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Embodying Meaningful Digital Media: A Strategy to Design for Product Attachment in the Digital Age
... These investigations delve into long-term product usage, environmental values, increased social impact, and the overall selection of sustainable alternatives. Consequently, these studies yield partial implications of personal and secular sanctity (Durgee 1999a;Varadarajan 2010;Orth, Thurgood, and Van Den Hoven 2020;Kowalski and Yoon 2022). ...
This paper explores how specific products transcend their utilitarian purposes, evoking profound consumer fascination. These objects, characterized by an elusive quality surpassing practicality, acquire deeper meaning and allure. At the core is the concept of the sacred, intertwining the ordinary with the extraordinary, resonating profoundly on a personal level. Despite historical religious associations, the sacred in design extends beyond religion, inviting exploration of inherent sanctity in everyday products. It unravels the complex interplay between the sacred and the profane in design, examining how ordinary products gain heightened significance and become secularly revered by consumers. By assessing dimensions contributing to design object sacredness, particularly in fostering product loyalty, it seeks to delineate criteria defining sacred properties using precise user comments and product examples. Ultimately, this exploration of the secular sacred aims to inspire designers to delve into objects’ profound potential, fostering a comprehensive understanding surpassing traditional religious associations in design.
Gifting is socially and economically important. Studies of gifting physical objects have revealed motivations, values, and the tensions between them, while HCI research has revealed weaknesses of digital gifting and explored possibilities of hybrid gifting. We report an ‘in the wild’ study of a hybrid chocolate gift deployed as a commercial product. Interviews reveal the experiences of receivers and givers, as well as the producer's friction points and tangible benefits. We reveal how in hybrid gifts the digital elevates the physical while the physical grounds the digital. We discuss how hybrid gifts bridge the tension between receiver-preference and relationship-signalling motivations, the need to further strengthen the exchange and reveal stages of hybrid gifting, and to manage the privacy of sensitive personal messages. We propose to extend the concept of hybrid wrapping to include a finer-grained interleaving of digital into complex packaging and multi-layered wrappings to create more holistic gifting experiences.
People often acquire souvenirs and photographs to facilitate remembering, but possessions and memories can relate to each other in a variety of ways. This review paper presents four different connection types found between meaningful things in our everyday lives and our personal memories. Each connection type either focuses on possessions or memories and the connection between the two is either active or lost. These perspectives will be detailed through examples of studies and design cases from different fields and research areas. More studies have been found focusing on existing connections between possessions and memories, such as in human-computer interaction, design, material culture, psychology, and marketing, than those lost, which were specifically focused around ageing, forgetting, heirlooms, identity and hoarding behaviour. Our review of connections between possessions and memories accumulate to suggest the attachment people ascribe to certain possessions is mirrored by the ability of objects to fulfil people’s desire to preserve, embody, showcase and recollect certain memories.
The Meaning of Things explores the meanings of household possessions for three generation families in the Chicago area, and the place of materialism in American culture. Now regarded as a keystone in material culture studies, Halton's first book is based on his dissertation and coauthored with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. First published by Cambridge University Press in 1981, it has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese, and Hungarian. The Meaning of Things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling. Translations: Il significato degli oggetti. Italian translation. Rome: Edizione Kappa, 1986. Der Sinn der Dinge. German translation. Munich: Psychologie Verlags Union, 1989. Japanese translation 2007. Targyaink tukreben. Hungarian translation, 2011.
Digital goods are, in many cases, substantive innovations relative to their physical counterparts. Yet, in five experiments, people ascribed less value to digital than to physical versions of the same good. Research participants paid more for, were willing to pay more for, and were more likely to purchase physical goods than equivalent digital goods, including souvenir photographs, books (fiction and nonfiction), and films. Participants valued physical goods more than digital goods whether their value was elicited in an incentive compatible pay-what-you-want paradigm, with willingness to pay, or purchase intention. Greater capacity for physical than digital goods to garner an association with the self (i.e., psychological ownership), underlies the greater value ascribed to physical goods. Differences in psychological ownership for physical and digital goods mediated the difference in their value. Experimentally manipulating antecedents and consequents of psychological ownership (i.e., expected ownership, identity-relevance, perceived control) bounded this effect, and moderated the mediating role of psychological ownership. The findings show how features of objects influence their capacity to garner psychological ownership before they are acquired, and provide theoretical and practical insights for the marketing, psychology, and economics of digital and physical goods.
