Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Enchantments of Technology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Funology 2

Part of the book series: Human–Computer Interaction Series ((HCIS))

Abstract

Back in 2003 when we contributed this chapter in Funology, the smartphone was barely available let alone the ubiquitously enchanting technology it is today. But even then, it was becoming clear that the settings, characters, and interactions experienced for example in handheld computer games could create worlds in which people became caught up and carried away. In HCI, there had been little analysis of enchantment or how to design for it. But there was practical knowledge of how to do this in industries such as film making. So, in this paper we explore how such knowledge might be used to inform the design of enchanting digital technologies. When we were invited to revise the chapter for Funology 2, we decided to leave it as originally published but to add an endnote reflecting on how our ideas have developed since then. This ‘endnote’ features as the preface to this chapter and to our other chapter, Making sense of Experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agre P (1997) Computation and human experience. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin MM (1981). In: Holquist M, The dialogic imagination: four essays. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin MM (1984). In: Emerson C, Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Belenky MF, McVicar Clinchy B, Goldberger NR, Tarkle M (1986) Women’s ways of knowing: the development of self, voice and mind. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett J (2001) The enchantment of modern life: attachments, crossings, and ethics. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolter JD, Grusin R (2001) Remediation: understanding new media. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • Boorstin J (1990) Making movies work: thinking like a filmmaker. Silman-James Press, Beverley Hills

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen S, Dearden D, Wolstenholme D, Cobb M (2011) Different views: including others in participatory health service innovation. In: Proceedings of the second participatory innovation conference, University of Southern Denmark, pp 230–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner J (1987) Life as narrative. Soc Res 54:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner J (1990) Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner EM, Turner V (eds) (1986) The anthropology of experience. University of Illinois Press, Urbana

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke R, Wright P, Balaam M, McCarthy J (2013) Digital portraits: photo-sharing after domestic violence. In: Proceedings of the Chi’2013. ACM, New York, pp 2517–2526

    Google Scholar 

  • DeCerteau M (1984) The practice of everyday life. University of California Press, Berkeley, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey J (1934) Art as experience. Perigree, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher P (1998) Wonder, the rainbow, and the aesthetics of rare experiences. Harvard University Press, Boston Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gell A (1992) The technology of enchantment and the enchantment of technology. In: Coote J, Shelton A (eds) Anthropology, art, and aesthetics. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 40–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Hook J, McCarthy J, Wright P, Olivier P (2013) Waves: exploring idiographic design for live performance. In: Proceedings of the Chi’2013. ACM, New York, pp 2969–2978

    Google Scholar 

  • Jay M (2005) Songs of experience. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein M (2000) No logo. Flamingo, London

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy J, Wright P (2004) Technology as experience. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy JC, Wright PC (2015) Taking [A]part: the politics and aesthetics of participation in experience-centered design. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman DA (2005) Emotional design: why we love or hate everyday things. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman DA (2013) The design of everyday things. MIT Press, Cambridge, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Prigogine I, Stengers I (1984) Order out of chaos. Flamingo, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rancière J (2006) The politics of aesthetics: the distribution of the sensible. Continuum International Publishing

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor N, Cheverst K, Wright P, Olivier P (2013) Leaving the wild: lessons from community technology handovers. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’2013 conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM Press, pp 1549–1558

    Google Scholar 

  • Thieme A, McCarthy J, Johnson P, Phillips S, Wallace J, Lindley S, Ladha K, Jackson D, Nowacka D, Rafiev A, Ladha C, Nappey T, Wright P, Meyer TD, Olivier P (2016) Challenges in designing new technology for health and wellbeing in a complex mental healthcare context. In: Proceedings of CHI’2016, pp 2136–2149

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, Olivier P (2012) Digital interaction culture lab. Interactions Magazine 19:1

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright PC, McCarthy JC, Meekison L (2004) Making sense of experience. In: Blythe M, Monk A, Overbeeke C, Wright PC (eds) Funology: From usability to user enjoyment. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 43–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, McCarthy J (2004) The value of the novel in designing for experience. In: Pirhonen A, Roast C, Saariluoma P, Isom H (eds) Future interaction design. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, McCarthy J (2008) Experience and empathy in HCI. In: Proceedings of Chi’2008. ACM Press, pp 637–646

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright PC, McCarthy JC (2010) Experience-centered design: designers, users, and communities in dialogue. Morgan and Claypool

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, McCarthy J (2015) The politics and aesthetics of participatory HCI. Interactions Magazine 22:6. ACM Press, New York, pp 26–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, Wallace J, McCarthy J (2008) Aesthetics and experience-centred design. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 15:4. ACM Press, New York, pp 1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek S (1999) The fantasy in cyberspace. In: Wright E, Wright E (eds) The Zizek reader. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    John McCarthy

  2. Open Lab, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Peter Wright

Authors
  1. John McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Wright .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Design, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

    Mark Blythe

  2. Department of Psychology, University of York, York, United Kingdom

    Andrew Monk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

McCarthy, J., Wright, P. (2018). The Enchantments of Technology. In: Blythe, M., Monk, A. (eds) Funology 2. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68213-6_23

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68213-6_23

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68212-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68213-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation