Usable Reflexivity

Blythe, M. and Light, (2004) A. Usable Reflexivity, at the CHI2004 workshop on Reflective HCI, Vienna, April 2004

Human Computer Interaction (HCI), as an applied and interdisciplinary research area, has been said to lack a theoretical basis (eg [Mackay 1998], [Scaife et al 1994]). It has also been seen as based as much upon developments in the technology industries as it is upon any philosophy or methodology. The success of HCI projects is to some extent defined by their release back into the commercial world [Sutcliffe 2000] and part of the goal of many researchers is to work in a way that enables industry to develop "better" computer products and services, where "better" is understood in a performance paradigm [Light, forthcoming]. This can lead to an unquestioning acceptance of business values, an uncritical embrace of natural science as a model for social science, and a technological determinism that sits poorly with reflexive practice. How then can radical HCI studies that draw on cultural studies, critical theory, and phenomenological approaches and practices reach out to commercial culture?