Technology Maintenance: A New Frame for Studying Poverty and Marginalization

This paper offers a new theoretical frame for those interested in poverty and design. As digital access rates peak, technology maintenance argues that the digital divide will increasingly manifest in the (in)ability to stay connected. As a novel and conservative test, open-ended data from a 748-person university student survey of technology maintenance were analyzed. Use and ownership were ubiquitous, but students demonstrated variability in coping with the inevitable; disconnection was more burdensome for low-resourced students. Findings extend technology maintenance and are leveraged as a starting point for three calls for action in HCI: 1) the CHI community should research the burdens of poverty in poor and wealthy contexts; 2) new HCI projects should accommodate inconsistent access; and, 3) new design choices should minimize disruption and optimize stability. This requires action at the individual and organizational level as designers create products that consider marginalization but also use expertise to influence policy.

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