Materiality in information environments: Objects, spaces, and bodies in three outpatient hemodialysis facilities

Abstract

The materiality of information environments, and its role in information behavior, has received little attention. We present an ethnographic study involving 156 hours of observation and 28 patient interviews in outpatient hemodialysis facilities. Using an extended "Semiotic Framework for Information Systems Research," the findings show that objects, spaces, and bodies were integral to 6 sociomaterial layers of facility information environments: the physical, empiric, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and social world. Objects of importance in the information environments included dialysis machines, instruments, records, paper documents, televisions, furniture, thermostats, lighting, and personal possessions. Spatial features, including compartmentalization, displays, distance, proximity, and spatially-grounded routines, also constituted information environments. The information environments were also shaped by patient immobility, bodily discomforts, and orientation to bodily states. Each sociomaterial layer introduced enablers and constraints to information access, flow, and acceptance; these combined to construct patients primarily as passive recipients of information rather than active seekers and producers of information. A sociomaterial perspective and related focus on objects, spaces, and bodies offers a lens for professional information practice. We contribute information environment design guidance to facilitate such practice and stress that the value of certain sources and types of information can be materially encoded in an environment.

Affordances for information practices: theorizing engagement among people, technology, and sociocultural environments

“…The concept of affordance has been suggested as a powerful lens for viewing the complicated relationships among actors, technologies and the environment (Day, 2011; Kaptelinin and Nardi, 2012; Markus and Silver, 2008; Zhao and Zhu, 2016). When it is taken into account, technologies and the materiality of information are not viewed merely in terms of their features and functions, but are seen as mediating artifacts shaped by particular social and cultural atmospheres (Nardi and O'Day, 1999; Nelson et al ., 2017; Sadler and Given, 2007; Veinot and Pierce, 2019). Moreover, the affordances for information practices can be investigated from an ecological perspective, as suggested by Marchionini (2008).…”

Usability Evaluation of a Tablet-Based Intervention to Prevent Intradialytic Hypotension in Dialysis Patients During In-Clinic Dialysis: Mixed Methods Study

“…Our previous work discusses the use of peer mentoring for young adults on hemodialysis [16,19], essential information design considerations of the hemodialysis clinical environment [20,21], information preferences of patients receiving dialysis [22], workflows used by clinicians to help prevent IDH [10], development of a patient-centered definition of unstable dialysis sessions [15], and results of a user-centered design process for developing the intervention evaluated in this study [17]. Based on this prior work, we have deployed a tablet-based intervention that was developed using the Ionic Framework's app development platform along with AngularJS for the Android operating system, designed to run on a Samsung Galaxy tablet.…”

Information informing design: Information Science research with implications for the design of digital information environments

“…These contexts include the user context; Mohammad Arif, Du, and Lee (2015) examined tourists' collaborative information‐seeking behavior, the use context; Laing and Masoodian (2015) examined the role of visual information‐seeking in visual design practice, the environment context; Zhao, Xu, Peng, and Song (2018) examined the phenomenon of user exodus on social networking sites, the device context; Goyal, Bron, Lalmas, Haines, and Cramer (2018) examined the impact of mobile ad design decisions on peoples' mobile information interaction experience, the social context; Worrall (2019) examined the sociotechnical infrastructure surrounding information sharing in online communities and social digital libraries and the privacy context; Vasalou et al (2015) examined how digital information environments could encourage user engagement with the privacy domain. Finally, this special issue features work that informs design by examining: the sociomateriality of information environments (Veinot & Pierce, 2019), the role of information in everyday experiences (specifically peoples' experiences of gratitude in online communities; Makri & Turner, 2020), and information experience in personally meaningful activities (Gorichanaz, 2019).…”

“…In materiality in information environments: Objects, spaces, and bodies in three outpatient hemodialysis facilities , Veinot and Pierce (2019) interviewed and observed 28 outpatients in hemodialysis units, focusing on the role of sociomateriality in these physical information environments. They noted that materiality refers to the arrangement of physical and digital materials into forms that endure across place and time (Veinot & Pierce, 2019). Sociomateriality further clarifies that materiality is intertwined with social phenomena (Veinot & Pierce, 2019).…”

“…They noted that materiality refers to the arrangement of physical and digital materials into forms that endure across place and time (Veinot & Pierce, 2019). Sociomateriality further clarifies that materiality is intertwined with social phenomena (Veinot & Pierce, 2019). The authors used six “layers” to understand the role of sociomateriality in these environments; physical , empiric , syntactic , semantic , pragmatic , and social .…”