Having only recently returned to work full-time in March from ten months of parental leave, and despite working from home rather than in the lab due to COVID-19, it has felt wonderful to re-engage with my research with new energy and focus. Even more rewarding was to recently find out that my Doctoral Consortium proposal was accepted to DIS 2020. Very much looking forward to discussing my work with the Chairs and other participants – even if most likely virtual! Below is my title, abstract, and a link to the pre-print.
Careful Design: Implicit Interactions with Care, Taboo, and Humor
Data-driven technologies increasingly participate in everyday experiences as implicit interactions that are unseen and dynamically configured. My research explores the design and implications of implicit interactions by designing within social relations of care that are often considered taboo. These include caring for loved ones and technologies to manage human excretion: situations that are difficult to quantify and where an unintended consequence of implicit interactions can be devastating. To carefully challenge definitions of implicit interactions, I draw upon autobiographic and speculative design methods, as well as humor to unsettle others and implicate myself in care.