Of recent interest in consumer behavior research is the consumer's use of owned possessions to develop and maintain self-concept. This study presents a measure of a central concept in this area–attachment. A conceptual definition of the construct is proposed and is related to social-cognitive theories of the self. The role of attachment in the relationship between people and possessions is discussed. Evidence is presented for the reliability and predictive validity of a simple measure of attachment and for the discriminant validity of the construct. Relationships between attachment and other important consumer behavior constructs are explored. © 1992, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Despite the popularization of product personalization systems, it is difficult for people to personalize a product in a way that symbolizes themselves and their daily lives. Borrowing the characteristics of patina generation, we suggest patina-inspired personalization as an alternative approach. This approach is a way of progressive personalization through transforming digital traces of product use into patina-like material traces on a product. As an exemplar, we developed Trace-Marker, a custom-built laser engraver for bicycle riders. It engraves aesthetic patterns on a bicycle bag according to a user's bicycle journey. During the field trial with 10 participants for three weeks, participants used the system to add symbolic meanings, in particular their unique identities and personal stories on their bags. The permanently engraved patterns enhanced the emotional bond with the bags. Based on the field trial, we discuss implications for improving patina-inspired personalization in wider contexts.
Creating digital archives of personal and family memories is an area of growing interest, but which seemingly is often not supported by a thorough understanding of current home archiving practice. In this paper we seek to excavate the home archive. Based on extensive field research in family homes we present a taxonomy of the kinds of sentimental objects to be found in homes, and through in-depth interviews with family members, we explore why and how those objects are kept and archived within the home. From this understanding of existing practice we derive requirements and implications for the design of digital archiving or memory technologies.
The Self-Memory System encompasses the working self, autobiographical memory and episodic memory. Specific autobiographical memories are patterns of activation over knowledge structures in autobiographical and episodic memory brought about by the activating effect of cues. The working self can elaborate cues based on the knowledge they initially activate and so control the construction of memories of the past and the future. It is proposed that such construction takes place in the remembering-imagining system - a window of highly accessible recent memories and simulations of near future events. How this malfunctions in various disorders is considered as are the implication of what we term the modern view of human memory for notions of memory accuracy. We show how all memories are to some degree false and that the main role of memories lies in generating personal meanings.
Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.
People worldwide are increasingly acquiring virtual possessions. While virtual possessions have become ubiquitous, little work exists on how people value them, and how their experiences of them differ from material possessions. In this paper, we reflect on and synthesize findings from five studies we conducted over the past five years that investigated people's perceptions of and practices with virtual possessions. Through the higher-level perspective we adopt, we propose three thematic qualities that help characterize people's experiences with virtual possessions, as compared to their material things: placelessness, spacelessness, and formlessness. We draw on these proposed qualities as lenses to help frame future research and practice opportunities for better supporting value construction activities with virtual possessions.
Sharing is a phenomenon as old as humankind, while collaborative consumption and the “sharing economy” are phenomena born of the Internet age. This paper compares sharing and collaborative consumption and finds that both are growing in popularity today. Examples are given and an assessment is made of the reasons for the current growth in these practices and their implications for businesses still using traditional models of sales and ownership. The old wisdom that we are what we own, may need modifying to consider forms of possession and uses that do not involve ownership.
