Affect theory and autoethnography in ordinary information systems

This paper uses philosophical theories of affect as a lens for exploring autoethnographic renderings of everyday experience with information technology. Affect theories, in the paper, denote a broad trend in post-humanistic philosophy that explores sensation and feeling as emergent and relational pre- cognitive forces that impinge on a body and its capacity to act. A necessarily truncated account of af- fect theory, and three autoethnographic vignettes are presented to complement the philosophical ex- position and to provide reflections on possible empirical tactics for affective research in IS. Inspired by the challenges to IS reflected in Yoo’s notion of Experiential Computing, the paper contributes with examples of how everyday attentiveness to the senses can unveil new forms of embodiment related to ‘living with technology’. It suggests that feelings (both sensory visceral as well as more generalized moods) emerge out of intimate embodied entanglement with ubiquitous computing technologies infra- structures

Affect theory and autoethnography in ordinary information systems

This paper uses philosophical theories of affect as a lens for exploring autoethnographic renderings of everyday experience with information technology. Affect theories, in the paper, denote a broad trend in post-humanistic philosophy that explores sensation and feeling as emergent and relational pre- cognitive forces that impinge on a body and its capacity to act. A necessarily truncated account of af- fect theory, and three autoethnographic vignettes are presented to complement the philosophical ex- position and to provide reflections on possible empirical tactics for affective research in IS. Inspired by the challenges to IS reflected in Yoo’s notion of Experiential Computing, the paper contributes with examples of how everyday attentiveness to the senses can unveil new forms of embodiment related to ‘living with technology’. It suggests that feelings (both sensory visceral as well as more generalized moods) emerge out of intimate embodied entanglement with ubiquitous computing technologies infra- structures

Co-Operation with Users: Challenges from (I)Literacy and Cultures

With the developments in the global market, designs focusing on the users of Information Technologies becomes a competitive factor since successful diffusion and up-take of IT lie with the users. But users have different IT competences and are culturally different. These are challenges that HCI-design methodologies need to address. User-Centred Design offers a possible approach but there are limitations that must be dealt with to strengthen user oriented and interdisciplinary approaches, and the development of techniques and tools that are suitable for handling the complexity of designing for a global world. This research-in-progress paper outlines preliminary reflections on – and contributions to – the development and qualification of techniques and tools that address user-centred design in a global context. We discuss User-Centred Design and qualify this approach by aligning with the Scandinavian IS tradition of co-operating directly with users. We suggest an approach inspired by the Scandinavian approach to IS design as a possible point of departure for targeting global users. We introduce the conceptual and experimental work in our Vision Lab, an approach based on co-operation with users and on the fundamental understanding of design methods as a relational practice that takes place between objects, contexts, users, and designers. We describe different techniques we have explored, characterized by giving the users voice throughout the design effort. In a final chapter we re-address the global perspective, and point out that virtual co-operation with the users is the next challenge. We suggest two digital techniques which may be explored for virtual cooperative design, discuss potential challenges to these methods, and conclude with propositions for further research to be carried out in the Vision Lab

Mapping media and meaning: autoethnography as an approach to designing personal heritage soundscapes

The paper presents reflections on understanding the issues of designing of locative sonic memory-scapes. As physical space and digital media become ever more intertwined, together forming and augmenting meaning and experience, we need methods to further explore possible ways in which physical places and intangible personal content can be used to develop meaningful experiences. The paper explores the use of autoethnography as a method for soundscape design in the fields of personal heritage and locative media. Specifically, we explore possible connections between digital media, space and ‘meaning making’, suggesting how autoethnographies might help discover design opportunities for merging digital media and places. These are methods that are more personally relevant than those typically associated with a more system-based design approaches that we often find are less sensitive to the way that emotion, relationships, memory and meaning come together. As a way to expand upon these relationships we also reflect on relations between personal and community-based responses

Ways of walking: understanding walking's implications for the design of handheld technology via a humanistic ethnographic approach

It seems logical to argue that mobile computing technologies are intended for use “on-the-go.” However, on closer inspection, the use of mobile technologies pose a number of challenges for users who are mobile, particularly moving around on foot. In engaging with such mobile technologies and their envisaged development, we argue that interaction designers must increasingly consider a multitude of perspectives that relate to walking in order to frame design problems appropriately. In this paper, we consider a number of perspectives on walking, and we discuss how these may inspire the design of mobile technologies. Drawing on insights from non-representational theory, we develop a partial vocabulary with which to engage with qualities of pedestrian mobility, and we outline how taking more mindful approaches to walking may enrich and inform the design space of handheld technologies

Reflections on Digital ‘Focal Things and Practices’ in the Wilderness

This position paper reflects on Borgmann’s notion of ‘focal things’ and its applicability in the discourse about interaction with technologies in nature. Using the example of a combined cooking burner and thermoelectric 5W smartphone charger (a BioLite cook stove), this position paper gives an example of how a mundance “device” turns focal once it is connected to a contextual infrastructure (the ‘wild’), and reflects on the applicability of the notion of focality. The guiding question is how the notion of ‘focal things and practices’ drawn from Borgmann might help us think about the (strained) relationship between digital technologies and the wilderness

Audio in place: media, mobility & HCI: creating meaning in space

Audio-based content, location and mobile technologies can offer a multitude of interactional possibilities when combined in innovative and creative ways. It is important not to underestimate impact of the interplay between location, place and sound. Even if intangible and ephemeral, sounds impact upon the way in which we experience the built as well as the natural world. As technology offer us the opportunity to augment and access the world, mobile technologies offer us the opportunity to interact while moving though the world. They are technologies that can mediate, provide and locate experience in the world. Vision, and to some extent the tactile senses have been dominant modalities discussed in experiential terms within HCI. This workshop suggests that there is a need to better understand how sound can be used for shaping and augmenting the experiential qualities of places through mobile computing

Walking and Sensing Mobile Lives

In this position paper, we discuss how mindful walking with people allow us to explore sensory aspects of mobile lives that are typically absent from research. We present an app that aids researchers collect impressions from a walk