Heron

Heron is an applied HCI project investigating concepts in personal health informatics for individuals with chronic conditions. It’s a collaboration with Sarah, my wife, who is a researcher in bioethics.

When it comes to personal health informatics, supporting a person’s right to autonomy in healthcare requires agency in computing. It has some tensions in its real application that place real-world demands on the ideals for malleable software, while also giving malleability significant philosophical motivation.

Chronic conditions require lots of daily self-management: therapeutic interventions like medications, injections, etc., lifestyle changes like location, type of work, and type of home, and behavior changes, like rest, exercise, and use of assistive products. These are known as “adaptive strategies,” which individuals with chronic conditions employ around the clock.