The extended self was proposed in 1988. Since it was formulated, many technological changes have dramatically affected the way we consume, present ourselves, and communicate. This conceptual update seeks to revitalize the concept, incorporate the impacts of digitization, and provide an understanding of consumer sense of self in today’s technological environment. It is necessarily a work in progress, for the digital environment and our behavior within it continue to evolve. But some important changes are already clear. Five changes with digital consumption are considered that impact the nature of self and the nature of possessions. Needed modifications and additions to the extended self are outlined, and directions for future research are suggested. The digital world opens a host of new means for self-extension, using many new consumption objects to reach a vastly broader audience. Even though this calls for certain reformulations, the basic concept of the extended self remains vital.
An implicit, but pervasive view in the information science community is that people are perpetual seekers after new public information, incessantly identifying and consuming new information by browsing the web, and accessing public collections. One aim of this review is to challenge this consumer characterisation which regards information as a public resource containing novel data that we seek out, consume, and then discard. Instead I want to focus on a very different view: where familiar information is used a personal resource that we keep, manage and (sometimes repeatedly) exploit. I call this information curation. I first summarise arguments against the consumer perspective. I then review research on three different information curation processes: keeping, management and exploitation.
With current digital technologies, people have large archives of digital media, such as images and audio files, but there are only limited means to include these media in creative practices of crafting and making. Nevertheless, studies have shown that crafting with digital media often makes these media more cherished and that people enjoy being creative with their digital media. This paper aims to open up the way for novel means for crafting, which include digital media in integrations with physical construction, here called ‘hybrid crafting’. Notions of hybrid crafting were explored to inform the design of products or systems that may support these new crafting practices. We designed ‘Materialise’—a building set that allows for the inclusion of digital images and audio files in physical constructions by using tangible building blocks that can display images or play audio files, alongside a variety of other physical components—and used this set in four hands-on creative workshops to gain insight into how people go about doing hybrid crafting; whether hybrid crafting is desirable; what the characteristics of hybrid crafting are; and how we may design to support these practices. By reflecting on the findings from these workshops, we provide concrete guidelines for the design of novel hybrid crafting products or systems that address craft context, process and result. We aim to open up the design space to designing for hybrid crafting because these new practices provide interesting new challenges and opportunities for future crafting that can lead to novel forms of creative expression.
Due to differences in the attachment consumers experience towards the durable products they own, they hang on to certain products whereas they easily dispose of others. From the viewpoint of sustainability, it may be worthwhile to lengthen the life span of many durable consumer products. Hence, there is a challenge for designers to strengthen the bond between consumers and their products through the product design process. In the present study, we develop a scale to measure consumer-product attachment, and we identify and measure seven possible determinants of attachment: enjoyment, memories to persons, places, and events, support of self-identity, life vision,
utility, reliability, and market value. Only memories and enjoyment contribute positively to the degree of attachment. The highest levels of attachment are registered for recently acquired products (
Dematerialization of artefacts and material objects is a relevant issue in consumer studies, especially when we consider the ongoing changes regarding the consumption of cultural goods. This article adopts a theory-of-practice approach to analyse the consequences of dematerialization on the practices of digital music consumption. From an empirical point of view, the article is based on data collected during research into the appropriation of digital music technologies and based on 25 in-depth narrative semi-structured interviews with young Italian digital music consumers. The analysis mainly focuses on the appropriation of three specific technologies involved into the contemporary consumption of music: the iPod, the external hard drive and the vinyl disc. In order to understand the role of materiality in the age of dematerialization, the article adopts the ‘circuit of practice’, an explicative model that enables empirical analysis and that is aimed at highlighting the changing relationships between materiality and social practices. The analysis shows that music digitalization does not mean less materiality in the actual practice of listeners, that material ‘stuffs’ still occupy a relevant position in digital music, and that materiality nowadays seems to ‘bite back’, being even more crucial in shaping consumers’ practices.
