The Emotional Side of Practice-Based Computing - Challenges, Impact and Extra Work

Participatory design in sensitive contexts involves substantial invisible extra work that rarely appears in project plans or publications. At the same time, close collaboration with groups in sensitive contexts can expose researchers to significant emotional demands. While both invisible work and emotional labour have been discussed in CSCW and PD, little attention has been paid to how they intersect. In this reflection paper, we analyse four heterogeneous practice-based computing projects to examine the co-constitution of emotional labour and extra work. We thereby analyse how extra work shapes researchers’ emotional experiences and how emotional demands generate additional work. Drawing on cross-case analysis in the tradition of design case studies, we identify three recurring emotional patterns: (1) responsibility and moral obligation, (2) uncertainty, insecurity, and lack of control and (3) frustration, anger, and ethical tension. We show how these patterns are closely tied to institutional and structural conditions such as funding precarity, sustainability gaps, and organisational instability. By conceptualising emotional labour and extra work as mutually reinforcing, we contribute a more integrated understanding of participatory research practice and argue for greater visibility and recognition of researchers’ emotional work as a prerequisite for sustainable and responsible collaboration.