Designing for social friction: Exploring ubiquitous computing as means of cultural interventions in urban space

As ubiquitous computing emerges in our lives and cities new opportunities for artistic and otherwise cultural interventions in urban space follow, but so far not much work has been done in order to articulate the socio-cultural significance of these new opportunities. This paper is part of a general attempt to develop a coherent understanding of the implications and potentials of ubiquitous computing in the context of everyday city life. On a more specific level the paper examines how the notion of social friction can be helpful in the development and analysis of ubiquitous computing in relation to art and design. Social friction is articulated as a critical position, which could be applied as a strategy for design. Our approach consists of a theoretical analysis and precedes concrete development and real-life experiments. As such the paper aims to establish a steppingstone from which to launch actual digital designs. We argue that by designing for the social friction, which is an intrinsic characteristic of everyday life, new forms of social and cultural potentials can be released. By means of discussing CityNova, a vision for a possible use of ubiquitous computing in urban space, we explore how this approach might lead to systems that create new ways of experiencing the city.