Community Advisory Boards for Technology Design in HCI: Lessons from Trans and Queer Research

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) scholars have invested deeply in community-based research; however, partnering with community advisory boards (CABs) in HCI remains rare and underexplored. In this paper, we translate traditions common in public health and community-based participatory research by presenting case studies of research partnerships with three CABs, each assembled to co-design technologies for and with transgender and queer people. Drawing upon comparative case study analysis and ethnographic-inspired reflections, our findings outline each CAB’s operations across establishment, implementation, and sustainability stages. We then present four key facilitators of fostering meaningful partnerships with CABs: establishing expectations, transparency in decision-making, attending to positionality, and benefits to participation beyond research. Finally, we recommend that future community-based sociotechnical research adopt CABs to create meaningful relationships with community partners. However, we demonstrate that doing so requires careful deliberation around mutually beneficial research, contextually dynamic partnerships, and strategies for realignment between academic and community needs.