About

Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) were being deployed in a midwestern community as "public safety" infrastructure with minimal community input on the surveillance implications. Residents had limited information about what data was being collected, how it was stored, who could access it, and what recourse they had.

Process

We conducted a community-centered analysis of the surveillance technology, examining both the informational divides that prevented meaningful public engagement and the community-driven alternatives that residents proposed. The research combined participatory methods with critical data studies frameworks to understand how "public safety" narratives can obscure the privacy implications of surveillance infrastructure.

The work included presenting findings directly to the Urbana City Council translating research into a format that could inform local policy decisions.

Impact

• Published at CHI EA 2024 (Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems)

• Book chapter published in Resisting Data Colonialism: A Practical Intervention (Institute of Network Cultures, 2023)

• Research presented to Urbana City Council

• Contributed to community understanding of surveillance technology and advocacy for transparent data governance

Reflection

This project demonstrated what form research takes with civic audience not just an academic one. Presenting to the City Council was a different kind of accountability than presenting at a conference. The community members we worked with didn't care about our methodology; they cared about whether our findings could actually change something. That reframed how I think about research impact.