Defining Culturally Embedded Computing

I magine a world without architects, where only engineers construct buildings. With a keen eye toward functionality, these engineers would make sure the buildings were sound, but something would be lacking. People would miss the richness of architecture— the designed connection to their lives, history, and culture. The designed experience of these buildings would be irrelevant to their social and personal concept of buildings. Yet this is the world researchers are inadvertently creating with ubiquitous computing. Most discussions about ubiquitous computing rely on an engineering perspective, centering on the fact that computing is leaving the desktop. But in leaving the laboratory and workplace, computing is crossing not only physical but also social and cultural boundaries. It’s becoming embedded not only in physical environments but also in culture, society, and history. Designing and building these new technologies requires more than simply building and understanding hardware and software. It also requires analyzing and incorporating the stories, meanings, and social networks that these devices engage. Alternatives to pure engineering approaches to ubiquitous computing are emerging in digital arts and design research that encompass social and cultural meanings and implications.1,2 Our approach rests primarily on Philip Agre’s notion of critical technical practice,3 in which practices of technology design incorporate critical, philosophical self-reflection to generate new technical algorithms and concepts. Whereas Agre’s goals in critical technical practice focus mainly on improving technology, our design team includes several researchers building technical systems for, and commenting on, technology’s cultural and historical situation.4–6 In this spirit, we build technologies to change not only what people can do but also the way they think about technology. Our group is interdisciplinary—with researchers from computer science, user interface design, social science, cultural studies, architecture, and product design—all interested in computing in everyday life. Under the umbrella of the Cornell Information Science program, project collaborations gave rise to what we call culturally embedded computing.