Making “Disappearing” Disappear

1. Making “Disappearing” Disappear Paul DourishInformation & Computer ScienceUC Irvine

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9. new forms of computing • the rhetoric • computing is become ubiquitous and hence invisible • the practice • I have more computers than ever before • I encounter more computers than ever before • the trend is actually going the other way • instead of my computer becoming more like my TV, stereo or telephone, they’re becoming more like my computer • yesterday’s keynote was a perfect example…

10. the problems of “disappearance” • computers won’t disappear from our world • but they should disappear from how we talk and think • the computer is not the problem • instead, it’s the computer’s inflexible obtrusiveness • how does the computer manifest itself in daily activity? • how can I engage with the computer as a tool? • how can I appropriate technology for new ends? • the mutuality of tool and task • the solution to these problems is not invisibility • inflexible absence is as bad as inflexible presence!

11. those who forget the past… • it’s HCI all over again • “I don’t want to use a word processor; I just want to write” • “the interface should disappear” • the rise of design • the communicative role of artifacts • artifacts quite pointedly don’t disappear • instead, they offer themselves for different forms and different degrees of engagement

12. the technical trends • the technology trends are clear • smaller, lighter, faster, cheaper… • our reliance on computation will increase • and, as a technophile, I’m happy about that • the question is, what we’ll do about them • “disappearance” is a non-goal • we need to think more critically about how we engage with technology in everyday life • we need to develop conceptual understandings of forms of technology engagement

13. conceptual understandings • how people encounter technology in the world • as a part of everyday interaction • as a basis for meaningful practical activity • as a site for engaged action • embodiment • a sense of phenomenological presence • underwrites trends in tangible and social computing • CSCW is uniquely positioned to address this • the relationship between technology and practice • the social and situated nature of computer work • the outward-directed focus of online activity

14. parting thoughts • a world of sensible coexistence • a device focus leads to interconnection nightmares • back to the desktop! • stuck in 1984 for ever? • let’s make “disappearing” disappear • let’s focus, instead, on appropriate appearance