The article begins by outlining a dominant conception of these relations in sociologically‐informed analysis of music, which sees music primarily as a positive resource for active self‐making. My argument is that this conception rests on a problematic notion of the self and also on an overly optimistic understanding of music, which implicitly sees music as highly independent of negative social and historical processes. I then attempt to construct a) a more adequately critical conception of personal identity in modern societies; and b) a more balanced appraisal of music‐society relations. I suggest two ways in which relations between self, music and society may not always be quite so positive or as healthy as the dominant conception suggests: 1) Music is now bound up with the incorporation of authenticity and creativity into capitalism, and with intensified consumption habits. 2) Emotional self‐realisation through music is now linked to status competition. Interviews are analysed.
Of recent interest in consumer behavior research is the consumer's use of owned possessions to develop and maintain self-concept. This study presents a measure of a central concept in this area–attachment. A conceptual definition of the construct is proposed and is related to social-cognitive theories of the self. The role of attachment in the relationship between people and possessions is discussed. Evidence is presented for the reliability and predictive validity of a simple measure of attachment and for the discriminant validity of the construct. Relationships between attachment and other important consumer behavior constructs are explored.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
In this paper, a design approach is introduced for designing products with added emotional value. First, the approach was established, based on a theoretical framework and a non-verbal instrument to measure emotional responses. Second, the value of the design approach was assessed by applying it to the design of mobile telephones. Mobile telephones were found to be useful vehicles as people appear to have strong feelings about this product. A user study was conducted which resulted in the identification of two user groups ('trend followers' and 'security seekers') and for each group an emotional profile. Four telephones were designed which, for each group, either were intended to or were not intended to match the group's profile. Finally, these designs were evaluated with the non-verbal instrument. The results indicate that the approach is appropriate for designing products with added emotional value. The advantages and disadvantages of the approach are discussed and further research directions indicated.
As we go about our everyday routines we encounter and interact with numerous physical (e.g. furniture or clothes) and digital objects (e.g. photos or e-mails). Some of these objects may be particular cherished, for example because of memories attached to them. As several studies into cherished objects have shown, we have more difficulties identifying cherished digital objects than physical ones. However, cherishing a small collection of digital objects can be beneficial; e.g. it can encourage active selection of digital objects to keep and discard. This paper presents a study that aimed to increase understanding of cherished physical and digital objects, and beyond that, of how we perceive physical and digital objects, and their advantages and disadvantages. We identified design opportunities for novel products and systems that support the creation of more cherishable digital objects by extrapolating the advantages of the physical to the digital, exploiting the reasons for cherishing digital objects, and aiming for meaningful integrations of physical and digital.
This article has provided, through reference to recent research, insights into the ways that people are using their mobile
phones in their everyday lives and in particular it has explored and examined the concept of emotional attachment to the mobile
phone. In offering some explanations for this seemingly unique behaviour it has highlighted the role of the social groups
or buddy groups as the focus for the emotional attachment. The constant changes that occur in people’s everyday lives frequently
involve the use of mobile phones—even if the people do not have one of their own. The rearranging of appointments, the casual
setting up of new ones, the relationships between lovers conducted by text and the reassuring contact between families all
have some effect on the individual’s autopoiesis. The multiple roles of the mobile phone in everyday life adds to the complexity
of the debate but underlying the functional purposes is this constant and increasing emotional attachment. The assertion that
this is in part due to the senses being pierced by all that the device engenders offers some explanation for this emotional
attachment and is certainly an area for further study within the mobile communications social sciences and engineering communities.
As a discipline evolves, intellectual issues come into focus, and the outcomes of systematic inquiry grow in importance. The discipline of design is facing such a time, as scholars, researchers, and practitioners are devoting attention to creating categories for design practice and design research, articulating methods and processes, and, in some cases, building new design theories. The field of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) is also experiencing an evolutionary broadening in scope that creates the need for design research. Many designers working in the HCI research community have expressed an increased interest in research through design, a research approach that employs methods and processes from design practice. However, without an agreed form of practice, evaluation, and outcome, it is hard to consistently develop design theory from research to design outcomes. In this paper, the authors begin to identify specific outcomes of research through design that form the basis for theory production. They present the research through design process and two different approaches of research through design (philosophical and grounded) that can lead to formation of design theory. They identify that extensible, systemic approaches to research through design are the most promising ones for developing design theory, and illustrate with examples.
