Values in Repair

Abstract

This paper examines the question of "values in repair"-the distinct forms of meaning and care that may be built into human-technology interactions through individual and collective acts of repair. Our work draws on research in HCI and the social sciences and findings from ethnographic studies in four sites-two amateur "fixers' collectives" in Brooklyn and Seattle, USA and two mobile phone repair communities in Uganda and Bangladesh-to advance two arguments. First, studies of repair account for new sites and processes of value that differ from those appearing at HCI's better-studied moments of design and use. Second, repair may embed modes of human interaction with technology and with each other in ways that surface values as contingent and ongoing accomplishments, suggesting ongoing processes of valuation that can never be fully fixed or commoditized. These insights help HCI account for human relationships to technology built into the world through repair.

Rummaging through the Attic of New England

“…As anthropologists have long observed, material goods have a vibrancy and social life of their own (Appadurai 1988;Bennett 2010). Many objects carry with them meanings and affect often linked to place and people that are 'inalienable' (Mauss 1990;Weiner 1992), and reuse practices themselves are value-laden (Houston et al 2016). Taking this into mind, we suggest that Mainers participating in the reuse economy have harnessed the semiotic and agentive power of material culture to help reproduce a regional identity, a pride in the past and place -a sense of belonging.…”

This Thing Called Fairness

“…Recent research has moved away from considering values as universal and stable. Instead, values are seen as instantiated through specific situated practices [67,73,92]. The conceptions of values presented in our definitional overview reflect this tradition.…”

“…Some of these approaches to values have been critiqued as viewing values as overly stable and universal, without always accounting for how values arise locally in situated environments [73,92].Recent research has moved away from considering values as universal and stable. Instead, values are seen as instantiated through specific situated practices [67,73,92]. The conceptions of values presented in our definitional overview reflect this tradition.…”

Creating Conditions for Patients' Values to Emerge in Clinical Conversations

“…While early publications in value-sensitive design (VSD) suggested a set of 12 potentially universal values of ethical import [11], later publications clarified that VSD did not intend to make strong claims regarding the universality of values [5]. More recent work by Houston et al [18] has adopted the stance of viewing values as local to specific design contexts (as opposed to universal), and not as fixed entities but aspects of practice that are produced and reproduced in action (following theories of practice [27]). In this paper we adopt the perspectives of Le Dantec et al [22] and Houston et al [18] to examine how patient values emerge in clinical practice.…”

“…More recent work by Houston et al [18] has adopted the stance of viewing values as local to specific design contexts (as opposed to universal), and not as fixed entities but aspects of practice that are produced and reproduced in action (following theories of practice [27]). In this paper we adopt the perspectives of Le Dantec et al [22] and Houston et al [18] to examine how patient values emerge in clinical practice.…”