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Cited by 58Information Systems Theories and ImplementationInnovative Human-Technology InteractionResilience and Mental Health

'Routine Infrastructuring' as 'Building Everyday Resilience with Technology': When Disruption Becomes Ordinary

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Semaan, Bryan·2019·Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
DOI 10.1145/3359175
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Abstract

Getting a divorce. Being diagnosed with a disease. Going through a relationship breakup. Living through a natural disaster. All of these events are often life disrupting and debilitating. While some disruptive events are short-lived, some can be a routine part of everyday life. This leads to the question of how people who experience prolonged disruption in their lives build resilience---that is, how do they manage and overcome such events? To explore this question, this paper utilizes a case study approach to explore the use, creation, and re-appropriation of technology across three prolonged disruptions-the Second Gulf War in Iraq, veteran transitions, and the coming out experiences of LGBTQ-identifying people. Using a conceptual frame that brings together routine dynamics and infrastructuring, we find that engaging in routine infrastructuring practices generated resilience in people's daily lives---a phenomenon we dub 'routine infrastructuring' as 'building everyday resilience with technology.' We then theorize properties of infrastructure and infrastructuring practice that enable resiliency, and conclude with how infrastructuring is a form of care work that is oriented towards individuals, communities, and society.

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  • Access labour can be reframed as routine infrastructuring: sustained, collaborative, and resistant to the reactive, ad hoc model of accommodations offered by institutions.

    “In doing so, we extend HCI scholarship by reframing access labour as routine infrastructuring: sustained, collaborative, and resistant to the reactive, ad hoc model of accommodations offered by institutions [20, 42, 49, 61].”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [49]

    Section 2.4 describes routine infrastructuring as an ongoing practice during prolonged disruption, including collaborative efforts and ways to counter formalized infrastructures. It does not discuss access labour or characterize institutional accommodations as reactive and ad hoc. The citing authors present the reframing of access labour as their own extension, but this source supports only part of the characterization attached to the citation. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In Semaan's account of infrastructuring under conditions of military conflict and state occupation, participants operated within contexts where violence did not present desirable nor safe openings for frictional resistance.

    “However, in Semaan’s account of infrastructuring [49] under conditions of military conflict and state occupation, participants operated within contexts where violence did not present desirable nor safe openings for frictional resistance.”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [49]

    Section 3.1 describes Iraqi civilians using technology to maintain everyday routines during the Second Gulf War and says bombings made travel unsafe. Section 3.1.2 also reports kidnappings and killings by militia and insurgent groups. These passages support the violent, unsafe setting, but the paper does not characterize it as state occupation or say that violence foreclosed desirable or safe opportunities for frictional resistance. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Routine infrastructuring emphasizes community practices through technology to collectively adapt and build resilience when disruptions are commonplace in everyday affairs.

    “Central to our work is the framework of routine infrastructuring introduced by Semaan [49], which emphasizes community practices through technology to collectively adapt and build resilience when disruptions are commonplace in everyday affairs.”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [49]

  • Recent HCI works on community-built infrastructures study the disruptions and the responses of marginalized communities but do not focus on mobilization and collaborative practices that serve as resistance within institutional contexts.

    “While recent HCI works on community-built infrastructures study the disruptions and the responses of marginalized communities [49, 52, 62], they do not focus on mobilization and collaborative practices that serve as resistance within institutional contexts.”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [49]

  • The values, perspectives, and biases embedded within infrastructures may be misaligned with its users, producing routine disruptions to everyday life.

    “As noted by Semaan [49], the values, perspectives, and biases embedded within infrastructures may be misaligned with its users, producing routine disruptions to everyday life.”

    From Infrastructuring as Collective Resistance: How Disabled Students Negotiate Access Through Technology in Universities (2026) · cites this paper as [49]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Semaan, B.
Affiliations
Syracuse University (US)
Corresponding author
Semaan, Bryan
ORCID
Semaan, Bryan
Venue
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Published
2019-11-07
Volume
3
Issue
CSCW
Pages
1-24
ISSN
2573-0142 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1145/3359175
OpenAlex
W2984985665
Cited by
58
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 1
FWCI
7.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background (vor)
Locations
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Science Foundation (1657429)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
Keywords
everyday resilience, infrastructuring, technology appropriation, care work, Iraq War, coming out, LGBTQ+ people, infrastructure

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