Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow Alejandra Gomez Ortega has received recognition for three publications at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2026 Conference, held in Singapore on 13–17 June 2026. DIS is one of the leading international venues for research in human-computer interaction and interaction design.
Gomez Ortega is the first author on all three awarded publications, which were produced as part of her Digital Futures-funded postdoctoral project, Design and Policy Considerations for (Inter)Personal Intimate Data. The project examines how intimate and interpersonal data are experienced, shared, and governed in increasingly data-driven digital environments.
The awarded publications are:
- Best Pictorial Award for AI Loves Boobies: Unpacking Harmful Imaginaries in Community-Based Generative AI.
- Honorable Mention Award for On Designing Visceral Encounters with Synthetic Intimate Imagery.
- Honorable Mention Award for Consentful Lights: Designing for Consent when Sharing Intimate Fertility Data.
Together, the three publications explore pressing questions around consent, intimacy, and the societal implications of emerging AI technologies. The work highlights how design research can help identify harms, challenge problematic assumptions embedded in technologies, and create more ethical and inclusive futures for intimate data and digital experiences.
“This recognition is especially meaningful because it highlights the importance of critically examining how emerging technologies shape some of the most intimate aspects of our lives,” says Alejandra Gomez Ortega. “Across these projects, we explore how design can help make issues of consent, power, and representation visible, creating space for reflection and more responsible technological futures.”
The award-winning research was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, TU Delft, and the IT University of Copenhagen, reflecting the interdisciplinary and international nature of the work.
Gomez Ortega’s postdoctoral research is supervised by Airi Lampinen, Professor at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University, and Madeline Balaam, Professor at the Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Their expertise in social computing, human-computer interaction, and feminist technology design has helped shape a research agenda that critically examines the role of technology in intimate and interpersonal contexts.
The awards continue a strong track record of recognition for research on intimate technologies within the Digital Futures community and underscore the growing international impact of Gomez Ortega’s work at the intersection of design, technology, and policy.
