Anna Croon Fors from Umeå University has defended her PhD thesis Being-with Information Technology: Critical explorations beyond use and design (fulltext here).
From the abstract:
In the thesis a theoretical exploration concerning the significance of information technology in everyday life is conducted. The main question advanced is how the reflexive nature of information technology can be envisionedâ?¦The framework being-with information technology emerges as a result of my insistence on grasping the relationship between information technology and human experience as a whole. Informed primarily by Martin Heideggerâ??s thinking on technology the framework ascribes primacy to meaning-making and sense-making processes. The framework also aspire to reach beyond notions of use and design by emphasizing the role and importance of the potential of information technology to transform human experience in new and significant ways…
It is suggested that a focus on aesthetic experiences entails the possibility to investigate ambiguous meanings of information technology, meanings that all are intrinsic to information technology, but so far has received little or no attention. This suggestion is also a move away from a view of information technology as an object, with certain features, qualities and properties, towards a view of information technology as a relation to the world, to itself, and towards being human.
It sounds exciting and scanning the table of contents confirms this. I am looking forward to reading it properly.