Post-userism

HCI is focused on improving the interactions we have with technology and innovating new types of interactions, as well as expanding the types of people for whom those interactions are designed. Central to these efforts is the simultaneously empowering and contested construct of the “user.”

We examine what the construct of the user highlights, as well as what it conceals. We introduce post-userism, a perspective that simultaneously acknowledges the limits of, and proposes alternatives to, the central construct of the user as proxy for the “human” in HCI.

Drawing on developments across the historical trajectory of HCI, we articulate how the user is enacted across four different levels of representation—systems, interface, design process, and the ideology—and identify situations where the user breaks down. Synthesizing prior work, we offer a series of strategies for grappling with such situations. In doing so, we seek to overcome the limitations imposed by the user and develop a language that will aid in evolving the foundations of HCI by asking what, exactly, we place at the center of our scholarship and design.

Publications

1. Post-userism Baumer, Eric P S and Brubaker, Jed R.
   Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’17
   • PDF
   • Reference
   • BibTeX
   • DOI: 10.1145/3025453.3025740
   Eric P S Baumer and Jed R. Brubaker. 2017. Post-userism. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’17, 6291–6303. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025740

   @inproceedings{Baumer2017,
     address = {New York, New York, USA},
     author = {Baumer, Eric P S and Brubaker, Jed R.},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '17},
     doi = {10.1145/3025453.3025740},
     isbn = {9781450346559},
     keywords = {post-userism},
     tags = {post-userism},
     pages = {6291--6303},
     publisher = {ACM Press},
     title = {{Post-userism}},
     url = {http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3025453.3025740},
     year = {2017}
   }
   

2. Why study technology non-use? Baumer, Eric P.S. and Ames, Morgan G. and Burrell, Jenna and Brubaker, Jed R. and Dourish, Paul
   First Monday 20, 11
   • Reference
   • BibTeX
   • DOI: 10.5210/fm.v20i11.6310
   Eric P.S. Baumer, Morgan G. Ames, Jenna Burrell, Jed R. Brubaker, and Paul Dourish. 2015. Why study technology non-use? First Monday 20, 11. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i11.6310

   @article{Baumer2016,
     author = {Baumer, Eric P.S. and Ames, Morgan G. and Burrell, Jenna and Brubaker, Jed R. and Dourish, Paul},
     doi = {10.5210/fm.v20i11.6310},
     issn = {13960466},
     journal = {First Monday},
     keywords = {non-use,post-userism},
     tags = {non-use,post-userism},
     month = nov,
     number = {11},
     title = {{Why study technology non-use?}},
     url = {http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6310},
     volume = {20},
     year = {2015}
   }
   

3. Departing glances: A sociotechnical account of ’leaving’ Grindr Brubaker, J. R. and Ananny, M. and Crawford, K.
   New Media & Society 1461444814542311–
   • Abstract
   • PDF
   • Reference
   • BibTeX
   • DOI: 10.1177/1461444814542311
   J. R. Brubaker, M. Ananny, and K. Crawford. 2014. Departing glances: A sociotechnical account of ’leaving’ Grindr. New Media & Society: 1461444814542311–. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814542311

   @article{Brubaker2014,
     author = {Brubaker, J. R. and Ananny, M. and Crawford, K.},
     doi = {10.1177/1461444814542311},
     issn = {1461-4448},
     journal = {New Media {\&} Society},
     keywords = {departure,grindr,leaving,lgbt,location-based social media,non-use,post-userism,quitting,sociotechnical,technology refusal},
     tags = {grindr,non-use,lgbt,post-userism},
     pages = {1461444814542311--},
     title = {{Departing glances: A sociotechnical account of 'leaving' Grindr}},
     url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/07/03/1461444814542311},
     year = {2014}
   }
   

   Grindr is a popular location-based social networking application for smartphones, predominantly used by gay men. This study investigates why users leave Grindr. Drawing on interviews with 16 men who stopped using Grindr, this article reports on the varied definitions of leaving, focusing on what people report leaving, how they leave and what they say leaving means to them. We argue that leaving is not a singular moment, but a process involving layered social and technical acts - that understandings of and departures from location-based media are bound up with an individual’s location. Accounts of leaving Grindr destabilize normative definitions of both Grindr’ and leaving’, exposing a set of relational possibilities and spatial arrangements within and around which people move. We conclude with implications for the study of non-use and technological departure.

4. Refusing, Limiting, Departing: Why We Should Study Technology Non-use Baumer, Eric P. S. and Ames, Morgan G. and Brubaker, Jed R. and Burrell, Jenna and Dourish, Paul
   Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA ’14
   • Abstract
   • PDF
   • Reference
   • BibTeX
   • DOI: 10.1145/2559206.2559224
   Eric P. S. Baumer, Morgan G. Ames, Jed R. Brubaker, Jenna Burrell, and Paul Dourish. 2014. Refusing, Limiting, Departing: Why We Should Study Technology Non-use. In Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA ’14, 65–68. https://doi.org/10.1145/2559206.2559224

   @inproceedings{Baumer2014,
     author = {Baumer, Eric P. S. and Ames, Morgan G. and Brubaker, Jed R. and Burrell, Jenna and Dourish, Paul},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '14},
     doi = {10.1145/2559206.2559224},
     isbn = {9781450324748},
     keywords = {departure,laggard,non-use,post-userism,techno-resistance,technology refuser},
     tags = {non-use,post-userism},
     pages = {65--68},
     title = {{Refusing, Limiting, Departing: Why We Should Study Technology Non-use}},
     url = {http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2559206.2559224},
     year = {2014}
   }
   

   In contrast to most research in HCI, this workshop focuses on non-use, that is, situations where people do not use computing technology. Using a reflexive preworkshop activity and discussion-oriented sessions, we will consider the theories, methods, foundational texts, and central research questions in the study of non-use. In addition to a special issue proposal, we expect the research thread brought to the fore in this workshop will speak to foundational questions of use and the user in HCI