CHAPTER 5: FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER 5: FOUNDATIONS
Dourish, P. (2001) Where the Action Is. The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. MIT Press, Cambridge MA.

THREE ASPECTS OF MEANING

ONTOLOG

• Branch of metaphysics
  
• Focus on
  
  • “How the world is separated into a collection of entities whose meanings can be established, separated and identified” (Dourish 2001)
    
  • How relate to each other
    
  • How we describe the objects in the world
    
• It is an aspect of meaning
  
  • “Provides structure from which meaning can be constructed” (Dourish 2001)
    
• In Technology
  
  • “Internal representational structure of a software system – what elements are present, how they are distinguished etc.” (Dourish 2001)
    



INTERSUBJECTIVITY

Main point in Schutz’s work
“How the meaning can be shared”(Dourish 2001)

PROBLEMS

• How two people have a shared understanding?
  
• With no access to each other’s mental states
  
• Common ground is considered to be the answer
  

In Technology

• Communication between the designer and the user through the interface
  
• Communication between users – through the system
  
• Eg. E-mail
  
  
  INTENTIONALITY
  
  

Aspect of phenomenology

"is the term philosphers use to refer to "directedness" of meaning" (Dourish 2001)

In Embodied Interaction

• representation - in software everything is a representation
• elements contain intentional connotations

COUPLING
• "Is how an intentional reference is made effective." (Dourish 2001)
• Things are 'invisible' if they are not an object of attention
• For example:
• Heidegger's example of the hammer
• When using the hammer it is an extention of your arm
• You don't see the hammer as a hammr (it becomes invisibe)
• When you are looking for the hammer it is visible

EMBODIMENT

• emboided interaction can be used in two ways
1. Basis for an appoach to design
2. Uncover issues in the design and use of exisiting technology