Beatriz Palacios Abad Wins Best Paper Award and Impact Award at CSCW 2024

Beatriz Palacios Abad, a computer science doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, won both a best paper award and impact recognition award at the 2024 ACM SIGCHI conference on computer-supported cooperative work and social computing (CSCW 2024) held in San José, Costa Rica, November 9-13, 2024.

The ACM SIGCHI best paper awards honor exceptional papers published at the conference. The impact recognition award is given for strong examples of work that demonstrates or has clear potential to demonstrate real-world or practical impact. 

Her paper, “Mending the Fabric: the Contentious, Collaborative Work of Repairing Broadband Maps,” was co-authored by Elizabeth Belding at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Morgan Vigil-Hayes at Northern Arizona University, and Ellen Zegura, professor of computer science at Georgia Tech who also serves as Palacios Abad’s advisor.

Her research paper shows that the repair of broadband data maps in the U.S. involves a complex interplay between competition and collaboration among various stakeholders, mediated by the government. The process disproportionately burdens marginalized groups, who are often tasked with correcting the official records that misrepresent their communities. Accurate, repaired maps are crucial for guiding substantial investments in broadband infrastructure, emphasizing the need for better tools and support for long-term, community-driven efforts.

This study underscores the ongoing struggle for digital equity and the critical role of accurate data in shaping policy and infrastructure investments. The paper calls for a more inclusive approach to broadband map repair, recognizing the efforts and challenges faced by those working in digital inclusion.

CITATION: Beatriz Palacios Abad, Ellen Zegura, et. al. “Mending the Fabric: the Contentious, Collaborative Work of Repairing Broadband Maps” Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Vol. 8, CSCW2, Article 464 (November 2024). https://doi.org/10.1145/3687003