Technology in place: Dialogics of technology, place and self

Abstract

Ubiquitous and ambient computing - computationally enhanced built environments and portable products that aim to make computing available anytime-anywhere - has somewhat paradoxically put place at the heart of Interaction Design. In this paper, foundations are laid for a dialogical approach to place as an expression of the experienced relationship between people and space. Building on McCarthy and Wright's dialogical conceptualisation of technology as experience, place is described in terms of the plurality of histories, interactions and meanings that characterise people's different engagements with particular spaces. Implications of a dialogical approach to place are considered with respect to the further development within Interaction Design of concepts such as context, engagement, and interactivity. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2005.