The turn to practice in HCI: towards a research agenda

This paper argues that a new paradigm for HCI research, which we label the 'practice' perspective, has been emerging in recent years. This stands in contrast to the prevailing mainstream HCI paradigm, which we term the 'interaction' perspective. The 'practice turn', as it has been dubbed in the social sciences, provides a conceptual frame to organize a variety of issues emerging in more recent HCI research. While this approach has been present in certain strands of HCI research for some time, it has not been articulated fully to date. In this paper, we provide a short account of the main tenets of this perspective, and then show how it can illuminate some of the recent debates within HCI. Our argument is one which does not seek to replace extant HCI theories, but rather to provide an alternative, complementary theoretical lens which may illuminate the present confusion among both researchers and practitioners as to the direction of HCI. The paper articulates a set of issues which can help direct HCI research programs, as well as highlighting the potential contribution of the HCI field to this practice approach itself, in terms of a more nuanced understanding of emerging practices.