Technology Use in Disrupted Environments

Environmental disruptions are a common phenomenon taking place around the world. These disruptions come in the form of war, natural disaster, and the like. Recently, people have experience various disruptions including, but not limited to, the most recent Israel-Lebanon war, 9/11, various hurricanes and wildfires, and the Iraq war. However, the research community has not focused on how people living through major, long-lasting, life-altering events continue to work, socialize, and maintain normalcy in their lives. In collaboration with my advisor Dr. Gloria Mark, Dr. Martha Feldman and Dr. Ban Al-Ani, I am conducting an empirical study which examines how people use technology in order to repair their human infrastructure. Human infrastructure “consists of the highly dynamic patterns of relationships of people in various networks and social arrangements” (Lee, Dourish, and Mark; 2006). We have found that people are resilient in collaboration, in that they adopt new resources (e.g. technologies), use familiar resources in new ways, and combine resources in order to continue working and socializing. I am especially interested in what technologies are adopted, how they are used, and what new technologies can be developed in order to further help people in similar situations ameliorate the environmental stress they encounter on a daily basis.

Description coming soon.