Materiality in Information Environments: Objects, Spaces and Bodies in Three Outpatient Hemodialysis Facilities

Using Stamper’s (1991) semiotic framework for information systems research, this presentation details results of a multi-sited ethnography involving observations at three outpatient hemodialysis facilities in the United States, and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 28 facility patients.

Results revealed that objects, spaces and bodies were integral to each material layer of the information environment. These material layers entailed constraints and enablers that together shaped three aspects of information interaction in the facilities: (1) information access; (2) information flow; and (3) information acceptance. Information interaction patterns position patients as recipients, rather than active seekers and producers, of health information. Findings hold implications for design of information environments to support patients’ agency, and for expanding access to information in a range of settings.

Tiffany C. Veinot, MLS, PhD, is an associate professor at the Schools of Information and Public Health and Director of the Master of Health Informatics Program at the University of Michigan. Dr. Veinot focuses on developing and evaluating “community health informatics” interventions to improve the health of marginalized groups and reduce health disparities. She is the Principal Investigator of a 5-year study funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, “Enhancing the Cardiovascular Safety of Hemodialysis Care: A Cluster-randomized, Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Multimodal Provider Education and Patient Activation Interventions (Dialysafe).” She has also held or co-held grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and Ontario HIV Treatment Network. Her published research has garnered many national and international awards.