Studying appropriation of everyday technologies: a cognitive approach

Abstract

The ways in which users appropriate uses of technology - or invent new ones - have attracted interest in CSCW-oriented research, but much less has been written on its cognitive foundations, although concepts such as practical problem-solving, perception, and action are central to its understanding. I attempt to address this gap here by triangulating the phenomenon both theoretically and methodologically. In this paper, a reflection of the process provides a starting point for a study with a more focused research question.