In HCI there is nascent body of research investigating technology in relation to women’s health. Within this, we are seeing several categories of research emerging: from reproductive health and the experiences of motherhood; self-tracking and learning to know the female body; to how women might use technology to explore their sexuality.
The female body as a site for research is claimed as taboo, and designing for the female body and therefore women’s health is troublesome. Research through design has been offered as one possible avenue through which contradictions and ‘immodest’ proposals might be examined, similarly humour has been noted as an approach to design which can be applied to overcome the taboo of the female body, and the use of ‘hacking’ and social media engagement as a means of critiquing and re-envisioning women’s health technologies.
With this two-day workshop we seek to bring together an emerging community of researchers to tackle issues relating to digital technologies and women’s health, the female body, as well as ‘hack’ existing troublesome examples. We seek researchers from all backgrounds to join us in this attempt to revolutionise research in this area, and innovate on available options for women worldwide.
Workshop themes include: Women-Centred Design; Feminist Technologies, Hacking and Making; Feminist Speculative Design. For more information, please see our full workshop proposal.
This workshop is organised as part of CHI 2017. More information on submissions can be found on the call for participation page.
We invite interested candidates to submit a 2-page position paper in CHI Extended Abstracts format or a 2-minute video pitch that describes the author’s experience of engaging with a specific theme, or challenge involved with designing for, using, or evaluating technologies that relate to the context or experience of women’s health and feminist HCI. Please include within your pitch or position paper a short biography and relevant skills you can contribute to our hack event.
We are seeking to cultivate a unique group of researchers therefore we positively encourage submissions from a diverse range of disciplines and perspectives. Submissions will be selected based on their originality, quality and ability to provide a valuable contribution to the community.
There are two deadlines – early bird 21 December 2016 and final submission deadline 20th January 2017. Submit your position paper or pitch directly to madeline.balaam@newcastle.ac.uk. We require that at least one author of each accepted position paper must attend the workshop and that all participants must register for both the workshop and for at least one day of the conference.
