaged with video games. Games can be supportive of their mental health and social needs and have been widely used for behavioral interventions among autistic people. However, the gaming experiences and preferences of autistic people themselves have not been thoroughly studied. To explore these experiences, we used a multi-method approach, analyzing game-related posts from a large autism-related subreddit and conducting a survey with 145 autistic people. The survey allowed us to further understand preferences around accessibility and sensory experiences, representation, and social experiences in communities that emerged in the Reddit posts. We found that games offering a sense of freedom, control, and creativity might be particularly appealing to autistic gamers. Discussions also emerged around what types of audio and visual sensory input were considered soothing and appropriate. Moreover, both the Reddit posts and survey responses highlighted the importance of accommodating diverse social preferences and providing accurate autistic representation. Overall, our findings offer insights into the gaming experiences and preferences of autistic gamers, emphasizing the need for greater inclusion, accessibility, and supportive gaming communities.