Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology

This paper explores conceptions of the immaterial in human engagements with technology and technological systems. It employs two different theories of interruption, one technical and the other philosophical, as a means to examine the renegotiations of human-technology relationships that occur when a...

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Main Authors: Sandry, Eleanor, Willson, Michele
Format: Journal Article
Published: Published by the Editorial Committee of Transformations Journal 2014
Online Access:http://www.transformationsjournal.org/journal/25/05.shtml
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24359
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author Sandry, Eleanor
Willson, Michele
author_facet Sandry, Eleanor
Willson, Michele
author_sort Sandry, Eleanor
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper explores conceptions of the immaterial in human engagements with technology and technological systems. It employs two different theories of interruption, one technical and the other philosophical, as a means to examine the renegotiations of human-technology relationships that occur when a system, previously considered immaterial and judged inconsequential, reveals itself as significant. Two examples, the Millennium bug and Facebook’s provision of Open Graph, are used to illustrate people’s sudden recognition of the operation of underlying technological systems. This paper considers these moments as interruptions in order not only to analyse people’s reappraisal of the perceived immateriality of the technologies, but also to emphasise the value of recognising their consequence and apparent agency.
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publishDate 2014
publisher Published by the Editorial Committee of Transformations Journal
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-243592017-01-30T12:42:30Z Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology Sandry, Eleanor Willson, Michele This paper explores conceptions of the immaterial in human engagements with technology and technological systems. It employs two different theories of interruption, one technical and the other philosophical, as a means to examine the renegotiations of human-technology relationships that occur when a system, previously considered immaterial and judged inconsequential, reveals itself as significant. Two examples, the Millennium bug and Facebook’s provision of Open Graph, are used to illustrate people’s sudden recognition of the operation of underlying technological systems. This paper considers these moments as interruptions in order not only to analyse people’s reappraisal of the perceived immateriality of the technologies, but also to emphasise the value of recognising their consequence and apparent agency. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24359 http://www.transformationsjournal.org/journal/25/05.shtml Published by the Editorial Committee of Transformations Journal fulltext
spellingShingle Sandry, Eleanor
Willson, Michele
Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title_full Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title_fullStr Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title_full_unstemmed Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title_short Interruptions: Reconsidering the Immaterial in Human Engagements with Technology
title_sort interruptions: reconsidering the immaterial in human engagements with technology
url http://www.transformationsjournal.org/journal/25/05.shtml
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24359