Reflective HCI: articulating an agenda for critical practice

Abstract

Reflective HCI is a style of HCI research that integrates technical practice with ongoing critical reflection. In the last thirty years, HCI researchers and practitioners have expanded their interests from aspects of cognitive ergonomics concerned with individuals using desktop computers at work to include concern for social and communal aspects of technology use and for affective and aesthetic aspects of design. This has been accompanied by the appropriation of a variety of disciplinary practices, concepts, and methodologies by HCI. In terms of the development and coherence of the discipline, it is timely to take a critical look at the assumptions, values, and traditions of each of these positions, their implications for HCI research agendas, and to try to understand the historical, cultural, and political emergence of HCI as a discipline itself. The main aim of this workshop will be to develop a systematic research agenda for reflective HCI.