Palpable Time for Heterogeneous Care Communities

This paper describes an ongoing design experience conducted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for Premature Newborns. The specificity and the delicateness of such a setting provided the opportunity for reflecting on how the different stakeholders perceive, interpret and use time in their different activities connected to their specific relation with the neonatal ward and the activities taking place there. The design concept of Palpable time sets this difference in focus to initiate a communication model aiming at supporting these needs. The value of this concept is that all members of the care community are entitled to act as equal partner in taking care of the baby. Therefore, this implies the idea of a horizontal organization in which all members are equally valued, where the stakeholders interacts according to their preferences from a time-space perspective. The system must handle roaming between spaces, devices and physical nets. Furthermore, it enables the users to configure emerging properties of their choice to propagate these to themselves and others. Managing and matching the heterogeneity of these different needs and profiles. Palpable Time supports the creation and the consolidation of a Care Community around the Neonatal Ward. Today the concept is explored through an early prototype used as a springboard for further development.