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Towards Inclusive Infrastructures: Examining the Experiences of Gender Diverse People in University Systems

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Kirks-Cler, Drew N., Safford, Sam, Marathe, Megh·2025·Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
DOI 10.1145/3757680
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Abstract

Research on gender, identity, and technology has focused on designing individual systems for inclusivity, that is, examining how systems can represent transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming, and other gender diverse identities in affirming ways. Less is known about how infrastructures -that is, multiple loosely connected and long-lived systems-can be made inclusive. This gap is critical to address as systems rarely operate in isolation and infrastructures are pervasive in contemporary organizations. For example, universities maintain separate systems for applications, admissions, housing, and course management that only occasionally communicate with each other. This paper steps towards addressing this gap by examining the challenges gender diverse people face in navigating such complex infrastructures. Through a qualitative study consisting of 20 interviews, we find that participants encountered challenges unique to interconnected systems-such as slow and inconsistent updates to personal information and unexpected leaks of outdated information-that together created a perpetual risk of being misgendered by both systems and other users. To navigate such challenges, participants used workarounds such as seeking help from organizational insiders, piloting identity changes on a small scale, engaging in small acts of resistance, and strategically choosing which battles to fight. Participants expressed several goals for inclusive infrastructures: quick and consistent personal data updates; transparency around non-inclusive design decisions; safe and contextual data sharing practices; and community education to facilitate broader cultural change. We discuss novel insights on identity, representation, and inclusion, and present design implications to better support gender diverse people in technical infrastructures.

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  • Marginalized users must navigate fragmented university infrastructures through workarounds, insider support, and acts of resistance, revealing systemic gaps in inclusive design.

    “Recent HCI work shows that marginalized users must navigate fragmented university infrastructures through workarounds, insider support, and acts of resistance, revealing systemic gaps in inclusive design [25].”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [25]

    The Introduction and Conclusion report that gender-diverse participants navigated loosely connected university systems through workarounds, help from insiders, and resistance, revealing systemic shortcomings. The claim broadens this finding to marginalized users generally, whereas the study concerns gender-diverse people affiliated with one institution. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kirks-Cler, D. N., Safford, S., & Marathe, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Published
2025-10-16
Volume
9
Issue
7
Pages
1-28
ISSN
2573-0142 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1145/3757680
OpenAlex
W4415250938
Cited by
4
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 4
FWCI
4.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
Keywords
gender-diverse people, inclusive infrastructure, university system, misgendering, personal information management, identity management, interconnected systems, data sharing, workarounds, resistance, identity representation, higher education

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