Critical Approaches to Temporality in Human-Computer Interaction

Catherine Wieczorek

Ph.D. Student in Human-Centered Computing 

School of Interactive Computing 

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Date and time: November 20, 2025 1–3pm 

Location:  IC Cafe (TSRB)

Committee:

Dr. Lynn Dombrowski – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of

Technology

Dr. Cindy Kaiying Lin – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of
Technology

Dr. Richmond Wong – Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of
Technology

Dr. Laura Forlano – College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University

Dr. Paul Dourish – Department of Informatics, UC Irvine

Advisors:

Dr. Shaowen Bardzell –  School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Carl DiSalvo –  School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract 

This dissertation examines how time shapes and organizes sociotechnical systems, emphasizing its political and infrastructural dimensions. Within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), time has often been studied as a resource to manage or design with, rather than as a force that structures power, access, and inequality. I advance a critical approach to temporality, showing how temporal systems sustain privilege and institutional order. Using design ethnography, I analyze two cases: young people navigating sexual health systems in Chicago and U.S. library workers managing infrastructural strain. These studies reveal how time governs participation, responsibility, and endurance. From this work, I develop the concept of temporal arrangements as recurring patterns of pacing, delay, and recurrence that emerge through historical, accreted assemblages. These arrangements organize, distribute, and make time consequential, exposing misalignments and durable structures that reproduce inequities. I describe three temporal arrangements—compression, gaps, and loops—to show how systems structure, and at times disrupt, people’s ability to access care, support, or basic services. Together, these concepts offer an analytic and design vocabulary for understanding temporality as a mechanism of power and for envisioning more equitable sociotechnical systems.