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‘You were going online for that person’: How Digital Tools Shaped Irish Mourning Experiences Amidst COVID-19
No full textPhysical restrictions in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all aspects of social life, including end-of-life rituals such as funerals. In Ireland, public health restrictions required mourners to adapt to alternative rituals to customary Irish mourning practices, which are traditionally community-focused and highly social. This period brought significant changes and challenges in the way Irish people and communities mourn, and in how events such as funerals were experienced through digital and online technologies. This paper reports on a qualitative study that contributes a better understanding of the experiences of mourners in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding the use and role of digital tools during this period, and their continued use following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Overall, the findings indicate that participants felt a sense of unfulfillment and faced a series of challenges in managing altered support mechanisms, while acknowledging the importance and utility of digitally-mediated experiences, such as participation in live-streamed funerals and in online books of condolences. The paper sheds further light in the experiences of use of technology during the pandemic and provides insights to inform the future design and use of end-of-life digital tools and services, as they remain widely used also after the end of the pandemic
The Everyday Hassles of Managing Medication Changes in Long-Term Care: A Nursing Perspective on Data Fragmentation and Delayed Recording
No full textNursing homes, home care, and other institutions for long-term care (LTC) manage many frail and elderly citizens’ medication. If changes to their medication are not handled meticulously, these patients’ health may suffer. This study investigates the everyday work involved in managing medication changes for LTC patients. Because nurses are pivotal to medication management in LTC, the study adopts a nursing perspective. Empirically, the study is based on interviews with LTC nurses in Norway. We find that the management of medication changes is cumbersome for the nurses because of data fragmentation across multiple systems and delays in the recording of new prescriptions. The data fragmentation and delayed recording result from poor system integration and lax documentation practices. To keep the infrastructure for medication management in working order, the nurses assume an intermediary role, in which they coordinate that changes to medication happen as prescribed
Exploring AI in the VCSE Sector: Challenges, Opportunities, and Support Mechanisms
No full textAs AI becomes common in enhancing working life, VCSE (Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise) organisations are adopting it to meet growing demand for their services. With limited resources, these organisations view AI as a way to enhance efficiency and scale their impact. However, for AI to truly support the sector’s mission, it must be adopted thoughtfully and responsibly. This research aims to develop a practical toolkit that helps VCSEs navigate AI responsibly. Through surveys, interviews, and workshops, the toolkit will be co-designed to address the sector’s evolving needs, using real-world scenarios to guide them through the practical and ethical challenges of AI adoption. By exploring the challenges and opportunities of VCSEs using AI, this research aims to support organisations in integrating AI into their work in an effective way that is aligned with their values, helping navigate the complexities of responsible AI use
Factors of Continued Individual-Led Participation with Digital Platforms and Open data
No full textThis research explores the factors influencing participation and sustained engagement in individual-led social actions, particularly in online open-data communities. Drawing from economic and sociological perspectives, it examines the mechanisms of online social relationships and their impact on civic engagement. Inspired by the gift economy (Rheingold, 1993) and commons-based peer production (Ostrom, 1990), this study investigates how decentralized cooperation, and digital tools facilitate participation in collaborative projects. A review of prior studies reveals a gap in understanding how cooperative behaviors persist in fluid, short-term participation models. Traditional research assumes fixed participant roles and strong organizational belonging, but recent trends indicate increasing diversity in online participation structures. This study seeks to clarify participation and continuation motivations in such dynamic environments through case studies of cloud work, civic tech, and individual-driven Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). A mixed-methods approach, including quantitative analysis of participation factors and qualitative interviews, will be applied. The findings will contribute to social informatics and behavioral economics, offering insights into digital collaboration and online governance. By reassessing social relationships and motivation structures, this research aims to refine theoretical models of online participation and inform platform designs for sustainable digital communities
Understanding the Role of Supportive Tools in Repair: Exploring Repair as an Embodied Practice
No full textCommunity-based electrical and electronic repair cafés rely extensively on tacit knowledge, presenting challenges for designing supportive tools in non-standardised and dynamic environments. Without adequate tools to capture this knowledge, community repair initiatives may face challenges in sustaining effective retention and sharing of repair knowledge. To address this, an ethnomethodological study was conducted in a UK-based repair café. Through immersive observations and conversations with expert repairers, we examined how they approach diverse range of repairs presented to them. Focusing on understanding their diagnostic strategies and the tools they employed. The preliminary findings revealed the intricate socio-technical dynamics among repairers and devices, where repair unfolds in an experiential, collaborative, and adaptive manner.
The interplay between intuitive practices and systematic approaches emerged as a key feature, emphasising the importance of situated actions.
By exploring these practices, we sought insights into how future tools could better support repair's nuanced and collaborative nature.
