Appropriation of a MMS-based comic creator: from system functionalities to resources for action

Technologies can be used ? or appropriated ? in different ways by different users, but how do the use patterns evolve, and how can design facilitate such evolution? This paper approaches these questions in light of a case study in which a group of 8 high school students used Comeks, a mobile comic strip creator that enables users to exchange rich, expressive multimedia messages. A qualitative analysis of the use processes shows how users turned the functionalities embodied in Comeks into particular resources for communication during the 9-week trial period. The paper discusses the relationship of functionalities of the artifact and the development of resources by presenting how functionalities can be designed to support three ways to appropriate communication technologies: increasing technical mastery, rechanneling existing communication into the new medium and inventing new communicative acts between users. Author Keywords Appropriation, resources, evolving use, interpersonal communi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Antti Salovaara
• Keywords: 9-week Trial Period, ACM Classification Keywords, Author Keywords Appropriation, CHI 2007, Human Computer Interaction