We live in a culture of busyness: in developed countries, many of us feel rushed, overloaded and overworked, yet we value the idea of doing more in less time. In this culture, information technologies (IT) are intended to free us from hard labor and save us time: e-mail is sent immediately, e-shopping saves us from trudging through malls, status updates and microblogging give us quick glimpses into friends’ lives, and smartphones make it all instantly accessible on the go. At the same time, our use of IT may affect experiences of time in other ways: facilitating fragmentation and micro-coordination of work, inadvertently or insidiously redistributing labor and responsibility, making accessible an overabundance of information, products and services among which we feel obligated to choose properly, and increasing our availability to anyone, anytime and anywhere. What role does technology actually play in promoting a culture of busyness? Can technology be designed purposely against a cultural mainstream of productivity, encouraging slowing down, reflection, and pause? To what extent could such technology be relevant to task-centric workplaces or busy homes with multiple family members coordinating their activities?

The goal of this NSF-funded symposium is to foster an interdisciplinary research community that draws from the social sciences, science & technology studies, organization and management science, and technology design to address the following questions:

(1) What are the roles of IT in coping with and/or promoting a culture of busyness?  We aim to identify theoretical and empirical gaps in understanding sociotechnical aspects of busyness at the individual, organizational, and societal level.

(2) To what extent is it possible to intervene in the culture of busyness by altering the design of IT or its use practices? We will identify both technical and social opportunities and challenges in the design and application of IT interventions for this purpose.

Location and Travel

The symposium will take place on the University of Washington campus, Seattle, WA.

Travel funding and accommodation at the Waterfront Hotel in Seattle will be offered for one person for each accepted symposium submission.

Organizers

Gilly Leshed, Department of Communication, Cornell University

Phoebe Sengers, Information Science and Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University

Helen Nissenbaum, Media, Culture, and Communication & Computer Science, New York University

Batya Friedman, The Information School, University of Washington

Carman Neustaedter, School of Interactive Arts + Technology, Simon Fraser University

Sponsored by NSF, grant number IIS-1049359: Workshop: Rethinking the Value of Busyness in IT