Residual Mobilities

Abstract

This paper explores discrepancies between the founding assumptions of mobile and ubiquitous computing in the western world, and the starkly different experiences of mobility and infrastructure to be found in many postcolonial environments. Based on a field study of forced mobility and technology use among populations displaced by the Hatirjheel waterfront development project in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we make two basic arguments. First, we point to the partial nature of assumptions around mobility that frame the imagination of mainstream HCI research, and argue that different and heretofore residual experiences of mobility must also be accounted for in post-colonial and other marginal computing environments. Second, we document four forms of infrastructural experiencedispossession, reconstitution, collaboration, and repairthat characterize real-world engagements with infrastructure in such settings. We conclude with implications for HCI research and design, and reflections on how HCI researchers might better account for such experiences in their work.

Diversifying Future-Making Through Itinerative Design

“…If such designs are forged from the perspective of a traditional user, however, their value, and indeed their limitations, must be understood and carefully adjusted before making the transition to emergent user contexts [4]. Indeed, it would be naïve to believe that we could simply design a product or service based on traditional users' perception of "easy to use, " and expect it to be fit for purpose for entirely different users living in such vastly different contexts [24,56].…”

Human-Computer Insurrection

“…Postcolonial HCI considers and deconstructs how colonialism's cultural legacy appears and persists in computing after the termination of colonialism's formal structures [111]. In contrast to HCI's traditional focus on "ubiquitous" methods, theories and technologies [7,42], postcolonial HCI includes critiques of the way actions taken to help the "developing" world often follow the path of capital and private interests. Additionally, it explicitly and actively concerns itself with power relations [78].…”

Making Community

“…Lindtner et al [21] pay particular attention to the growth of maker culture in emerging economies, where local innovators can begin to develop their own products rather than simply manufacturing products designed elsewhere. Other examples include hacking and repairing the infrastructure of their environment [1] and empowering technology owners to repair their own devices [28].…”