Whither Humane-Computer Interaction? Adult and Child Value Conflicts in the Biometric Fingerprinting for Food

This paper reports on the value conflicts that beneficiaries experience when engaging in the monthly ritual of the biometric authentication of their fingerprints to claim state-sponsored food entitlements in India. Drawing on value-based orientations to HCI inquiry, the study locates the interactions around the biometric process to illustrate the ways in which beneficiaries find their values of time, dignity, and privacy, consistently disregarded by the interactive demands of the biometric system. Additionally, to cope with these value conflicts, some beneficiaries pass on the responsibilities of completing the biometric process to the children in their families. While adult beneficiaries are vocal and articulate about the value tensions in their lives, children cope with the anxieties of interacting with the biometric process, silently; even as they experience conflicts in their education, play, and study time.