Mobile phones were introduced to rural midwives in tsunami-affected Indonesia, allowing them to contact medical experts and communicate with patients. Ninety-two interviews were conducted with midwives, coordinators, doctors, and village representatives. This study applies a dialectical perspective to supplement the analytical frame of the ICT for healthcare development model , by addressing the multidimensionality of benefits and barriers. The theory of dialectical tension (Baxter and Montgomery, 1996) situates the conceptual discussion around the struggles between autonomy and subordination within gender roles, personal growth versus technological competency, and issues of economic and resource control in traditional hierarchies. We find that midwives engage in legitimization strategies, develop peer support, and focus on strategic issues to develop the capacity for agency and autonomy, despite socio-organizational barriers. Specific recommendations are offered, focusing on the resourcefulness and desire of women.

This article focuses on the concept of labor in co-creation, arguing that its definition needs to be expanded to include a process of intensity. Intensity foregrounds the different degrees in which participants involve themselves in a craft, and also the elements of time, effort, and affectivity. Using game modification as a case study, the article analyzes how automated, computerized systems of evaluations, embedded into webpages, can create grounds for a self-understanding of productive abilities. Maneuvering through the three registers of industry, websites, and game modders, it examines the discourses of evaluative systems and details how participants use these technologies to self-manage and calibrate their labor. Interviews showed that the increasingly competitive drive for optimal standards of production comes at a cost to the well-being of participants. Studies of labor therefore need to consider the "intense" aspect of participatory production, and the impact it may have on its participants.

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