The Sociotechnical Stack: Opportunities for Social Computing Research in Non-consensual Intimate Media

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Authors: Li Qiwei, Allison McDonald, Oliver L. Haimson, Sarita Schoenebeck, Eric Gilbert

Published: 2024-05-06 15:58:03+00:00

Comment: Accepted CSCW 2024

AI Summary

The paper introduces the sociotechnical stack, a conceptual framework to analyze how specific technological components facilitate harms related to non-consensual intimate media (NCIM), including sexually explicit deepfakes. It addresses a gap in computing scholarship by mapping NCIM harms to technical components and proposes a research roadmap for the computing and social computing communities to deter perpetration and support victim-survivors.

Abstract

Non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) involves sharing intimate content without the depicted person's consent, including revenge porn and sexually explicit deepfakes. While NCIM has received attention in legal, psychological, and communication fields over the past decade, it is not sufficiently addressed in computing scholarship. This paper addresses this gap by linking NCIM harms to the specific technological components that facilitate them. We introduce the sociotechnical stack, a conceptual framework designed to map the technical stack to its corresponding social impacts. The sociotechnical stack allows us to analyze sociotechnical problems like NCIM, and points toward opportunities for computing research. We propose a research roadmap for computing and social computing communities to deter NCIM perpetration and support victim-survivors through building and rebuilding technologies.

Key findings
The sociotechnical stack reveals that NCIM harms are deeply intertwined with every layer of the technical stack, from hardware design to user interfaces, and are significantly amplified by technologies like generative AI for deepfakes. The paper identifies critical gaps in current research and outlines a comprehensive roadmap for computing research to develop targeted interventions across the stack, aiming to deter NCIM perpetration and enhance support for victim-survivors.
Approach
The authors introduce and apply the "sociotechnical stack" framework, which maps social impacts of NCIM to different layers of the technical stack (hardware, OS, storage, networks, algorithms, applications, UI). This framework allows for a systemic analysis of how technology facilitates NCIM harms and identifies specific opportunities for future computing research to mitigate these issues across all technical layers.
Datasets
The paper synthesizes insights from a literature review of qualitative research, including interview studies and reports containing first-person accounts, quotes, and vignettes from over 400 victim-survivors of NCIM.
Model(s)
UNKNOWN
Author countries
USA
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