Extraordinary Computing: Religion as a Lens for Reconsidering the

Extraordinary Computing: Religion as a Lens for Reconsidering the Home

Susan P. Wyche Rebecca E. GrinterGeorgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Interactive Computing

Christians

2.1 billion33%

Muslims1.5

billion20%

Hindus

900 Million

13%

Buddhists376

Million6%

OtherIncludes Jews,

Pagans, Scientologist,

etc.13%

Non-religious and

atheists14%

-Numbers from www.adherents.com/

Major Religions of the World and Adherents

What should HCI do with respect to this trend?

We use religion as a lens to examine the assumptions and values that shape future domestic environments.

Overview

Related Work

Our Study

Findings•Material Artifacts•Routines•ICT Use

Discussion•Moving towards Extraordinary Computing

Conclusion and Acknowledgments

} Christians distinguish these from their secular counterparts.

Related Work

ICTs and Religion•Rather than focusing on the individual’s online experiences, I examined how offline faith takes people online.

HCI and the Home•Prior research paints a rich picture of secular life.

•Focused on established themes: Material Artifacts, Routines, and ICT use

Methods •We used semi-structured interviews and in-home tours during this project.•Guided by “technology biographies” (Blythe, et al. 2002)

Participants•20 Individuals (15 women and 5 men)•21-68 years old•Majority described themselves as “born again.”•All reported going to church at least once a month with 15 attending weekly.

Our Study

Findings

•Material Artifacts•ICT Use•Routines Christians distinguish religion

and faith-related artifacts, routines, and ICT use from their

secular counterparts.

Material Artifacts

Temporality of Material Artifacts

Yeah, well – I’ll change the verse every other two or three months. I have a new one now, and it is about forgiveness, but I like to keep them up there for a while.

Routines

Weekly Routines

Well, I worship every Sunday morning, this has been a lifelong habit, I could count on one hand the number of times I haven't been to church on a Sunday morning during my life.

Weekly Routines

When I wake up on Sunday morning, like, I wake up in the morning, um, you know, it’s like faith got me, and I wake up and get ready for church.

Participants described using email differently :

•Used ICTs to project a Christian identity and in some cases evangelize or spread their faith.

ICT Use

Email

I believe that my prayers send those invisible guardian angels, and God honors it. But can I prove that? The only way… Who would know? No one will ever know, until we get to Heaven… I have no evidence.

Discussion: Extraordinary Computing

Systems that recognize, support,

and honor meaningful aspects in users’ domestic lives.

Extraordinary Computing’ s Characteristics

•Temporality•Reflection•Enduring

Temporality

Imagining new ways systems present time:

•Calendaring applications should support customization so that people can separate and promote the days of their choice, or set apart those that have more significance than others do.

HoliDates

http://www.theripplefactory.com/

Reflection

Connect users with meaningful experiences/interests :

•Calendars support identity projection and highlight the special, yet this has been overlooked in many digital calendaring systems.

Enduring

Imagining ways to promote long lasting systems :

•Embedding enduring qualities into ICTs. Note that the ritual does not have to be directly tied to religion. Other processes, such as inheritance, or being a part of a collection, as also contributing to an object’s significance.

Conclusions

I make two contributions to the CHI community with this work.

•Empirical evidence demonstrating that Christians distinguish faith-related artifacts, domestic routines, and ICT use from their secular counterparts.

•Present “extraordinary computing” as an alternative way to imagine future computing devices and applications in the home.

Acknowledgements/ Questions?

I am grateful to participants for sharing their stories. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Intel Research Council. Thank you

Beki Grinter, anonymous reviewers, and Genevieve Bell.