Digital Rituals in Performance: Transitions to Internet of Things Trust and Security
Namrata Primlani, Mark Blythe, Justin Marshall · 2022
Most HCI studies are WEIRD – they focus on participants from White, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic countries. This paper presents a case study of a participant named Chitra from the city of Kahani in India as a non-western perspective of ubiquitous technology in an oppressive political context. We identify digital rituals as talismanic responses to mistrust in ubiquitous computing environments. Findings from the case study show how digital rituals open up transformative states, allowing transitions from mistrust in the digital to feelings of trust, security and comfort. Through the identification and discussion of digital rituals in performance we open up a new design space around the transformative potential of digital rituals in the ubiquitous Internet of Things.