These tools could enhance trouble-shooting capabilities and extend the lifespan of devices
Inside and Outside the Virtual Study Room: An Exploratory Study of Student Practices and Perceptions
Full text linkThe increasing use of online study rooms raises critical questions about the dynamics and challenges of virtual learning environments. This paper explores students' experiences in remote study settings through semi-structured interviews with 13 university students. We explore the factors influencing their participation, the obstacles they face before, during, and after study sessions, and the role of social interaction in sustaining motivation. Our findings highlight the significance of a perceived sense of responsibility--enhanced by camera usage--in maintaining concentration and engagement. Moreover, feelings of intimacy and belonging, particularly when studying with close peers, play a significant role in motivation and focus. Students also report challenges such as coordinating schedules and managing distractions in group study sessions. We propose design implications for enhancing online study environments based on these insights. We emphasize fostering a stronger sense of community, minimizing distractions, and facilitating effective collaboration. Our contributions inform the design of more inclusive and engaging virtual study platforms with broader implications for learning communities and online collaboration tools
Telegram as a Lifeline and a Battlefield: A Socio-Informatics Study of Communication and Resistance Among Ukrainians in War
No full textThis paper explores how the messaging platform Telegram has become both a vital infrastructure of care and a contested battleground during the Russia’s war against Ukraine. Drawing on the socio-informatics tradition, we examine the platform’s role in mediating civic engagement, communication, and resilience among three key groups: Ukrainian military personnel, civilian volunteers, and the diaspora in Germany. Based on sixteen semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations, study reveals the dual nature of Telegram as a tool for solidarity and survival, as well as a vector of disinformation, surveillance, and social division. While the platform facilitates real-time coordination, access to humanitarian aid, and psychological support, it also enables opaque moderation practices, emotional manipulation, and the reinforcement of exclusionary narratives. We argue that Telegram's affordances - such as anonymity, low moderation, and technical flexibility - make it indispensable in high-risk environments but simultaneously vulnerable to misuse. The findings highlight the complex entanglement of digital infrastructures with trust, power, and public discourse during wartime. By conceptualizing Telegram as an "infrastructure-in-action," we reveal the socio-technical dynamics of digital resilience and the precarious balance between care and control in decentralized communication ecologie
Chatting with Forestry Guidelines: Using Chatbots to Improve Access to Complex Forest Knowledge
No full textForestry guidelines play a crucial role in translating environmental policy into actionable practices, yet they are often
complex, text-heavy, and difficult for non-experts to navigate. In this paper, we present a prototype called Forea Bot, a conversational
AI system developed to address the challenge of accessing forest knowledge. The system uses a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
architecture. Developed from a socioinformatics perspective, it combines large language models with curated forestry documents
and is shaped by participatory design insights. We present findings from an evaluation conducted during a workshop with forestry
stakeholders and discuss how such systems shape trust in chatbot responses and make visible tensions between conflicting sources of
knowledge in forestry-related communication. While not a substitute for expert consultation, our findings suggest that chatbots like
Forea Bot can complement traditional channels of knowledge exchange, particularly in domains characterized by complexity, value
pluralism, and limited access to expertise
Detecting the Undetectable: Human Judgments and the Challenge of Synthetic Voices
No full textSynthetic voices generated using artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from human voices, raising important concerns about trust, deception, and detection in digital communication. This preliminary work synthesizes the current landscape of research on human perception in detecting synthetic voices. We reviewed 13 papers from databases including ACM, IEEE, Springer, and MDPI, and identified five main types of perceptual cues that users rely on to detect voice synthesis: Intuition/Gut Feeling, Liveliness, Emotions, Linguistic Features, and Acoustic and Environmental Features. Our findings highlight the need for further empirical user studies to better understand how individuals perceive and assess the risks posed by synthetic voices. Such research can inform both educational and regulatory strategies aimed at increasing awareness and mitigating the potential harms of synthetic voice technologies
Beyond the Screen: Exploring the Emotional and Social Impact of Otome Games on Global Players
Full text linkFollowing the growing popularity of Otome games in 2024, this late-breaking study combines qualitative interviews with existing literature to provide an initial understanding of the gaming experiences and reflections of six global male and female players. The research investigates the dynamics of parasocial interactions between players and in-game characters, examining how these interactions influence offline relationships and exploring the motivations and emotional needs of otome game players. It also considers how Otome game settings impact players’ emotional and mental wellbeing. Based on these insights, the study proposes implications for game design, encouraging developers to consider inclusivity, player agency, and player-disengagement factors in creating Otome games that foster both player empowerment and personal growth, rather than purely focusing on profit. Additionally, concerns about teenage players and their potential vulnerabilities are raised. The study concludes with suggestions for future research directions to further explore these issues