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The Flaky Accretions of Infrastructure: Sociotechnical Systems, Citizenship, and the Water Supply

Authors:

Tejaswini Joshi,

Jeffrey Bardzell,

Shaowen BardzellAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

Article No.: 426, Pages 1 - 27

https://doi.org/10.1145/3479570

Published: 18 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

The convergence of networked digital infrastructures and built environments have given rise to the "urban user", a conflation of "the user" and "the resident" or "the citizen". The urban user and the city infrastructures are mutually constituted phenomena formed through the interactions between them. In this research, we contribute an ethnographic study that focuses on the everyday interactions between the urban user and water infrastructures in Pune, India. Using Nikhil Anand's concept of "hydraulic citizenship" to analyze our ethnographic data, we showcase the mutually constitutive process of infrastructuring and subjectivization of the "citizen", bringing attention to the ad hoc, heterogeneously constituted water infrastructures in Pune that aspire to be "smart" even before becoming functional infrastructures. In doing so, we hope to expand possible research trajectories within smart city research agendas by decoupling it from Western assumptions and also by linking them to an interactional account of the everyday relationships among residents, infrastructures, and municipalities.

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Index Terms

The Flaky Accretions of Infrastructure: Sociotechnical Systems, Citizenship, and the Water Supply
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

CSCW2

October 2021

5376 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3493286

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Apple Inc., United States

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Published: 18 October 2021

Published in PACMHCI Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

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Mcclearn JJensen RTalhouk R(2024)Security Patchworking in Lebanon: Infrastructuring Across Failing InfrastructuresProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373978:CSCW1(1-26)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637397
Shaikh RSingh ABrown BLampinen A(2024)Not Just A Dot on The Map: Food Delivery Workers as InfrastructureProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3641918(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3641918
Hamm AUllrich ARehak RBecker KNölting B(2023)Municipalities’ digitalization and sustainability transformations: A network approach for designing a transdisciplinary knowledge communityProceedings of the 11th International Conference on Communities and Technologies10.1145/3593743.3593780(174-179)Online publication date: 29-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3593743.3593780
McCord CBecker C(2023)Beyond Transactional Democracy: A Study of Civic Tech in CanadaProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35794627:CSCW1(1-37)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
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Xue Hvan Kooten K(2023)Inside out: Addressing the “how” of data collection in experience design research applying introspective methodsAdvanced Design Research10.1016/j.ijadr.2024.02.0011:2(109-125)Online publication date: Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadr.2024.02.001

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