Take Care of the Future of Care

*** Good news everyone: Deadline for submissions extended. Read on ***

We are turning to technology for a lot of things in our lifes: work, communication, entertainment... Most of the time we trust it to do the job it was built to do. So it is not really a surprise that we turn to technology to solve some of our larger problems. Health care — and especially elderly care — is one of these areas. Accounts are often optimistic and utopian, suggesting that technology will overcome all our current problems, or it can be highly dystopian, suggesting that technology will lead to dehumanise care and lead to job loss. I am interested in the space between. I am interested in the future that is still to happen and we can control. I am interested in the question: What do we want technology to do? And what might happen if we go there. I don’t think we can take care of each other fully without technology. Nor do I think that it should be fully automated. So, what is okay to outsorce to technologies? What might they actually do better than humans? And how do we breach the topic? It is highly individual what people want and care about, so how can technology support this?

As many of these thoughts swirl around my mind and influence many of my works, I decided to gather some of them in a zine. Take Care zine features short stories, some of them published elsewhere, some written specifically for the zine and drawings, as well as some prompts for you to think through your own preferences.

So, when I publish a zine, I set up swaps all over the internet, which means I send out my zine(s) in exchange for what other people have written. It is a wonderful community and sometimes it takes you unexpected places. One of the calls I made got me in touch with the wonderful Gosen, who works as a nurse and we got chatting a bit about our work and interests and from there my first collaborative zine was born. Take Care #2 is all about technology, care and dementia as the title proudly suggests. It combines interviews, reflections of the everyday and short stories from both of us. It is hot off the press and I am quite proud of the outcome.

If you would like a copy of any of these zines, please contact me and I am happy to send out copies. I am planning to set up an etsy shop as well soon, but I am not gonna set a date yet :-)

But, this is not the end. Hell no, I have more exciting news. Below is the call for Take Care #3, where I want to take a step back and ask you all what you think the future looks like. What do you expect it to be? What do you want it to be? If it could be anything? What do you fear might happen? Where should we go, which areas should we stay clear off? Please read the call-out below and send me your submissions!