Possession and dispossession: a dual phenomenon in digital artefacts

Abstract

A modern user's interactions with digital artefacts are a subject of interest to numerous fields of study, including human-computer interaction (HCI). Innovations in HCI necessitate an understanding of users’ attachment to these artefacts. This paper characterises user attachment as a dual phenomenon of possession and dispossession. The findings give deeper insight into the influences of this phenomenon and how they might distinguish its manifestation in physical and virtual environments. Avenues for design interventions were then interpreted from these findings.