Lull: Designing Crip Pacing Technologies for Rest, 2025, Homewood

Dolphin

Dolphin

Senior Member (Voting Rights)

Lull: Designing Crip Pacing Technologies for Rest

Authors: Sarah Homewood, Nantia Koulidou, Claudia A Hinkle, Irene Kaklopoulou, Harvey BewleyAuthors Info & Claims
DIS '25: Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Pages 3082 - 3097
https://doi.org/10.1145/3715336.3735419
Published: 04 July 2025


Abstract​

Energy limiting conditions (ELC), such as long COVID and ME/CFS, require the careful monitoring and pacing of activity and rest to avoid over-exertion.

Commercially available fitness tracking technologies are currently being “misused” to manage these conditions.

Based on co-design research with people with ELC, we conducted a research-through-design process to ideate upon what ELC pacing technologies could be.

Our ongoing design process is informed by crip theories that highlight the social and political, rather than medical, aspects of disability and chronic conditions.

In an attempt to offer non-medicalising pacing technologies, we explored integrating bronze casting as a jewelry making technique within the prototyping process.

We also explore how we can present quantitative pacing data gathered from wearable sensors through felt vibrations on the body in a way that can be therapeutic and allow for the user to calibrate the quantitative data with their own felt sense of fatigue.

Click to expand...
 
Dolphin said:
ideate
Click to expand...
Ideate and Ideation seem to be common corporate buzz words these days (I dislike the word)

Dolphin said:
Our ongoing design process is informed by crip theories that highlight the social and political, rather than medical, aspects of disability and chronic conditions.
Click to expand...

Not sure about social and political here.

Dolphin said:
We also explore how we can present quantitative pacing data gathered from wearable sensors through felt vibrations on the body in a way that can be therapeutic and allow for the user to calibrate the quantitative data with their own felt sense of fatigue.
Click to expand...

I can see value in understanding how current wearables and phones could be used to help pacing and doing that by looking at how patients are currently using them.
 
It's an, erm, interesting angle to come at it from, isn't it. But even if it turns out to make some sense, it falls into the same trap as commercial apps: assuming ME/CFS is measurable and behaves in a consistent and rules-based way.

But it isn't, and it doesn't, and nobody seems to be suggesting people could also choose to use the energy they spend interacting with apps to do something they enjoy.

I couldn't get up this morning, but I didn't spend the time recording it. I was marvelling at how thuggish butterflies can be, and watching bumblebees shoulder open snapdragon flowers and then disappear from view, until their fat little bottoms reappeared as they reversed out.

An app would have encouraged me to see that as time lost, but it wasn't. It was moments of joy gained.
 
It’s the same people that were behind this one:
Dolphin

Thread 'Cripping the Co-Design of Pacing Technologies For Energy-Limiting Conditions, 2025, Homewood'

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...chnologies-For-Energy-Limiting-Conditions.pdf

Abstract

People with energy-limiting conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID, need to limit their activity levels and balance exertion with rest and restorative activities.

This practice is known as “pacing”.

There is an opportunity for technology to help people with this process, but...
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