Empirical Vernacular Philosophy, or towards an Existential HCI

Light, A. (2008) Empirical Vernacular Philosophy, or towards an Existential HCI, HCI workshop on 'Critical Issues in HCI', Liverpool, Sept 2008

I propose an empirical vernacular philosophy – the interpretation of technology through the study of the meaning of particular technologies - in use and in context - to those in the process of making sense of them. This is to place people (and their agency and experience) at the heart of the research process. Light (2006) describes a hermeneutic method and Light (2008) applies this to the design of mobile phones, while Light and Miskelly (forthcoming) uses the approach to explore use of Web 2.0 and location-sensitive media for creating habitat. Light, Briggs and Martin (2008), and Light et al (2008) look at research techniques that elicit values and meanings by emphasising participants’ context rather than offering a pre-defined research narrative. This work attempts to produce material of practical value to designers but to do so with awareness of the many ways that identity, meaning and use interrelate and the impossibility of separating the social and technical at an existential level as well as in the everyday.