Wyche et al., 2009

Wyche, S. P., Magnus, C. M., and Grinter, R. E. 2009. Broadening Ubicomp's vision: an exploratory study of charismatic pentecostals and technology use in Brazil. In Proceedings of the 11th international Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Orlando, Florida, USA, September 30 - October 03, 2009). Ubicomp '09. ACM, New York, NY, 145-154.

The authors of this paper study a sample population of extreme users of ICT, the Pentacostal Christians in Brazil. While there are some sub-groups of Pentacostalism that eschew all technology as the work of the devil, increasingly, many others are embracing technology. The manner of this embrace is somewhat unexpected, and the authors argue, illuminates some new facets to the problem of realizing Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing. In fact, the authors challenge whether or not this is the precise vision we should be aiming for, in light of the ways some people accept or reject technology, and of course how they appropriate it for religious purposes. That said, the authors do seem, themselves, to be pitching these insights to the designers of ICTs who they acknowledge do aim for ubiquitousness on a global scale (if that's not redundant). The main contribution of this paper is that it exposes the "complex negotiations embedded in technology adoption" (146).

I get the sense that this paper is born from a somewhat noble attempt to be more inclusive in design. I say "somewhat" because the purpose of this inclusion is to generate more consumers, and in the end to create converts to the kind of worldview that embraces the encroachment of ubiquitous computing into all areas of our lives. But the article seems to present a few trite guidelines for the HCI community that, if we stopped and thought for a second, we could have said without having done any research (and indeed, I struggle to see how their interviews substantiate these conclusions). For example, "Ubicomp researchers can apply this finding to their work by accounting for individuals' physical and spiritual needs or -body and soul - when developing applications to promote healthy behaviors" (152). Yes. Duh! But perhaps the fact that this needed to be articulated at all points to a great blindness to spiritual matters in the technology world; i.e. a chasm between the worldviews that produce technology vs. spirituality/religion.

And it is always good to remind technology designers of this essential question asked in this paper: "Whose user needs are marginalized at the expense of furthering a western normatie agenda about appropriate ICT use" (153)?

For me, this paper exposes the need for another point of clarification when I speak of the need for spiritual engagements with technology. The authors here provide anecdotes of individuals believing that spirits are communicating to them via their technologies (e.g. people turning off their televisions to avoid the devil, or following links on the Internet believing the spirits are guiding their clicks), and cases when spiritual healing has been directed to them through their technologies. This is not something unique to the Pentacostals. Psychic healer, Jo Dunning, for example, holds regular healing sessions over the radio and the phone. And I can personally sympathize (to a degree) with the belief that technology is as plausible a medium of communication as any (especially when you compare it to the 'channels' through which God communicated in the Bible). For example, when watching Most Haunted Live, I will always turn off the television when Yvette Fielding is about to begin her incantation for the devil. Not worth the risk I say. I'd rather not have the devil in my living room, thankyouverymuch.

So clearly when people are engaging with technology in this way - even if only to decide to disengage - they are imbuing that engagement with some spiritual significance. The spiritual component here is the experience of enchantment. "Our findings" they report, "suggest that joyous ecstacy is compatible with contemporary life, and that technology can support it even in our modern secular world" (152). It is important that we have evidence of people being able to have enchanting experiences with technology, because we tech-savvy folk (or anyone whose job involves using Excel) tend to feel that technology is far from enchanting (perhaps closer to being impossibly irritating). This hints at the potential of technology to support what I call soul-satisfying experiences. But - and perhaps it's just that my goals have changed a bit in light of Wertheim's book - I am more interested in community aspects of spirituality than I am in enchantment. I mean, it's easy enough to design enchantedness into a digital experience: just tart it up a bit, make it flashy! It's a more interesting challenge to figure out how we may design a new orientation to community through people's engagement with technology.

What this boils down to, my point of clarification, is that it is not the point of experience of engagement so much that I want to focus my design attention on, but on the ways in which a new kind of technological engagement can be intentionally crafted in order to produce a more meaningful engagement with community; i.e. one that helps us manifest those spiritual values such as compassion and selflessness.