Postmodern Methods in the Context of Human-Computer Interaction

This special issue of the International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction presents a collation of articles exploring the application of postmodern methods in the context of human-computer interaction. Postmodernism, and by implication any possibility for postmodern methods, have become increasingly marginalised topics in most academic circles. Postmodernism, it seems, has become the invisible and unvoiced " other, " stripped of the intellectual power it once both critiqued and briefly achieved. But just as postmodern theory originally and variously argued for the death of history, various forms of ahistoricism or recognition for the constant recycling of grand narratives we again have an opportunity to revisit the political passion, appreciate the fragmentation of everyday life and celebrate subjectivity as just a few small aspects identified as being integral parts of the postmodern condition. That we still live in postmodern times was recently evidenced on the front page of the Daily Telegraph, which offered " proof " that 2006 was just 1976 again. From an intellectual point of view, the current academic fascination with " methods, " in any form, provides the opportunity to reexamine the potentially fruitful and equally rocky intellectual terrain of postmodernism. This collection reveals the rich plethora of linked postmodern and distinct ideas that can emerge given sufficient freedom to actively engage with challenging thoughts. This is a freedom we often too readily take for granted. Theoried consideration of the contemporary world is not immune from the impact of digital technologies. Among the lessons of postmodernism is the need to recognise how artefacts of technology impact what we commit to print or HTML and how these are judged. We can egosurf (.org) our colleagues for amusement, but when do we also pause to consider whether this is the shape of future research assessment exercises that university funding bodies require? Discussions and consideration of post-modernism have largely been dismissed in mainstream business and management studies. However, the periphery of mainstream academia ideas that could be labelled " radical , " provocative or even simply " theoried " are still discussed, including postmodernism (Gergen & Thatchenjery, 2004). When the theme of this special issue was first discussed in 2004-2005, all European funding calls for research grants included consideration for the development of new and innovative method-ological practices and techniques. We began our editorial discussions with the observa