Constructing Autonomy: The Discourse of Pervasive Computing and Health care
Kalpana Shankar
School of Informatics
Indiana University Bloomington
2:00-3:30 pm on Friday, December 2, 2005
Indiana University Bloomington, Herman B. Wells Library, Room LI001
Talk preceded by an informal gathering with cookies, tea, and coffee, available at 1:45pm.
A reception for the speaker and graduate students will follow the talk.
ABSTRACT
Pervasive computing has the potential to effect large-scale transformational change in society. However, in everyday settings, like the home and in health care institutions, nonexperts will be expected to interact with pervasive computing environments as well. But whose needs, interests, and values are being embedded into these technologies? In particular, what do designers mean when they design for “autonomy”? I examine the pervasive computing and health care research discourse for its embedded assumptions about the nature of autonomy and trust that are informing design of home health care. I also suggest potential avenues for further critique and analysis.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Kalpana Shankar is an assistant professor in the School of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Science. She received her PhD in library and information science from the University of California, Los Angeles and was a AAAS Science Policy Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include the nature of scientific memory and data collections and the role of information technology. Her teaching areas include social and organizational informatics and information ethics.
