Evolving the human acting space through digital artefacts : A study of the Facebook phenomenon

We live in an increasingly artificial world where information technology becomes more and more commonplace and in the same instance life changing. Thus, it becomes vital to gain a deeper understanding of how design activities in this area contribute to change our human acting space. A computational paradigm regarding this is the concept of ubiquitous computing which can be described as technology weaving itself into the fabric of everyday life until it is indistinguishable from it. We have related this concept to Facebook, a social utility that lets us interact with each other in new ways. Through a series of interviews and semi-field studies we have investigated and reflected around the impact Facebook has had on our human acting space and whether it has, or is becoming, a ubiquitous element in our lives. We were able to conclude that Facebook has changed our respondents’ social acting space and displays signs of becoming a presence in their lives, instead of a mere tool. We have also found that Facebook shows attributes of a calm technology and that it reaches several demands of a ubiquitous application. Thus, Facebook seemingly starts to have a ubiquitous role in the lives of our respondents.Validerat; 20110622 (anonymous