Good morning from the first morning of the second week of our focus period! Here’s what I’ve got for you:

#1 The pre-print of our DIS pictorial on Designing for Secondary Users of Intimate Technologies, first-authored by Alejandra Gómez Ortega, is coming soon! For now, here’s the abstract: “Digital contraceptives are intimate technologies that support their users, and their partners, in preventing pregnancy. These technologies rely on basal body temperature data to predict ovulation and calculate a fertile window, where there is a risk of pregnancy if partners have unprotected sex. Although their use is shared and relational, these technologies are mainly designed for a primary user — the person who can become pregnant. We turn our attention to secondary users of digital contraception (i.e., sexual partners), specifically, Natural Cycles. We investigate how secondary users are designed for and how primary users imagine them to be. We contribute empirical insights on how secondary users are and are not involved in digital contraception and conclude with three design proposals describing how digital contraception tools could be designed to involve secondary users. We discuss how designing for secondary users of intimate technologies requires balancing their potential as co-users and adversaries.“

#2 I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Oliver Burkeman’s book Meditations for Mortals. I suspect this would be a helpful read for many academics and other knowledge workers.

#3 This year’s Vuoden Tiedekynä, a Finnish award for accessible science writing, was given to a remarkable piece on the social and societal costs of failing to address health issues caused by pregnancy and giving birth, written by Annastiina Rajala-Vaittinen: Synnytinelinten poliittinen talous: Biologisen uusintamisen kustannuksista poliittisen talouden vaginaalisilla rajapinnoilla

#4 Det Omätbara (The Unmeasurable) is a wonderful, one-hour-long documentary about care work, now available on SVT Play. It also features the great Kierkegaard quote about help needing to be an act of serving rather than ruling: “All äkta hjälpsamhet börjar med ödmjukhet inför den jag vill hjälpa och därmed måste jag förstå att detta med att hjälpa inte är att vilja härska utan att vilja tjäna. Kan jag inte detta så kan jag heller inte hjälpa.”

-A