Alumni Member
Lara Piccolo (Alumni) 
Honorary Associate
My personal mission is to design technology for triggering positive social changes.
Beyond pursuing adequate and pleasant user interactions, my research aims at exploring design methods and artefacts to design with a socio-technical approach, taking into account also the impact of technological innovations on people's lives and their communities.
With this perspective, I have worked mainly in designing technology for people unfamiliar with ICTs and engaging communities in the design process.
I have worked on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for more than 15 years, first in Brazil and now in the UK. My background is Computer Engineer and my PhD was obtained at UNICAMP, in Brazil, in 2015. Since then, my research has addressed energy conservation supported by a public and tangible eco-feedback, smart meters, and social media; social media to promote community resilience in disasters; co-creation of chatbots for children's online safety and, most recently, strategies to fight misinformation spread online.
Keys: Community engagement, users engagement, social change, socially-aware design, motivation, social media, energy awareness, climate change
Team: Harith Alani, Gregoire Burel, Anna De Liddo, Tracie Farrell, Miriam Fernandez, David Goddard, Martino Mensio
News
Publications
Myers, C., Piccolo, L. and Collins, T. (2023). Democratising Digital Educational Game Design for Social Change. Journal of Learning for Development, 10(1), pp. 55–74. https://oro.open.ac.uk/90037/.
Piccolo, L., Blackwood, A.C., Farrell, T. and Mensio, M. (2021). Agents for Fighting Misinformation Spread on Twitter: Design Challenges. In: Conversational User Interfaces CUI 2021, 27-29 Jul 2021, Online. https://oro.open.ac.uk/78241/.
Piccolo, L.S., Bertel, D., Farrell, T. and Troullinou, P. (2021). Opinions, Intentions, Freedom of Expression,. .. , and Other Human Aspects of Misinformation Online. In: CHI EA '21: Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 9-13 May 2021, Yokohama, Japan. https://oro.open.ac.uk/76241/.
Piccolo, L., Troullinou, P. and Alani, H. (2021). Chatbots to Support Children in Coping with Online Threats: Socio-technical Requirements. In: Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), 28 Jun - Jul 2, [Virtual]. https://oro.open.ac.uk/76239/.
Piccolo, L., Puska, A., Pereira, R. and Farrell, T. (2020). Pathway to a Human-Values Based Approach to Tackle Misinformation Online. In: HCI International 2020, 19-24 Jul 2020, Copenhagen. https://oro.open.ac.uk/74962/.
Piccolo, L.S., Joshi, S., Karapanos, E. and Farrell, T. (2019). Challenging Misinformation: Exploring Limits and Approaches. In: 17th IFIP TC 13 International Conference (INTERACT 2019), 2-6 Sep 2019, Paphos, Cyprus. https://oro.open.ac.uk/68822/.
Farrell, T., Piccolo, L., Perfumi, S.C. and Alani, H. (2019). Understanding the Role of Human Values in the Spread of Misinformation. In: Truth and Trust Online, Oct 4 & 5 2019, London, UK. https://oro.open.ac.uk/67033/.
Myers, C., Piccolo, L. and Collins, T. (2018). Co-designing Cards on Social Issues for Creating Educational Games. In: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2018), 4-6 Jul 2018, Belfast, UK. https://oro.open.ac.uk/62141/.
Goddard, D., Mulholland, P. and Piccolo, L. (2019). Deriving Personas Based on Attitudes to Interruption and Information Overload. In: Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: The International Venue on Practice-centred Computing and the Design of Cooperation Technologies - Demos and Posters, 8-12 Jun 2019, Salzburg. https://oro.open.ac.uk/61050/.
Myers, C., Piccolo, L.S. and Collins, T. (2019). Game Jams as a Space to Tackle Social Issues: an Approach Based on the Critical Pedagogy. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons, and Game Creation Events, 17 Mar 2019, San Francisco. https://oro.open.ac.uk/59288/.
Piccolo, L., Mensio, M. and Alani, H. (2019). Chasing the Chatbots: Directions for Interaction and Design Research. In: Conversations 2018: 2nd International Workshop on Chatbot Research, 26 Oct 2018, St Petersburg, Russia. https://oro.open.ac.uk/57382/.
Piccolo, L.S., Roberts, S., Iosif, A. and Alani, H. (2018). Designing Chatbots for Crises: A Case Study Contrasting Potential and Reality. In: Proceedings of the British HCI Conference, 4-6 Jul 2018, Belfast. https://oro.open.ac.uk/55325/.
Scharl, A., Föls, M., Piccolo, L., Fernandez, M. and Alani, H. (2016). Application Design and Engagement Strategy of a Game with a Purpose for Climate Change Awareness. In: International Conference on Internet Science. INSCI 2016, 12-14 Sep 2016, Florence, Italy. https://oro.open.ac.uk/51176/.
Fernandez, M., Piccolo, L.S., Maynard, D., Wippoo, M., Meili, C. and Alani, H. (2017). Pro-Environmental Campaigns via Social Media: Analysing Awareness and Behaviour Patterns. Journal of Web Science, 3(1), https://oro.open.ac.uk/51172/.
Piccolo, L.S. and Alani, H. (2017). Prospecting Socially-Aware Concepts and Artefacts for Designing for Community Resilience. In: 8th International Conference on Communities & Technologies: Communities & Technologies 2017 Refugees and HCI Workshop, Jun 2017, Troyes, France. https://oro.open.ac.uk/49641/.
Burel, G., Piccolo, L.S., Meesters, K. and Alani, H. (2017). DoRES — A Three-tier Ontology for Modelling Crises in the Digital Age. In: 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (ISCRAM), 21-24 May 2017, Albi, Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée, France. https://oro.open.ac.uk/49285/.
Piccolo, L.S., De Liddo, A., Burel, G., Fernández, M. and Alani, H. (2018). Collective intelligence for promoting changes in behaviour: a case study on energy conservation. AI & Society, 33(1), pp. 15–25. https://oro.open.ac.uk/49034/.
Piccolo, L.S. and Alani, H. (2016). Strategies and Tools to Raise Energy Awareness Collectively. In: Behave 2016 - 4th European Conference on Behaviour and Energy Efficiency, 8-9 Sep 2016, Coimbra, Portugal. https://oro.open.ac.uk/47088/.
Piccolo, L., Fernández, M., Alani, H., Scharl, A., Föls, M. and Herring, D. (2016). Climate Change Engagement: Results of a Multi-Task Game with a Purpose. In: International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 17-20 May 2016, Cologne, Germany. https://oro.open.ac.uk/47090/.
Fernandez, M., Piccolo, L.S., Maynard, D., Wippoo, M., Meili, C. and Alani, H. (2016). Talking Climate Change via Social Media: Communication, Engagement and Behaviour. In: Web Science Conference (WebSci), 22-25 May 2016, Hannover, Germany. https://oro.open.ac.uk/46530/.
