I just spotted some fascinating research being presented at UbiComp 2012 “Takes a Transnational Network to Raise a Child: The Caseof Migrant Parents and Left-Behind Jamaican Teens” To quote the introduction:“In this paper we describe how mobile phones in particular have entered a complex care network and while they support some communications they have also contributed to many of the difficulties associated with migration.” 

This reminded me of a book review I wrote recently – “Migration and New Media: Transnational Families and Polymedia” which has now been published.

Elsewhere at Ubicomp “Ubicomp’s Colonial Impulse” was presented: “We want to argue here that colonialism is a much more pervasive aspect of ubiquitous computing than we normally give it credit for. In fact, it is entwined with all sorts of aspects of how we think, how we talk, and how we work in ubiquitous computing.”

I love these critical engagements with the social and political aspects of technology that are apparent here. This reminds me to revisit the special issue of Interacting with Computers on “Feminism and HCI: New Perspectives“ and to keep checking in on what the HCI/Ubicomp scholars are up to.