Zinan Zhang

Hi, I'm Zinan Zhang! Just call me Zina :). 

I'm a Ph.D. candidate in the Health and Play Lab at College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University, where I'm fortunate to be advised by Dr. Yubo Kou. I earned my B.S. in Computer and Information Science from The Ohio State University in 2022.

My research bridges human-computer interaction (HCI) and usable security and privacy (S&P) by understanding how user safety and risks emerge as design outcomes. I study how design decisions at multiple levels, from lower-level design decisions such as information and interaction design in video game contexts to platform governance and infrastructure design, shape online safety. Drawing on users’ perspectives, especially children’s, I engage them as partners in the design process to create safer online spaces that reflect their needs and support their agency. To connect user needs with design practices, my work also investigates (game) design processes to understand how safety risks emerge from designers’ practices. My recent work explores AI use in design processes, focusing on how AI shapes designers’ decisions and how it can support more ethical design practices. 

The breadth of my research, spanning safety across game and platform design as well as (child) players’ own accounts of their experiences and practices, motivates me to contribute to and exchange ideas with diverse communities across HCI and S&P. My work reaches the broader HCI community through publications at CHI and the S&P community through publications at CCS and SOUPS. I also engage specialized communities in HCI through publications at CSCW/JCSCW/GROUP, whose focus on cooperative work is relevant to the multistakeholder nature of digital platforms; CHI PLAY, for games; DIS, for design; and IDC, for children’s interactions with technology. Through these exchanges, I seek to understand how my research can advance these fields while drawing on each community’s specialized knowledge to deepen my own work.