Critical dialogue: Interaction, experience and cultural theory

Although topics such as fun, enjoyment, aesthetics, and experience are relatively new in HCI, long traditions of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences have examined them. Some have already been expressed in the appropriation of conceptualizations of experience in HCI research and practice. There is also a small but fast growing body of work in HCI seeking to approach these topics from the perspective of cultural and critical theory. In the history of ideas, experience and critical theory have not always made good bedfellows, sometimes complementing each other, sometimes resisting each other. This workshop will explore the ways in which HCI can benefit from a constructive dialogue between critical theory and experience in questions of design and evaluation.