Lindah Kotut
Assistant ProfessorInformation School
University of Washington
Office: Mary Gates Hall 015
Campus Box: 352840
Phone: (206) 221-6128
Teaching
INFO 415: Topics in Cybersecurity: Cyber Resilience
Autumn 2025
INFO 464: Value Sensitive Design
Autumn 2025
About Me
I am an assistant professor in the Information School at the University of Washington where I lead the ASILI Lab. My research is at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and privacy/cybersecurity. I look at how people tell stories both online and offline, and the role that technology plays in the telling.
I am particularly interested in how underserved communities leverage storytelling tools and associated technology, especially in the context of resource scarcity. I seek to highlight how learning from these stories can highlight gaps in governance policies, and inform the design of tools to amplify other communities to tell their own stories offline and online. More broadly we query how these techniques offer key opportunities to understand other emerging and growing areas in computer science including ethics, privacy, (cyber)security and fairness and accountability in algorithm design.
Ongoing research projects are at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Privacy and Security and Indigenous Knowledge. See the Research Page for details about active projects and the Advising Page for more information about on how to apply to join the lab.
Selected Publications
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Griot-Style Methodology: Longitudinal Study of Navigating Design With Unwritten Stories.
Lindah Kotut, Neelma Bhatti, Taha Hassan, Derek Haqq and Morva Saaty
ACM CHI 2024 | pdf | doi -
"Things on the Ground are Different": Utility, Survival and Ethics in Multi-Device Ownership and Smartphone Sharing Contexts.
Lindah Kotut and Hummd Alikhan.
ACM CHI 2024 | pdf | doi -
TL;DR Charter: Speculatively Demystifying Privacy Policy Documents and Terms Agreements.
Lindah Kotut and D. Scott McCrickard.
ACM GROUP 2023 | pdf | doi -
Winds of Change: Seeking, Preserving, and Retelling Indigenous Knowledge Through Self-Organized Online Communities
Lindah Kotut and D. Scott McCrickard.
ACM CHI 2022 | pdf | doi -
Clash of Times: Respectful Technology Space for Integrating Community Stories in Intangible Exhibits.
Lindah Kotut, Neelma Bhatti, Morva Saaty, Derek Haqq, Timothy L. Stelter and D. Scott McCrickard.
ACM CHI 2020 | pdf | doi -
Willing Buyer, Willing Seller: Personal Data Trade as a Service.
Lindah Kotut, Timothy L. Stelter, Michael Horning and D. Scott McCrickard.
ACM GROUP 2020 | pdf | doi | Slides | Speaker Notes -
Amplifying the Griot: Design Fiction for Development as an Inclusivity Lens.
Lindah Kotut and D. Scott McCrickard.
CHI 2020 Design Fictions Workshop | pdf
Recent Updates
Sep 2025:
I Will be teaching two courses during the Autumn Quarter: Value Sensitive Design, and Special Topics in Cybersecurity--with a focus on Cyber Resilience.
Aug 2025:
Interview with UW News on what AI developers can learn from climate activists.
Jul 2025:
Attended ACM COMPASS (virtually) to present our short paper Easy Come, Easy Go: Phone Enabled Small-Scale Financial Grift" led by Amelia Doğan and Meira Gilbert.
Jul 2025:
Travel to Madeira, Portugal for ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) to present our paper "Down to Earth": Design Considerations for AI for Sustainability from the Environmental and Climate Movement." led by Amelia Doğan.
Jul 2025:
Our paper "Terms and Conditions (Do Not) Apply: Understanding Exploitation Disparities in Design of Mobile-Based Financial Services" has been accepted to AfriCHI!
May 2025:
Our paper "`TikTok, Do Your Thing': User Reactions to Social Surveillance in the Public Sphere" (Led by Meira Gilbert) has been accepted to SOUPS!