Human-computer interaction: Between sociological theory and ethnographic data

The field of interaction between human and computer provides at least two areas of consideration, and methodological points of view respectively. On the one hand, this kind of interaction is conceived as a separate subject for ethnographic research. On the other hand, vocabulary for re-describing of the processes is adequately provided by Science and Technology Studies (STS). My claim is that these two points should not be treated as separate, for the following respect: human-computer interaction serves as a good case to provide some insights to my point.

Human-computer interaction (HCI) as an interdisciplinary field mostly works with practical domain. Researchers and practitioners normally act as ethnographers while conducting their research and collecting data related to specific and concrete phenomena. However, most of them unavoidably face theoretical problems. In this way, there is a wide range of issues at HCI for ethnography as well as for sociology of science and technology. Nevertheless, whether authors are aware of it or not, every research or practice presupposes a specific theory.

At the same time, there is a diversity of approaches which give rise to further conceptualization and operationalization. Reinterpretation of the relations between human/computer (as a special case of the ratio of social/material) is implemented in a different way in STS, because it represents a field of different studies concerning diverse aspects of science development and changing technology. Human-computer interaction is a rich resource for finding opportunities to link the concepts with the data and especially when description and interpretation is already subsumed under a theoretical logic.