Disconnection on an Arctic Expedition

#technological disconnection #social disconnection #co-design workshop #sketching #the arctic

About

Aboard an Arctic expedition sailing along the coast of Svalbard, there is a disconnect between the group and the rest of the world, especially when facing a lack of internet connectivity. I conducted a co-design workshop with 13 participants in a unique context—a ship in remote areas of the Arctic with limited connectivity. This scenario as an opportunity to research how people’s needs, behaviours, and social dynamics are influenced by digital disconnection to design better tools for connection in everyday life.

Role

I was the lead researcher for this project. I designed the research, recruited participants, facilitated the co-design workshop with 13 participants, led the data analysis with a second coder, authored the conference paper communicating the results and recommendations, and will present the research study at the 2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Results

Through this research, I developed themes related to social and technological connection and disconnection. I discuss a number of implications and questions for design, including suggestions to:

1) Use Naturally Emerging Aspects of the Environment to Connect People without Pulling Them out of the Moment,

2) Design to Shift Expectations for Response Speed and Richness, and

3) Understand Disconnection Needs, Responsibilities, and Safeguards.

Read More

Forthcoming:

Reese Muntean, Hanieh Shakeri, and Carman Neustaedter. 2026. A Dot on the Map: Co-Designing for Technological and Social Disconnection on an Arctic Expedition. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26), April 13–17, 2026, Barcelona, Spain. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 14 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791118