Interacting with infrastructure
Erika Shehan Poole · 2012
Why do user experience problems with home computing persist, despite several decades worth of academic study and countless technological innovations to overcome these issues? This paper presents the results of a multi-week trial investigating technical support practices in North American homes using a combination of breaching experiments and custom software. What this study uncovered was not a one-size-fits-all solution to technical problems in residential settings, but instead a rich description of the articulation work required to acquire devices, maintain and configure them over time, and seek help when problems occur. Based on this study, I argue that many of the user experience problems experienced with home computing and electronics are due to issues related to individual agency rather than technical or user interface characteristics of any given technology combination. Additionally, I make a case for the use of breaching experiments to study phenomenon related to technologies infrastructures that are difficult to capture via other traditionally used methods.