Eric P. S. Baumer

I apply a sociocultural perspective to natural language technologies.

My research focuses on the design of, interactions with, and resistance toward language technology systems. This work inhabits various intersections among human-computer interaction (HCI), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and social computing. Fully understanding the individual and societal experiences around these systems requires close attention to the technical details of their design and implementation. Similarly, any responsible design of such technologies must account for their broader human and social dimensions.

To do so, my work integrates computational techniques from natural language processing and machine learning, conceptual orientations from qualitative and interpretivist social science, and design-based methods for human-centered research. This interdisciplinary synthesis contributes concepts and tools that are essential for understanding, for imagining, and for creating, the future of sociotechnical systems.