Experiences Evoked by Today’s Technology - Results from a Qualitative Empirical Study

In this paper we present the results of a qualitative study regarding the experiences evoked by today's technology. Our goal was to gain better understanding on the content, generation and progression of everyday experiences of users with all kinds of artifacts such as computer software, mobile devices, consumer products and even hardware tools. We conducted semifocused interviews with the goal of starting narrations by the users about their encounters and interactions with technology and artifacts. The interviews then were analyzed line-by-line following a classical qualitative approach enriched with knowledge from the field of structural analysis of oral narrations. The results provide insights on how users organize their experiences and which factors are relevant for evoking positive or negative experiences.