Making Multiple Uses of the Obscura 1C Digital Camera: Reflecting on the Design, Production, Packaging and Distribution of a Counterfunctional Device

This paper describes and explains details of the design, production and packaging of a counterfunctional device: The Obscura 1C Digital Camera. We further describe a small-scale distribution of Obscura 1C packages into everyday contexts. The paper then reflects on the various types of conceptual, imaginary and firsthand uses made of the Obscura 1C. These include its uses for everyday audiences as a unique camera and as a conceptually usable device. But we also prioritize uses particular to the HCI and design audience. These include using the Obscura 1C to articulate the concepts of inhibitive interfaces, counterfunctionality, and enabling limitations. The Obscura 1C is further used to articulate how abstract ideas can be translated into material forms, to rethink the role of packaging in user studies, and to draw attention to how discursive design objects are packaged and presented.

[1]  Steve Benford,et al.  Ambiguity as a resource for design , 2003, CHI '03.

[2]  James Pierce,et al.  On the presentation and production of design research artifacts in HCI , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[3]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  The drift table: designing for ludic engagement , 2004, CHI EA '04.

[4]  Ron Wakkary,et al.  A sustainable design fiction , 2013, ACM Trans. Comput. Hum. Interact..

[5]  William W. Gaver,et al.  Annotated portfolios , 2012, INTR.

[6]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  "I lie to myself that i have freedom in my own schedule": productivity tools and experiences of busyness , 2011, CHI.

[7]  Anna Vallgårda.  PLANKS: a computational composite , 2008, NordiCHI.

[8]  Carl DiSalvo,et al.  Adversarial Design , 2012 .

[9]  Jonathan Crary,et al.  24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep , 2013 .

[10]  Ellie Harmon,et al.  Stories of the Smartphone in everyday discourse: conflict, tension & instability , 2013, CHI.

[11]  John Zimmerman,et al.  Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI , 2007, CHI.

[12]  Madeline E. Smith,et al.  Limiting, leaving, and (re)lapsing: an exploration of facebook non-use practices and experiences , 2013, CHI.

[13]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  Reflective design , 2005, Critical Computing.

[14]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  Beyond being green: simple living families and ICT , 2013, CHI.

[15]  Eric Paulos,et al.  Counterfunctional things: exploring possibilities in designing digital limitations , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[16]  Milind R. Naphade,et al.  The dubuque electricity portal: evaluation of a city-scale residential electricity consumption feedback system , 2013, CHI.

[17]  Abigail Sellen,et al.  Photobox: on the design of a slow technology , 2012, DIS '12.

[18]  Mark Blythe,et al.  Research through design fiction: narrative in real and imaginary abstracts , 2014, CHI.

[19]  Richard Harper,et al.  Texture: Human Expression in the Age of Communications Overload , 2010 .

[20]  Viktor Mayer-Schönberger,et al.  Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age , 2009 .

[21]  Carman Neustaedter,et al.  Autobiographical design in HCI research: designing and learning through use-it-yourself , 2012, DIS '12.

[22]  Eric Paulos,et al.  Some variations on a counterfunctional digital camera , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[23]  Andy Boucher,et al.  Attention to detail: annotations of a design process , 2012, NordiCHI.

[24]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  Staying open to interpretation: engaging multiple meanings in design and evaluation , 2006, DIS '06.

[25]  William W. Gaver,et al.  Indoor weather stations: investigating a ludic approach to environmental HCI through batch prototyping , 2013, CHI.

[26]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  The heterogeneous home , 2008, UbiComp.

[27]  Phoebe Sengers,et al.  What I learned on Change Islands: reflections on IT and pace of life , 2011, INTR.

[28]  P. Verbeek.  What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design , 2005 .