Searching for Security: Women’s Collective Information Security Strategies in the Pursuit of Farang Partners in Pattaya, Thailand

I report on two months of ethnographic fieldwork in a women's centre in Pattaya, Thailand and interviews with 76 participants. Findings, as they relate to information security, show how (i) women in Pattaya, often working in the sex and massage industries, perceived relationships with farang men as their best, and sometimes only, option to achieve security; (ii) the strategies used by the women to appeal to a farang involved presenting themselves online; (iii) the women navigated a series of online security risks, such as scams and abuse, which shaped their search for a farang; (iv) the women developed collective security through knowledge-sharing to protect themselves and each other in their search for a farang partner. I situate this work in emerging information security scholarship within marginalised contexts

Digital Repair Chains in the Automotive Sector: Rapid Repair with 3D Technology

This paper presents the prototypical development and demonstration of a Rapid Repair Workflow designed to address challenges faced by manufacturing industries, particularly medium-sized automotive suppliers, in sourcing and replacing obsolete or unavailable machine components. The workflow integrates 3D scanning, digital repair, and additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies to rapidly recreate damaged parts, reducing lead times, storage costs, and downtime. We outline the process stages – initial assessment, scanning, digital file preparation, additive manufacturing, and quality assurance – highlighting the tools and techniques employed. The prototype was successfully showcased at a trade fair, receiving positive feedback for its precision, ease of use, and potential for industrial application. Key challenges such as intellectual property issues, technical limitations of scanning and CAD tools, and quality assurance requirements are discussed. Future work will focus on automation, AI-driven damage analysis, expanded VR functionalities, and broader adoption of additive manufacturing methods. Overall, the Rapid Repair Workflow demonstrates significant potential to enhance maintenance practices and operational efficiency across industries

‘You were going online for that person’: How Digital Tools Shaped Irish Mourning Experiences Amidst COVID-19

Physical restrictions in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all aspects of social life, including end-of-life rituals such as funerals. In Ireland, public health restrictions required mourners to adapt to alternative rituals to customary Irish mourning practices, which are traditionally community-focused and highly social. This period brought significant changes and challenges in the way Irish people and communities mourn, and in how events such as funerals were experienced through digital and online technologies. This paper reports on a qualitative study that contributes a better understanding of the experiences of mourners in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding the use and role of digital tools during this period, and their continued use following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Overall, the findings indicate that participants felt a sense of unfulfillment and faced a series of challenges in managing altered support mechanisms, while acknowledging the importance and utility of digitally-mediated experiences, such as participation in live-streamed funerals and in online books of condolences. The paper sheds further light in the experiences of use of technology during the pandemic and provides insights to inform the future design and use of end-of-life digital tools and services, as they remain widely used also after the end of the pandemic

Menstrual Mindsnacks - Exploring Social Implications of a Speaking Tampon Dispenser

This study explores the stigma associated with menstruation and examines methods to enhance menstrual hygiene and health awareness, as well as normalization through a socio-technical system. Around half of the world population is in need of menstrual hygiene products. Although soap and paper towel dispensers are now considered standard equipment in public bathrooms all over the world, this is not the case for period products like tampons and pads. Moreover, stigmatization of menstruation largely exists during adolescence and is caused by feelings of shame, disgust, and the fear of not being taken seriously. This can often be traced back to experiences of reactions by authoritative figures and male acquaintances in the participants’ lives and often subsides with adulthood. These emotions are reinforced by a lack of open discussion on the topic, ultimately leading to a societal taboo. Following a design case study approach, a speaking tampon and pad dispenser was co-designed with affected persons and evaluated in a public restroom. The prototype provides users with educational content through audio playback whenever it is touched, delivering useful information about the duration, effects, and management of menstruation. Because the prototype is deployed in a public restroom, the interaction also opens space for social exchange. Preliminary user feedback on the prototype suggests that it has the potential to foster discussion and improve menstrual health awareness. By promoting communication and providing accessible information, this dispenser can significantly influence societal attitudes towards menstruation, especially with more vulnerable groups

The Department of Belonging: Future Infrastructures for Inclusive Resident Participation

HCI researchers have a responsibility to design infrastructures and technologies that affect the participation of different members of society, especially vulnerable and marginalised communities. However, participation has been relegated to sporadic activities and workshops, rather than institutionalised structures that facilitate participation in tackling big, ’wicked’ problems. In this hands-on workshop we will examine existing structures for participation of residents in a municipal setting, drawing examples from our work with migrants. Together, we will imagine future participatory infrastructures and long-term technological impacts in order to foster durable, resilient communities. We use speculative design as a method to discuss current issues with HCI research and policy in tackling larger, societal issues. Through this workshop, we hope to 1) re-invigorate the field of participatory design and HCI in designing emancipatory technology, and 2) create a community of researchers and practitioners that share and publish an HCI agenda that enables more equitable participatory technologies

