Huatong (Hannah) Sun

Associate Professor of Digital Media & Global Design
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (SIAS)
Global Innovation & Design Lab
University of Washington Tacoma

htsun @ uw.edu
Twitter: @huatongs

A researcher, educator, and consultant in cross-cultural, multicultural, and global UX design.

I study how to design and innovate for usable, meaningful, and empowering technology to bridge differences in a globalized world. I published two books with Oxford University Press: Global Social Media Design (2020, CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award, CCCC Research Impact Award, NCTE Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication) and Cross-Cultural Technology Design (2012, NCTE Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication). I write for public media including Fast Company, The Conversation, User Experience Magazine, and Intercom.  

I'm working on a new book project with the CRC Press, tentatively titled Inclusive Digital Media Design for Global Users.

My community-engaged teaching innovation with marginalized user communities was recognized with the 2022 Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication from STC and the Distinction in the Practice of Diversity and Inclusion Award from ABC.

Curriculum Vitae

PDF

Upcoming Talks & Workshops

1. March 2023: Bridging Cultural Differences  & Decolonizing Design Rhetoric. Keynote Speech for 12th Annual Symposium on Communicating Complex Information, Raleigh, NC.
2. April 12, 2023: Bridging Cultural Differences with Critical Design in a Globalized World (course). ACM SIGCHI 2023, online.
3. May 2023. Designing Trustworthy Live Commerce Experience (With Xiaoli Li). 2023 Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
4. May 25-27, 2023. Global Rhetorics of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Design (with Steve Fraiberg). Rhetoric Society of America Summer Institute, University Park, Pennsylvania State University.
5. June, 2023. Engaging Cultural Differences for Inclusive Design in a Globalized World. UXPA (User Experience Professional Association) International Conference 2023, Austin, TX.

Popular Press and Media

• Empowering from within: Uttering voices and planting seeds (May-June 2021): Intercom | Special Issue on Inclusive Design
• How WeChat's design turned it into a global powerhouse--and a Trump target (Oct. 5, 2020): Fast Company
• Banning apps like TikTok and WeChat is a good way to ensure a country will trail in tech leadership and profits (Sept. 16, 2020): The Conversation
• Growth Development: A Chinese Chasing Game to More Users (July 2017): User Experience Magazine
• Innovating with Fans: Social Game & Technology Design (Sept., 2016): User Experience Magazine

Edited Collections

• Technical Communication 64(2): Special Issue on "Localizing User Experience for Culturally Sensitive Design," 2017.
• Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization 8(1): Special Issue on “Designing for Everyday Life in a Global Context,” 2017.

Selected Articles

• Guest Editorial: Designing for Everyday Life in a Global Context (with Getto). Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization, 2017
• Interview with Huatong Sun. connexions • international professional communication journal, 5(1), 2017
• Guest Editorial: Localizing User Experience: Strategies, Practices, and Techniques for Culturally Sensitive Design (with Getto, 2017). Journal of Technical Communication
• Silent Struggles—the Plight of Undocumented Students in Social Work Education (with Loya, Jones, & Furman, 2016): Global Social Welfare
• Operationalizing culture with design cards: Translating critical knowledge into provocative insights (2015): Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization
• Binding the material and the discursive with a relational approach of affordances (with Hart-Davidson, 2014): ACM CHI 2014
• Sina Weibo of China: From a copycat to a local uptake of a global technology assemblage (2013): International Journal of Sociotechnology & Knowledge Development

Teaching

My teaching experience includes introductory and advanced courses in web and multimedia writing and design, document design, content management, computer-mediated communication, professional writing, technical and business communication, composition and ESL writing, and writing internship.

Below are the courses taught at UWT:

• TCOM 220 Social Media
• TCOM 320 Principles of Web Design
• TCOM 330 Mobile Communication & Social Practice
• TCOM 350 Editing and Design for Print Media
• TCOM 420 Advanced Web Design
• TWRT 440 Cross-Cultural Communication Design
• TGID 420 Reflexive Design Portfolio  

Community Engagement

• Deepening Empathy Through Design

 

 

©2023 Huatong Sun