"Short on time and big on ideas": Perspectives from Lab Members on DIYBio Work in Community Biolabs

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningfagfællebedømt

DIYbio challenges the status quo by positioning laboratory biology work outside of traditional institutions. HCI has increasingly explored the DIYbio movement, but we lack insight into sites of practice such as community biolabs. Therefore, we gathered data on eleven community biolabs by interviewing sixteen lab managers and members. These labs represent half of identified organizations in scope worldwide. Participants detailed their practices and motivations, outlining the constraints and opportunities of their community biolabs. We found that lab members conducted technically challenging project work with access to high-end equipment and professional expertise. We found that the unique nature of biowork exacerbated challenges for cooperative work, partially due to the particular time sensitivities of work with living organisms. Building on our findings, we discuss how community biolab members are creating new approaches to laboratory biology and how this has design implications for systems that support non-traditional settings for scientific practice.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelDIS 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference : Digital Wellbeing
Antal sider19
ForlagAssociation for Computing Machinery
Publikationsdato2022
Sider1358-1376
ISBN (Elektronisk)9781450393584
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022
Eksternt udgivetJa
Begivenhed2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Digital Wellbeing, DIS 2022 - Virtual, Online, Australien
Varighed: 13 jun. 202217 jun. 2022

Konference

Konference2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Digital Wellbeing, DIS 2022
LandAustralien
ByVirtual, Online
Periode13/06/202217/06/2022
SponsorDeakin University, Monash University, SIGCHI

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
From participants identifying as lab managers we learned that signifcant organizational work, often provided by volunteers, is required to keep community biolabs operational. In some cases, one or two people were responsible for day-to-day supervision and support of lab operations, as well as administrative tasks such as updating the website or fling taxes. In most cases, lab management was entirely a voluntary activity. Four of eleven labs reported having one person in a full or part-time paid position supporting project work, three of which were general lab managers and one was supported by a grant to work on a specifc project. Estimates of total lab management time investments were reported as fuctuat-ing week to week, from as little as zero for a quiet week but in most cases at least 10 hours a week. We found that some lab managers feared for the long term sustainability of their organizations due to threats of fnancial insecurity or volunteer labor burn out.

Publisher Copyright:
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