Communities do not simply adopt new technologies. They negotiate them.

Most technology is designed for individual users, universal contexts, and efficiency. That breaks down in religious and cultural communities, where meaning is shared, authority is collective, and values are obligations rather than preferences. I study how these communities decide whether and how to adopt new technologies, especially AI, and what happens when those technologies don’t fit.

I use qualitative and participatory methods, including interviews, surveys, diary studies, and workshops, to understand how people make sense of technology in their communities. My goal is to contribute design knowledge for systems that support collective values instead of working against them.