Speculative Vulnerability

John S. Seberger, Ike Obi, Mariem Loukil, William Liao, David Wild, Sameer Patil

2022Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction11 citationsDOI Open Access PDF

Abstract

Pandemic-tracking apps may form a future infrastructure for public health surveillance. Yet, there has been relatively little exploration of the potential societal implications of such an infrastructure. In semi-structured interviews with 23 participants from India, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the United States, we discussed attitudes and preferences regarding the deployment of apps that support contact tracing to contain the spread of COVID-19. Through interpretive analysis, we examined the relationship between persistent discomfort and vulnerability when using such apps. Such an examination yielded three temporal forms of vulnerability: real, anticipatory, and speculative. By identifying and defining the temporalities of vulnerability through an analysis of people's pandemic-related thoughts and experiences, we develop the overlapping discourses of humanistic infrastructure studies and infrastructural speculation. In doing so, we explore the concept of vulnerability itself and present implications for the study of vulnerability in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and for the oversight of app-based public health surveillance.

Topics & Concepts

TemporalitiesVulnerability (computing)PandemicSpeculationSoftware deploymentCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Public healthPublic relationsPolitical scienceComputer securityBusinessMedicineEngineeringComputer scienceLawNursingDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)PathologySoftware engineeringFinanceCOVID-19 Digital Contact TracingPrivacy, Security, and Data ProtectionInnovative Human-Technology Interaction