Challenge

Public decisions about infrastructure and resource allocation are increasingly driven by data. However, communities that lack the resources or tools to generate and communicate data about their experiences can become invisible in decision-making processes. This is particularly challenging for rural communities experiencing recurring flooding, where lived experiences often go undocumented and overlooked.

 

Approach

I partnered with a rural community using a participatory, co-creation approach that emphasized power-sharing and community ownership of the research process. Together, we developed a method for residents to collect photo and video evidence of flooding impacts and transformed these contributions into a community-driven flood map that communicated local experiences and needs to external stakeholders.

 

Insight

The community-generated flood map made residents' experiences more visible and tangible to decision-makers. Participants reported feeling a greater sense of belonging, recognition, and agency, knowing their experiences were being documented and represented. The project demonstrated that community-led data collection can surface critical insights that are often missed by traditional assessments and metrics.

 

Implication

This work highlights how human-centered and participatory research methods can help bridge gaps between lived experience and institutional decision-making. By enabling communities to create and own the evidence used to represent their needs, organizations can generate more equitable insights, strengthen stakeholder engagement, and make better-informed decisions about infrastructure, services, and resource allocation. It also provides a practical model for using co-created data and storytelling to drive visibility, advocacy, and systems-level change.

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Read My Research

Stephens, K., Castro, S., Xu, Y., Juan, A., Diaz, N., Blessing, R., & Brody, S. (2024). Rectifying a data desert one step at a time: A co-created, community-based approach. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 1-14. 

​This project endeavors to produce a digital public space wherein Massachusetts constituents can share their expertise, stories and opinions on the legislation that shapes our lives. 

I volunteered as a User Experience Researcher on the project, working with the design and engineering team to design the website.