Re-Imagining HCI: New Materialist Philosophy and Figurations as Tool for Design
This addresses theoretical limitations in HCI design methods for researchers and practitioners, offering an incremental philosophical shift rather than a practical breakthrough.
The paper tackles the problem of narrow philosophical underpinnings in HCI imaginings like scenario building and persona construction, proposing feminist new materialist philosophy to foster a more holistic and relational perspective, with figurations explored as a practical design tool.
In this paper we interrogate the practices of imagining in human-computer interaction (HCI), particularly in scenario building (SBE) and persona construction. We discuss the philosophical premises of HCI imaginings in rationalism, cognitivism and phenomenology, and we propose (feminist) new materialist philosophy as an enriching perspective that helps generate a holistic, relational perspective of users, imaginaries and technologies. In the end we explore the method of figurations as a potential tool for HCI design.