Devices such as phones, laptops and tablets have become central to the ways in which many people communicate with others, conduct business and spend their leisure time. This type of product uniquely contains both physical and digital components that affect how they are perceived and valued by users. This article investigates the nature of attachment in the context of technological possessions to better understand ways in which designers can create devices that are meaningful and kept for longer. Findings from our study of the self-reported associations and meaningfulness of technological possessions revealed that the digital contents of these possessions were often the primary source of meaning. Technological possessions were frequently perceived as systems of products rather than as singular devices. We identified several design opportunities for materialising the associations ascribed to the digital information contained within technological products to more meaningfully integrate their physical and digital components.
Objects often become cherished for their ties to beliefs, experiences, memories, people, places or values that are significant to their owner. These ties can reflect the ways in which we as humans use objects to characterise, communicate and develop our sense of self. This paper outlines our approach to applying product attachment theory to design practices. We created six artefacts that were inspired by interviews conducted with three individuals who discussed details of their life stories. We then evaluated the associations that came to mind for our participants when interacting with these newly designed artefacts to determine whether these links brought meaning to them. Our findings highlight the potential of design to bring emotional value to products by embodying significant aspects of a person’s self-identity. To do so, designers must consider both the importance and authenticity of the associations formed between an object and an individual.
If digital objects are abundant and ubiquitous, why should consumers pay for, much less collect them? The qualities of digital code present numerous challenges for collecting, yet digital collecting can and does occur. We explore the role of companies in constructing digital consumption objects that encourage and support collecting behaviours, identifying material configuration techniques that materialise these objects as elusive and authentic. Such techniques, we argue, may facilitate those pleasures of collecting otherwise absent in the digital realm. We extend theories of collecting by highlighting the role of objects and the companies that construct them in materialising digital collecting. More broadly, we extend theories of digital materiality by highlighting processes of digital material configuration that occur in the pre-objectification phase of materialisation, acknowledging the role of marketing and design in shaping the qualities exhibited by digital consumption objects and consequently related consumption behaviours and experiences.
A questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted in households and end-of-life (EoL) mobile phone business centres in Hong Kong. Widespread Internet use, combined with the rapid evolution of modern social networks, has resulted in the more rapid obsolescence of mobile phones, and thus a tremendous increase in the number of obsolete phones. In 2013, the volume of EoL mobile phones generated in Hong Kong totalled at least 330 tonnes, and the amount is rising. Approximately 80% of electronic waste is exported to Africa and developing countries such as mainland China or Pakistan for recycling. However, the material flow of the large number of obsolete phones generated by the territory's households remains unclear. Hence, the flow of EoL mobile phones in those households was analysed, with the average lifespan of a mobile phone in Hong Kong found to be just under two years (nearly 23 months). Most EoL mobile phones are transferred to mainland China for disposal. Current recycling methods are neither environmentally friendly nor sustainable, with serious implications for the environment and human health. The results of this analysis provide useful information for planning the collection system and facilities needed in Hong Kong and mainland China to better manage EoL mobile phones in the future.
This research investigated a number of main areas of attachment in order to determine how consumer-product relationships are formed and to identify whether these feelings influence replacement decisions. Primary research comprised of interviews with consumers to discuss the topic area in relation to three possessions selected for their attachment qualities. The research highlighted how attachment is determined by multiple themes, many of which are circumstantial to consumers' experiences and therefore difficult for designers to control. Findings showed that memories were the most prominent theme of participants' attachment, closely followed by pleasure and usability. Enjoyment and pleasure were found to be the primary reason for attachment to newly purchased items, whereas nostalgia was highest for older possessions. Appearance and reliability were found to have considerable influence on participants' attitudes towards replacement.
