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Abstract

The haptics field resembles an archipelago, with seemingly isolated projects, tools, and institutions separated by disciplinary, geographic, and infrastructural gaps. These conditions fragment resources, reinforce STEM-leaning norms, and can make it difficult to sustain trust and collaboration in settings that may be unwelcoming to outsiders who might have a lot to contribute. This thesis investigates how a trust-centered hybrid "community center" infrastructure might begin to bridge these islands by supporting participation conditions that make cross-boundary exchange more likely. Here, trust-centered refers to design commitments that increase the legibility, reliability, and reciprocity of shared work ( e.g., clear provenance, low-risk contribution pathways, and visible norms), while hybrid refers to a coordinated combination of digital spaces and periodic in-person or co-located touchpoints that acknowledges the role of both tactile access and physical co-presence of team-members or learners in haptic learning and critique. We built a trust-centered framework that is implemented in Project Winnipeg, a limited-scale prototype implemented through Notion and Discord and deployed within CanHap501 (CH501), a distributed graduate haptics course spanning multiple institutions, used as an education-context microcosm of a wider haptic design community. Using unobtrusive platform analytics in conjunction with post-course surveys, instructor interviews, and focus groups, we examine how participants engaged with the infrastructure and with each other over a single academic term. Thematic analysis, supported by descriptive usage data, emerged four interrelated themes concerning community formation, visibility of contributors, resource centralization, and engagement patterns. Project Winnipeg's infrastructure helped coordinate work within local teams and made some course resources more discoverable; however, evidence for sustained cross-node interaction remained limited within the deployment window, suggesting that extending exchange beyond local teams may require stronger facilitation, incentive alignment, and clearer pathways into relevance. Given the small, self-selected sample and single-course context, this thesis offers formative framework reflections and design considerations for future hybrid haptic community centers rather than definitive prescriptions.