Methodological Strategies for Studying Documentary Planning Work.

This paper reports on the pilot testing of data collection strategies for a study of the complex and idiosyncratic document work involved in everyday life planning and time management. We describe two iterations of two data collection strategies, in-depth semi-structured interviews and photography of individual documents and document collections. Cette communication prente un projet pilote de straties de collecte de donns pour l\u27ude du travail documentaire complexe et idiosyncratique nessaire la planification et la gestion du temps au quotidien. Seront prents deux itations de deux straties de collecte de donns : les entrevues en profondeur semi-structurs et la photographie de documents individuels et de collections de documents

Documenting multiple temporalities

Purpose: This article explores the varied ways that individuals create and use calendars, planners, and other cognitive artifacts to document the multiple temporalities that make up their everyday lives. It reveals the hidden documentary time work required to synchronize, coordinate, or entrain their activities to those of others. Design/methodology/approach: We interviewed 47 Canadian participants in their homes, workplaces, or other locations, and photographed their documents. We analyzed qualitatively; first thematically to identify mentions of times, and then relationally to reveal how documentary time work was situated within participants’ broader contexts. Findings: Participants’ documents revealed a wide variety of temporalities, some embedded in the templates they used, and others added by document creators and users. Participants’ documentary time work involved creating and using a variety of tools and strategies to reconcile and manage multiple temporalities and indexical time concepts that held multiple meanings. Their work employed both standard “off the shelf” and individualized “do-it-yourself” approaches. Originality: This article combines several concepts of invisible work (document work, time work, articulation work) to show both how individuals engage in documentary time work and how that work is situated within broader social and temporal contexts and standards

Designing ubiquitous computing for reflection and learning in diabetes management

This dissertation proposes principles for the design of ubiquitous health monitoring applications that support reflection and learning in context of diabetes management. Due to the high individual differences between diabetes cases, each affected individual must find the optimal combination of lifestyle alterations and medication through reflective analysis of personal diseases history. This dissertation advocates using technology to enable individuals' proactive engagement in monitoring of their health. In particular, it proposes promoting individuals' engagement in reflection by exploiting breakdowns in individuals' routines or understanding; supporting continuity in thinking that leads to a systematic refinement of ideas; and supporting articulation of thoughts and understanding that helps to transform insights into knowledge. The empirical evidence for these principles was gathered thought the deployment studies of three ubiquitous computing applications that help individuals with diabetes in management of their diseases. These deployment studies demonstrated that technology for reflection helps individuals achieve their personal disease management goals, such as diet goals. In addition, they showed that using technology helps individuals embrace a proactive attitude towards their health indicated by their adoption of the internal locus of control.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Elizabeth D. Mynatt; Committee Member: Abowd, Gregory; Committee Member: Bruckman, Amy; Committee Member: Dourish, Paul; Committee Member: Nersessian, Nanc

Robots in my contact list : Using social media platforms for human-robot interaction in domestic environment

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

Mobile technologies for chronic condition management.

The management of long term chronic conditions is a complex and challenging task. The process relies on individuals engaging in regular recording of factors that affect their health. Yet currently, the mobile tools that people carry with them are not being fully utilised to assist in this process. This Thesis reports on research that has been completed to understand the role that mobile technologies can have in supporting people with chronic conditions. An individual engaging in personal monitoring is concerned with the data they collect, not the process used to capture the data. The results of the research conducted contribute to an advancement of knowledge around how mobile technologies can assist in personal reflection on health information to provide greater understanding of chronic disease management This understanding of the role of reflection in chronic condition management can then be used as a platform to improve the mobile interventions in future implementations. These findings are arrived at by conducting an initial investigation into the usage of existing health monitoring devices and an evaluation of these devices is detailed. The results of this early work suggests there exists a gap between real practice and the role that mobile technologies can play in assisting with the process. A deeper understanding of the management practices of people with diabetes is then achieved through a set of interviews with individuals with diabetes. The findings then define a model of chronic disease management, named the 'Diabetes Management Cycle.' Following the definition of the cycle, a mobile application was implemented and deployed during a four week evaluation with individuals with type 1 diabetes. This system was designed to support existing management practices and implemented simple methods of information capture. A second application was then developed to enable increased monitoring and subsequent reflection amongst individuals with cardiovascular conditions. The application was deployed in a six week in-situ evaluation and it was discovered a personalised 'tagging' mechanism allowed for the discovery of patterns affecting health. Based on the findings of the studies, the Thesis concludes by presenting definitions of ready- to-hand in the short- and long-term contexts of mobile health management. These ready-to-hand guidelines provide a platform for future research projects to build upon

Gouverner par le temps: Sociologie politique des agendas personnels et des emplois du temps d'acteurs publics

La sociologie des temporalités et l'anthropologie de l'agenda personnel révèle les significations « civilisationnelles » de cet outil ordinaire de gestion du temps des individus modernes. Il est à la fois un vecteur rationnel d'auto-contrôle, d'une aliénation planifiée condamnant au « présentisme », mais il est aussi l'instrument d'une gestion individuelle émancipatrice des temporalités plurielles, des frontières et des rôles. Ses usages en politique témoignent des logiques de l'accélération généralisée des sociétés, d'un raccourcissement des horizons, d'une disparition des futurs possibles, d'une saturation des temps du représentant politique par les réunions, les rendez-vous et les cérémonies, par l'animation, la médiation, les clientèles et la parade, par l'urgence et la multi-activité connectée, on line et en temps réel, au détriment « des dossiers » et de « la réflexion » sur les projets de sociétés qu'il est censé porter. Mais cet agenda outil de synchronisation des temporalités plurielles des acteurs publics de la démocratie reste un observatoire sous-exploité des logiques du travail de représentation, de gouvernement et, in fine, de légitimation. L'ambition est alors de dessiner l'agenda comme une fenêtre sur la gestion du temps en politique, le rythme, la nature et la répartition des tâches dans l'emploi du temps des élus et des dirigeants politiques. Il s'agit se structurer l'approche du politique par les agendas personnels des acteurs du champ du pouvoir, à partir de trois axes horizontaux d'interprétation de leurs usages : le gouvernement de soi, l'organisation collective et la mise en scène du travail politique. Ces lectures croisent la double dimension de l'objet, à la fois dispositif de planification à observer et corpus d'événements à exploiter. L'analyse montre que l'agenda du politique est d'abord une écriture programmatrice et mémorielle, une auto-discipline équipée. Il permet d'incorporer les exigences et les attendus du métier, de domestiquer l'urgence et de produire une image exemplaire. L'analyse souligne ensuite que l'agenda est un dispositif organisationnel de coordination managériale, de rationalisation et de professionnalisation du travail politique individuel et collectif. L'efficience de l'entreprise de représentation politique passe par une optimisation du temps. Le pouvoir reposerait de ce point de vue d'abord sur une bonne gestion de ce temps. L'analyse montre enfin que l'agenda reste surtout un vecteur de légitimation de la domination. La mise en scène quotidienne de soi et du leadership auquel la publication de l'agenda personnel donne lieu joue avec l'impératif de transparence et l'exigence de proximité, sans toutefois révéler les secrets du pouvoir

A.: Life scheduling to support multiple social roles

We present the results of our study of 15 working parents, and how they manage their life scheduling needs, that is, how they manage their personal and professional schedules across settings and calendaring tools. In particular, we discuss how their dual roles of parent and employee compel them to record personal information on their professional calendars and we detail the tensions that arise in doing so. Finally, we present suggestions for future calendaring applications that better support working parents in managing their life scheduling needs. Author Keywords Calendars, groupware, social roles. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.3. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Group and organization interfaces