Seminar: Exploring Care, 'Loneliness', and Participation through Sociotechnical Relations

Program

Abstract

In this presentation, I introduce my ongoing research that unfolds across three interconnected strands. First, I explore the implementation of surveillance technologies in care homes and how these systems reconfigure relations of care, responsibility, and visibility in everyday practice. Second, I examine the public problematization of loneliness - how it is framed and addressed as a political and institutional concern, increasingly understood as a condition to be managed through activation, efficiency, and technological intervention. Third, I discuss my methodological and design-ethnographic approach, where design is understood as a form of inquiry rather than solution-making. Here, I work with collaborative inquiries, material and design games, and participatory methods. My work with participatory design and games inso includes questions of what participation is - and, crucially, what and who is often left out.

Working at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS), design research, and ageing, my work investigates how sociotechnical arrangements shape the conditions for care, participation, and democratic engagement. Concepts such as response-ability and ethics in practice guide my analyses of how 'welfare technologies' and social innovations not only respond to societal challenges but actively transform what is at stake. By following technologies and practices in situ, the research highlights tensions between autonomy and control, public and private responsibility, and inclusion and exclusion - raising questions about how care and participation are reimagined in the digital welfare state (in a Scandinavian context).

Signe Louise Yndigegn

Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU). With a background in social science, interaction design, and ethnography, her research lies at the intersection of Participatory Design and Science and Technology Studies (STS). She studies the design, implementation, and use of digital technologies in configurations of older people, public institutions, and welfare services. Her work focuses on issues of 'loneliness', civic engagement, and digitalization in care, emphasizing co-design and interdisciplinary collaboration. She leads the theme: Digitalisation of Health and Care in the Center for Digital Welfare - the Bachelor program: Digital Design and Interactive Technologies (both at ITU).