Yaxuan Yin

Yaxuan (Shelly) Yin

Yah-shwen  ·  /jɑ.ɕɥɛn/  ·  correct pronunciation is optional 😊
PhD Candidate  ·  Information Science
University of Wisconsin–Madison
yaxuan.yin@wisc.edu

👋 Hi, I'm Yaxuan (Shelly). I am a Ph.D. candidate in Information Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where I work with the Collaborative Computing Group (MadCollab) under the guidance of Dr. Jacob Thebault-Spieker. Prior to my Ph.D., I earned a Master's degree in Urban Data Science from New York University.

My research examines how human-generated data and the infrastructures that shape its production interact to reinforce, and in some cases reshape, existing knowledge gaps and contribution inequalities. My forward-looking research agenda centers on (1) making the value of individual contributions visible through the lens of large language models, (2) empowering contributors to leverage that value, and (3) helping communities critically engage with how platforms like Wikipedia are being transformed in the LLM era and how to foster healthier, more equitable contribution ecosystems.

In collaboration with Dr. Shamya Karumbaiah at the Responsible AI for Learning (TRAIL) Lab, I also pursue a parallel research thread on Responsible AI in Education. This work (1) contextualizes how educators perceive and navigate bias and harms in teaching and learning, (2) develops audit tools that support educators in identifying and evaluating AI behavior and bias, (3) leverages audit data to inform model refinement in domain-specific contexts, and (4) employs participatory design to surface stakeholder values and embed them into the development of responsible AI systems.

News

May 2026 Two papers accepted to #FAccT2026 and #CHIWORK2026! Excited to contribute to the ongoing conversation on Responsible AI in Education, huge thanks to the amazing team! 🎉
Apr 2026 Our paper "Beyond Access: Contextualizing the Benefits of Broadband through Contributor Dynamics on Wikipedia" has been accepted to #CHI2026! ¡Nos vemos en Barcelona! 🇪🇸
Apr 2025 Our paper "Responsible AI in Education: Understanding Teachers' Priorities and Contextual Challenges" has been accepted to #FAccT2025! Honored to contribute to the growing dialogue on values, context, and ethics in AI.

Publications

  1. Productivity or Equality? Tradeoffs in Volunteer Microtasking in Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
    Knowledge Production
    Yaxuan Yin, Longjie Guo, Jacob Thebault-Spieker
    ACM CSCW 2024
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  2. The Effect of Population Density on Remote Humanitarian Mapping Activities: A Triple‑Difference Analysis
    Knowledge Production
    Yaxuan Yin, Jacob Thebault-Spieker
    ACM CSCW 2025
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  3. Beyond "Geo" HCI: Exploring Cultural Dimensions of Disparity in OpenStreetMap Road Safety Metadata
    Knowledge Production
    Yaxuan Yin, Jacob Thebault-Spieker
    ACM CSCW 2025
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  4. Beyond Access: Contextualizing the Benefits of Broadband through Contributor Dynamics on Wikipedia
    Knowledge Production
    Yaxuan Yin, Jacob Thebault-Spieker
    ACM CHI 2026
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  5. Toward Teacher‐Centered AI Design: Exploring the Role of Pedagogical Values and Contextual Factors in K‐12 Teachers' Perceptions of Responsible AI
    Responsible AI in Education
    🏅 Best Paper Nomination
    Yaxuan Yin, Shamya Karumbaiah, Ju Lim, Shona Acquaye, Sara Schwartz
    CSCL 2025
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  6. AIBAT: AI Behavior Analysis Tool for Teacher-Driven Contextual Evaluation of Language Models in Education
    Responsible AI in Education
    🏅 Best Paper Nomination
    Shamya Karumbaiah, Yaxuan Yin, Aayush Bharadwaj
    AIED 2025
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  7. Responsible AI in Education: Understanding Teachers' Priorities and Contextual Challenges
    Responsible AI in Education
    Yaxuan Yin, Shamya Karumbaiah, Shona Acquaye
    ACM FAccT 2025
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  8. Empowering Teachers to Design AI Roles for Work: An Empirical Study of Teachers' AI Role Design Practices
    Responsible AI in Education
    Yujin Kim, Yaxuan Yin, Shamya Karumbaiah, Devansh Saxena
    CHIWORK 2026
    ↗ Source coming soon ⤓ Full PDF
  9. What Constitutes AI Harms and/or Unfairness? An Empirical Analysis of Teacher Deliberation with a Fairness Elicitation Scaffold
    Responsible AI in Education
    Shamya Karumbaiah, Yaxuan Yin, Harry Brighouse
    AIED 2026
    ↗ Source coming soon ⤓ Full PDF
  10. When AI Breaks, Teachers Repair: Pedagogical Repair Work in Situated Classroom Practice
    Responsible AI in Education
    Yaxuan Yin, Shamya Karumbaiah, Yujin Kim, Devansh Saxena
    ACM FAccT 2026
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF

Posters, Works-in-Progress & Workshop Papers

  1. Understanding Perceptions of the Reddit Reaction Mechanism in Political Subreddits
    Longjie Guo, Yaxuan Yin, Jacob Thebault-Spieker
    ACM CSCW 2024 — Extended Abstract
    ↗ Source ⤓ Full PDF
  2. Redefining Value: Wikipedia's Role in Dataset Governance for Foundation Models
    Yaxuan Yin
    ACM CSCW 2025 — Workshop Paper
    ↗ Source coming soon ⤓ Full PDF

Awards, Fellowships & Grants

  • 2025
    Best Paper Nomination — AIBAT @ AIED 2025  ↗ Paper
  • 2025
    Best Paper Nomination — Responsible AI in Education @ CSCL 2025  ↗ Paper
  • 2025
    Lambda's Research Grant
  • 2024
  • 2024
    Graduate Fellows
    The Institute for Diversity Science, UW–Madison
  • 2022
    Fellow Researcher
    Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence, Northwestern University
  • 2022
    Google Computer Science Research Mentorship
    Google