Negotiating Extra Work: A Reflection on Participatory Research Practices in Healthcare

This reflection paper examines the often overlooked extra work required to conduct and sustain participatory research in healthcare contexts. Scientific projects require forward planning, methodological flexibility and institutional recognition of the additional effort required to enable sustainable participatory research. Drawing on three healthcare-related case studies, we analyse the tensions between formal project objectives and the realities of conducting research in complex, situated environments. Extra work manifests at multiple levels: (1) within the project scope, (2) at the boundary of the project scope, (3) before the project scope, (4) after the project scope, and (5) outside the project scope. While extra work can serve as a driver of innovation and long-term sustainability, it also creates a fundamental tension for researchers who must balance these emerging demands with project goals, institutional frameworks, and personal capacities. Building on existing concepts from CSCW - such as invisible work and articulation work - we systematically apply and extend these perspectives to the domain of technology development in healthcare. By identifying cross-cutting issues in the case studies, such as stakeholder acquisition and co-benefitting, we refine conceptual understandings of infrastructuring, articulation work and situatedness in participatory research. In doing so, we contribute to grounded design and design case study approaches and reflect on the methodological and practical implications of navigating the inherent tensions of adaptive, long-term engagement in healthcare cooperation

User Representatives as Boundary Spanners: Case Study of Large-Scale Agile Software Development

User participation in software development is widely seen as beneficial for user acceptance, software adoption, and aligning outcomes with user needs. However, the scale and complexity of modern digitalization, particularly in large and distributed agile development, have reshaped participation. Representative participation is proposed as a solution, but its role remains underexplored. While often associated with requirements gathering, emerging research highlights broader boundary-spanning activities connecting development teams and users. This paper frames representative participation as boundary-spanning by posing the following research question: What are the practices and challenges of user representatives in large-scale agile software development? Through an exploratory case study using interviews and document analysis, we explore the role of user representatives—labeled as change agents—in our case organization. These individuals are expected to go beyond passively providing requirements. Their roles include planning software releases, participating in development, conducting training, helping colleagues adapt to changes, and serving as contact points for user feedback. However, this role presents challenges such as balancing responsibilities, adapting to agile development’s fast pace, coping with limited documentation, and managing dual roles in matrix organizations. This paper contributes by framing user representatives as boundary spanners and expanding understanding of user participation in agile software development

Chatting with Forestry Guidelines: Using Chatbots to Improve Access to Complex Forest Knowledge

Forestry guidelines play a crucial role in translating environmental policy into actionable practices, yet they are often complex, text-heavy, and difficult for non-experts to navigate. In this paper, we present a prototype called Forea Bot, a conversational AI system developed to address the challenge of accessing forest knowledge. The system uses a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architecture. Developed from a socioinformatics perspective, it combines large language models with curated forestry documents and is shaped by participatory design insights. We present findings from an evaluation conducted during a workshop with forestry stakeholders and discuss how such systems shape trust in chatbot responses and make visible tensions between conflicting sources of knowledge in forestry-related communication. While not a substitute for expert consultation, our findings suggest that chatbots like Forea Bot can complement traditional channels of knowledge exchange, particularly in domains characterized by complexity, value pluralism, and limited access to expertise

Sustaining STEAM: Challenges and Strategies for Long-Term Engagement in FabLabs and Makerspaces

Sustaining long-term engagement in STEAM education is a significant challenge, especially in informal learning settings like FabLabs and Makerspaces. These hands-on, constructionist environments have incredible potential for fostering creativity, problem-solving, and digital literacy, particularly through community-based extracurricular activities. However, maintaining participation over time remains a challenge due to pedagogical, structural, and motivational barriers. In this workshop, we aim to address the questions relevant to STEAM education by exploring both the challenges and strategies for organizing and conducting long-term STEAM-focused extracurricular programs for children within FabLabs and Makerspaces. We aim to bring together educators, makers, and researchers to expedite the discussions about making sustainable, practice-informed approaches for long-term STEAM education programs beyond the traditional classroom

How Different Stakeholders Make Use of Policies in an Ongoing Digital Archiving Project for Patient Records?

While CSCW increasingly acknowledges the essential role of policies in technology adoption, more research should be conducted on their role in ongoing digital transformation projects. Current retrospective accounts lack information on how the actors interpret and mobilize policies to conduct such projects and achieve their agendas. Our study aims to take part in the effort to address this gap through a qualitative inquiry into an ongoing patient records digitization project within a general hospital service. We emphasize how each actor, from administrative staff to physicians, accounts for different policies to motivate their actions and decisions on the framework of this digitization project