Adults make choices regarding the technology they use to self-manage their health and wellbeing, and these technologies are often adopted, used and abused in ways that researchers, manufacturers, and clinicians have not accounted for.

This talk will give an overview of human-computer interaction research on the situated use of mobile technologies in people’s everyday (and sometimes messy) lives. Accounting for individual choices adults make will be discussed in relation to understanding the use of these devices in the context in which they are actually used, supporting choices through end user customisation, and the emerging trend towards Do-It-Yourself open-source technology innovation that is outpacing healthcare researchers and manufacturers.

Examples will be given from research on Type 1 diabetes devices and apps, hearing loss technologies, baby monitoring technologies, and wearables and apps for fitness.

About the speaker:

Dr. Aisling O’Kane is a research fellow at University College London, examining the hacking culture around Type 1 diabetes devices supported by the EPSRC Doctoral Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research interests are in how personal health and wellbeing devices are actually used and abused by people in their everyday lives.