Cultivating Interaction Ubiquity at Work

Abstract

There is limited debate on what “ubiquity” in ubiquitous computing implies, in particular in regard to technological affordances connecting people. The aim of this article is to explore the question: What is the role of technologically embedded assumptions in the cultivation of interaction ubiquity at work? Distinguishing between the embedded support for managing ongoing interaction relationships—as opposed to a series of interaction encounters—and the support for prioritizing interactions—as opposed to priorities per se—yields four analytical categories of affordances: connectors, filters, mediators, and coordinators. These four categories are illustrated through four case studies of mobile working. The author argues that successful cultivation of interaction ubiquity at work relies critically on a portfolio approach wherein the technology is seen as playing a more active role in the management of interaction beyond the simple standardized technical connection.

Keywords:

• affordances
• enterprise mobility
• filtering
• human-computer interaction
• interaction asymmetry
• mediated relationships
• ubiquitous computing

This research could not have been completed without a large number of practitioners letting us into their working lives and the doctoral students who did most of the hard lifting. I am also grateful for Leopoldina Fortunati for inviting me to an interesting workshop in Hong Kong. Also a big thanks to the editors and anonymous reviewers of this special issue for helping me improve the article. I of course accept full responsibility for the final result.

Notes

1. Similar concerns are reflected in the paradoxical relationship between consumers and technology in general (Mick and Fournier 1998), and Jarvenpaa and Lang (2005) extend this analysis to the study of mobile information technology. The mobile phone can, for example, simultaneously fulfill the need for instant contact with someone else and create further need for contact. This complex and paradoxical relationship between user and technology results in the users cultivating their own individual coping mechanisms to resolve everyday conflicts (Mick and Fournier 1998; Jarvenpaa and Lang 2005). The users may decide to look at their mobile phone display before accepting a call to decide whether they wish to engage in the conversation. When confronted with the conflicting demand of not disturbing a meeting and yet remaining available for interaction, the mobile phone may be set to silently vibrate, and the user may here choose to interact through text messages instead of calls.

2. Interaction ubiquity relates to the Arnold et al. (2008, 49) argument that “things do not speak.” For example, the telephone disappears from our attention when we recall having spoken with a friend on the telephone and recall this as having spoken to the friend and not as having spoken to the friend through the telephone. However, this scenario assumes that the telephone is not perceived as a disturbance and does not invite interaction to occur in situations deemed inappropriate.

3. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft (accessed April 13, 2010).

4. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom (accessed April 13, 2010).