On Eliciting a Sense of Self when Integrating with Computers

Abstract

While some Human-Computer Integration (HInt) systems have successfully demonstrated that humans and technology can be physically and functionally integrated, we find that these integrations are not necessarily part of the users identity (i.e. self-judgment) or felt as part the user (i.e. with a sense of self) and that they can even create feelings of self-dissociation. Literature on how to elicit these self-experiences is often inconsistent and vague, which complicates the metric for success and hinders the advancement of research. To help designers elicit and systematically evaluate in particular a sense of self, we draw metrics and theory from phenomenology and cognitive science. We find that experiential structures such as "pre-reflective experience", "sense of body-ownership"and "sense of agency"are to be designed for as they together seem to elicit a "sense of self".