What Is Meaningful Human-Computer Interaction? Understanding Freedom, Responsibility, and Noos in HCI Based on Viktor Frankl's Existential Philosophy

Abstract

Meaningfulness is a profound aspect of our lives. So far, a concrete reflection of what meaning means in HCI is still rare. To understand users as humans, and thus, the humanity in being a user, we adopt Viktor Frankl's understanding of users as meaning-seeking subjects. To make the concept of meaningfulness more graspable, we refer to what Frankl calls the three existentials of life: freedom, responsibility, and noos. We elaborate four dimensions, namely the existentials as an outcome, as their embeddedness in technology, their role in interaction, and their (non-)usage. This is followed by a discussion on the interwovenness of the three existentials as well as their potential impact on HCI research. By that, we aim to contribute to a profound understanding of meaning for HCI, from the epistemological to the methodological perspective, to enable meaning-centered design.