This chapter will focus not so much on "what" we do as consumers, but "why" we do it, leading to a broader evolutionary and behavioral discourse on the meaning and role of objects in our lives, drawing into focus the essential relationship between our enduring need for material experiences, and the impacts this has on the natural world.This chapter examines the meaningful proxies, triggers, and metaphors embedded within material experiences, exposing alternative understandings of the immaterial culture underpinning our stuff, and the manifold dialogues we are continually engaged in with the designed objects that touch our lives.
This paper presents a study on sustainable product relationships with an eye on textiles and clothing. A framework is constructed which integrates sustainable product relationships and the field and role of design. As a result, it studies how an empathic design approach could improve
a sustainable design process. In order to promote sustainability, designers need to aim at enhancing long-term product relationships. By studying the user's relationships with and attachments to products, designers have the opportunity to create deeper product satisfaction and thereby long-term
product relationships. This paper concludes by evaluating how an empathic approach can be of primary importance in promoting sustainable product relationships by deepening current methods of understanding consumers' needs, values and emotions.
This paper addresses the phenomenon of emotional attachments to mobile phones. We introduce the term "mobile attachment" and define it as a bond between a person's self and a mobile phone that varies in strength. Based on a critical reflection of interdisciplinary literature, a conceptual mobile attachment model is developed. Within this model causes, consequences, and influencing factors of mobile attachment are exposed and elaborated. We argue that mobile attachment emerges when the mobile phone becomes part of the user's self concept. The link between the user and their mobile phone may be fostered when it empowers, enriches, or gratifies the user's self. Attachment causes lead to "design space determinants" that enable user experience designers to design for mobile attachment. Attachment consequences may be operationalized for user experience evaluation.
To understand activities of personal collecting and preservation, HCI researchers have investigated why people become attached to particular objects. These studies have examined ways that people relate to physical and digital objects, observing, for example, that people tend to cherish physical objects more than digital ones. This paper proposes that the value of digital objects may inhere less in an object's identity as a particular item and more in the object's ability to provide access to an intellectual work. The work, a familiar concept in information studies and textual studies, designates a general product of intellectual creation that may be instantiated in many versions. (For example, Shakespeare's Hamlet exists in many editions and forms, which may differ in both content and carrier and yet still are all Hamlet.) The paper demonstrates how the concept of the work can extend research on the perceived value of digital objects. It also shows how a flexible definition of the work can reveal new aspects of a design situation.
We report a pair of repertory grid studies that explore the attachment people have for digital and non-digital artefacts. In the first study we found no clear distinctions between emotional attachment to digital and non-digital artefacts: people are attached to their mobile phones in much the same way as to a childhood teddy bear. There was also evidence that attachment and the physical availability or proximity of the artefact were associated. In the second study we examined the aesthetics of attachment to digital and non-digital artefacts. Again the proximity or availability of the artefacts appeared to be important. Items that were carried about or worn, such as wristwatches and laptops, were closely associated, while TVs and games consoles were not. In all, there does not appear to be any qualitative difference between the attachment people have for digital and non-digital artefacts. Nor do aesthetics appear to play a part in this attachment. However, the physical proximity of these artefacts is strongly associated with our (inward) feelings of attachment to them, while we can also recognise the importance of this relationship to how we (outwardly) present ourselves to the world and others.
Research in sustainable HCI has repeatedly pointed to the need for encouraging longer use of technology as part of the solution for stemming the tide of e-waste. Ways of achieving this goal remain elusive, however. We build upon previous research that considers the role of personal attachment in object ownership, and how this attachment might be leveraged to encourage longer use. We conducted a personal inventories study with 17 households in Switzerland, and use the findings to support and expand Odom et al.'s framework of attachment categories. We subsequently provided this framework to 3 designers and asked them to design novel technologies that encourage attachment. This exercise shed light on how they drew insight and inspiration from the framework, and how they integrated it into their design processes and design thinking.
