Project

In ShapeTech we research the ambivalence between self-optimization and health promotion by exploring the design options and usage contexts of self-monitoring tools with the goal of humanizing highly digitized work. The ShapeTech project will focus on ‘brainwork’, which include, administrative work, the technical organization, monitoring and planning of production, research and development, and non-material production (such as IT services and software development), but also leadership and management activities. In doing so, the project will analyze how employees in such work environments use a self-monitoring tool based on biometric data to become aware of stressful situations at work, how they may share their experiences in occupational health circles and how joint suggestions for improvements of work situations may be developed. The project will thus promote humanized, balance-oriented design and usage of self-monitoring tools currently gaining currency and, at the same time, use these tools to support the humanization of highly digitized work.
Self-monitoring tools may be beneficial for employees at first sight but they pose risks and may have a negative impact on health and in the long run also on companies and society at large. The key differentiating factor – if such tools lead to health promotion or health deterioration is how these tools are used, which is heavily influenced by their design. Therefore, our overall research question is:
How can self-monitoring tools – using biometric data – be designed, implemented and used so that they contribute to empowering employees to improve their work situation and health?
The following sub-questions will be answered in the course of the project:
Screening & analysis of technologies and tool development & adaptation
● Which self-monitoring tools, using biometric data, exist on the market?
● How reliable is the provided feedback of these tools and how can their reliability and suitability be improved?
Testing the monitoring tool in the working context
● How do people interact with a selected tool and how do they experience this interaction, the feedback from the tool, and the user interface (UI) (e.g. adaption of behaviour based on the feedback)?
● What functionalities and aspects of the user interface do employees in highly digitized ‘brainwork’ refer to in their discussions on working conditions and what adaptations of the technology seem feasible?
● How may self-monitoring tools be used to detect causes of stress in highly digitized work environments?
● How to personalize stress/concentration-level extraction algorithms and improve their performance?
● How to run algorithms on resource constrained devices to reduce/avoid data transmission and thus decrease privacy and security obstacles?
Potentials for empowerment and co-determination
● How do self-monitoring tools change the perception of one's work?
● How do workers reflect on work situations on the basis of the feedback they get from the tool?
●To what extent can collective reflection on working conditions, e.g. within occupational health circles, empower workers to improve working conditions?
● What are individual, collective, work-related and organizational antecedents that determine (non)adaptation of work organization and technology?
● What organizational measures are needed to overcome individualization and self-optimization and to support joint influence of workers on highly digitized working conditions?