Digital participation has become an important issue in modern societies, typically focusing on groups prone to marginalization. From this perspective, less attention has yet been paid to imprisoned persons. Many penitentiary systems are formally characterized by the basic requirement of resocialization. Accordingly, life in prison should be largely adapted to conditions outside and to fundamental social changes, which must be considered in designing the framework for prison systems. Still, the digital opening of the prison is debated controversially, not least due to anticipated security issues. Hence, to raise awareness about challenges for digital participation of prisoners, we conducted a knowledge-sociological analysis (SKAD) of the public discourse on the use of ICT by prison inmates in Germany. We thereby seek to advance knowledge and insights from social and organizational practice arising from the use of ICT in context of total institutions and create the basis for action from a socio-informatics perspective.

This paper focuses on the complex and intimate setting of domestic home care. The majority of care for chronically ill people is realized by non-professionals, the relatives, who are often overlooked. Many of these informal caregivers are also elderly and face multiple, seriously demanding challenges in the context of informal care 24/7. In order to support this increasing user group, their cooperative work and coordination adequately, it is essential to gain a better understanding of their care practices and needs. This paper is based on ethnography in ten households in Germany. It combines data from the analysis of participant observations over eight months, interviews and cultural probes. Besides detailed descriptions of two cases, the central features of informal care experience and implications for design are discussed: the self-concept of the caregivers as being care experts, the need for social support, timing issues and coordination with other actors in this field.

HCI and CSCW researchers and practitioners are increasingly working in complex social and political contexts where their research activities involve emotional labor and where they have to confront moral and emotional dilemmas. Given the potential impact of these challenging situations on the wellbeing of researchers in the field, there is much need for a discourse on affective impact of research on the researcher. In this workshop, we invite discussion and reflection on the experiences of distress and the role of informal coping mechanisms (e.g., personal narratives) to address them. We will create a forum where researchers and practitioners can discuss and share experiences of projects in sensitive settings and work towards guidelines to inform future projects.