This is a sociolinguistic study of how people create and exchange coherent oral life stories. Linde claims such stories serve a number of psychological and social purposes, including the development and expression of a sense of self and the solidification and definition of relationships and group memberships. Linde analyses a series of oral interviews with middle-class Americans who were asked to explain their choice of profession. She focuses on the means by which the speakers give coherence to their stories. The most basic level of coherence, she finds, comes from the structure of the narrative. The next level is that of causality and continuity. Linde identifies the ways in which speakers attempt to demonstrate an adequate chain of causation for their choice of profession and to explain apparent discontinuities. At the highest level, the stories are shaped by “coherence systems”—explanatory systems of assumptions about the world. Coherence systems used by Linde’s subjects include versions of Freudian and behavioural psychology, astrology, feminism and Catholic confessional practice. The most pervasive coherence systems, however, proves to be “common sense”: the set of beliefs which are assumed to be shared by any competent member of the culture. Common sense assumptions held by those interviewed include the belief that “You can be whatever you want to be,” subject only to personal—as opposed to economic or class—limitations, and that personal desire, rather than obligations, family ties or tradition, should determine professional choice. Linde points out the peculiarly American nature of these assumptions and examines their history within ourpopular culture. systems, including `common sense’ and its peculiarly American nature.
Based on a series of interviews with practicing industrial designers, a framework is developed that represents designers as holding distinct intentions for how product visual form should be interpreted by consumers (e.g. perceived qualities). These intentions are driven by various motivating factors (e.g. the brand) and constrained by other factors (e.g. production costs). Designers seek to resolve these competing factors by referring to a broad range of visual sources (e.g. existing products), and by constructing visual representations (e.g. sketches) that describe the planned form for the product. Despite designers' efforts to specify the product's form, the eventual form may be outside their control because still other factors (e.g. manufacturing tolerances) modify the design in unanticipated ways.
From an environmental perspective, the early replacement of durables is generally detrimental. This article examines 'ensuring a strong person-product relationship' as a design strategy to postpone product replacement. If a person experiences a strong relationship with his/her product, this can result in more protective behaviours towards this product and in product longevity. A crucial precondition for a long-lasting relationship is that consumers feel the product is irreplaceable. Such a condition is obtained only when a product's meaning is deeply anchored in a specific product and the product and its meaning are inseparable. Designers can encourage the product's irreplaceability by stimulating the formation of memories associated with a product or by creating unique and personal products. Several examples of design strategies are discussed.
This dissertation defines and explores Graspable User Interfaces, an evolution of the input mechanisms used in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). A Graspable UI design provides users concurrent access to multiple, specialized input devices which can serve as dedicated physical interface widgets, affording physical manipulation and spatial arrangements. Like conventional GUIs, physical devices function as “handles” or manual controllers for logical functions on widgets in the interface. However, the notion of the Graspable UI builds on current practice in a number of ways. With conventional GUIs, there is typically only one graphical input device, such as a mouse. Hence, the physical handle is necessarily “time-multiplexed,” being repeatedly attached and unattached to the various logical functions of the GUI. A significant aspect of the Graspable UI is that there can be more than one input device. Hence input control can then be “space-multiplexed.” That is, different devices can be attached to different functions, each independently (but possibly simultaneously) accessible. This, then affords the capability to take advantage of the
Amid the increasing consumption of digital music and generally declining sales of recorded music, physical formats persist as the preferred means of storing and listening to music for many consumers. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the relationship between music involvement and preference for tangible music formats. To achieve this, we test a research model and perform a segmentation analysis based on music involvement. Findings indicate that high music involvement is positively correlated with subjective music knowledge, tangibility preference, and portable player use. Quite naturally, involvement increases music consumption in all formats, including digitized forms, but high involvement appears connected to a perception of tangible records as more valuable. The behavior of highly involved consumers suggests that digital music is not necessarily eradicating physical formats but possibly fulfilling different needs; for example, sampling and complementing vs. collecting and displaying.