An Annotated Portfolio on Doing Postphenomenology Through Research Products

Abstract

In this paper, we argue for framing the crafting and studying of research products as doing philosophy through things. We do this by creating an annotated portfolio of such Research through Design (RtD) artifact inquiries as postphenomenological inquiries. In our annotated portfolio, we first provide an account of the postphenomenological commitments of 1) taking empirical work as the basis of the inquiry, 2) analyzing structures of human-technology relations and 3) studying technological mediation. Secondly, we trace these commitments across six RtD artifact inquiries. We conclude with a discussion on how research products can be seen as an experimental way of doing postphenomenology and how HCI design researchers can work with that. As a result, the presented philosophical framing can be leveraged in HCI research to form a deeper and more dimensional understanding of the human-technology relations we craft and study. This also adds a methodological path to moving beyond foci of use, utility, interaction, and human-centeredness.

Ambiguity as a Resource to Inform Proto-Practices

“…Recently, Kutti and Bannon [41] have identified a turn to practice research in HCI, noting that the increasing interest in complex real world problems, on context of interaction, appropriation, materiality, and embodiment (particularly when attempting to overcome the divide between mind and body) shows that HCI is slowly moving beyond a sole focus on interaction [22,24,32,69]. The interaction paradigm, as the authors call it, is individually focused on user needs, technology centric and ahistorical.…”

A Postphenomenological Framework for Studying User Experience of Immersive Virtual Reality

“…In substantiating our framework, this section will present and discuss the constitutive elements of this mediation process in more depth. As illustrated in Figure 1 [which is an altered version of Figure 3 by Hauser et al (2018) depicting the roles of design researchers in RtD inquiries] this means recognizing the subjectivity-objectivity structure as constituted within VR (the user-environment relation), as well as the subjectivity-objectivity structure as constituted outside of VR (the human-world relation).…”

“…Our framework mirrors the overview of technological mediation provided by Hauser et al (2018); the humans of the study, the mediator, and their world are the basic constituents of any technological mediation process (see Figure 2). As the technology mediates the humans' subjective relation to their worlds, who these people are, where they are situated, and what the technology/mediator is are essential overarching variables in understanding technological mediation post-phenomenologically (Hauser et al, 2018). In postphenomenological inquiries in Human-Computer Interaction, the researchers stand in constructive roles regarding the studying, (Hauser et al, 2018).…”

Maneuvering in the Interval: Reflections on Immanent Entanglements

“…One of the strengths of postphenomenology and other empirical perspectives is their practical utility. This can be seen, for example, in the many extensions and variations of Ihde's 'I-technology-world' schemas, and in its practical application (e.g., Hauser et al 2018). More transcendental perspectives enable sensibilities for Big Things (and Technology), and perhaps (minimal) possibilities to configure an intentional stance in relation to them.…”