A new chapter
This post marks the first week of blog reflections for my independent study this semester with Dr. Sarah Schoemann. This week, I read scholarly articles and papers on HCI involving women’s health including a technology called Labella, a paper regarding a technology called MoodWings, and one on the IKEA effect.
Women’s health, specifically defined as the area of healthcare and health issues involving specifically women or more common among women, like breast cancer, menstruation, and pregnancy, is an area that has not been explored or developed well in computer science or HCI technology. May this be because the area is still “taboo,” or because the field of computer science is still male-dominated, as a woman I find it disheartening to know that although there are probably billions of health devices, wearables, and other technologies, not much research has been done into making things that are specifically designed for women and the things women deal with every day. We could have smarter, more effective contraception, better diagnostic tools for conditions like endometriosis, or improved imaging for mammograms. The importance of my own presence in my field, as a woman, does not escape me here.
Labella was designed to be a wearable/smatphone interface to help women learn about their bodies, specifically their intimate area. The technology involves underwear with a visual marker, and a smartphone’s camera that can detect that marker. Labella makes learning things that all people should know about their bodies, easy and tangible, still awkward but fun. I know that it wouldn’t have been as “weird” to learn about my own body as a young girl if it had been on my own with a device such as Labella rather than with my awkward, but well-intentioned, mother! I hate that it is considered normal and “pure” for a girl to not know about her body, while a young man is expected to have explored his. It is also notable that incontinence is considered a normal part of growing older as a woman, while it is generally a treatable condition. Things like Labella can help both of these discrepencies by helping women learn about and exercise their intimate areas.
On a slightly different note, MoodWings is a butterfly-shaped wearable that is meant to improve users’ stress levels and help them calm down. In testing the device, which employs electrocardiogram data, the developers created a driving simulation–my worst fear! They tested the user’s stress while “driving” in different circumstances like easy traffic, merging quickly, and navigation in unexpected events. Surprisingly, MoodWings was found to actually act as a stressor in these studies. However, the visualization of the user’s stress seems to have lead them to perform better at their assigned task, driving. I know from experience that being more stressed about driving makes me a better driver, but I’d still rather not be more stressed out. Maybe there is another way to employ this technology, a way that does not place further stress on the driver by showing them their stress level but instead keeps them alert and focused on their task in a different way.
In conclusion, reading the IKEA effect paper last, I learned that people are more likely to appreciate an amateur creation if it is their own, and they made it with their own two hands. Self-made projects like crafts, and IKEA dressers, are fulfilling to the maker, and help them to feel good about their abilities. I think that in my work this semester, I would like to create something that helps to make the user feel fulfilled and improves their self esteem. I think the best way to accomplish this is to use a kit form of distribution where the finished product is not so finished, but leaves a few steps of assembly for the user to accomplish on their own, so that they may feel that they contributed something to the product. I think that giving the user this literal form of contribution, rather than the contribution that we as developers see them make in our process, is a good way to make my product more effective.