People with cancer have to contend with a variety of physical, social and emotional difficulties. Young people with cancer (YPWC aged 18-25 years) are faced with the additional burden of social isolation from their peers and from existing social support networks. This paper explores how YPWC’s individual representations of self are embodied in and through images and messages in an online social network, MyTrac. These representations construct a particular sense of presence; one which primarily focuses on the positive aspects of living with cancer. That is, they portray physical capabilities rather than limitations, social connectivity rather than social isolation and emotional strength rather than crisis. We allow that these embodiments are in some situations misleading and problematic for individual participants; however these embodiments may lead to a collective understanding about what it is to part of a group of young people living with cancer.
Authors: Dr. Hilary Davis, Dr. Frank Vetere, Shawn Ashkanasy
Event: SF08: Embodied Interaction in Mobile, Physical and Virtual Environments Workshop