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Richard Harper

Other affiliations: University of Surrey, National Health Service, Microsoft  ...read more
Bio: Richard Harper is an academic researcher from Lancaster University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Mobile phone & Computer-supported cooperative work. The author has an hindex of 47, co-authored 200 publications receiving 8972 citations. Previous affiliations of Richard Harper include University of Surrey & National Health Service.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Kenton O'Hara1, Richard Harper1, Helena M. Mentis1, Abigail Sellen1, Alex S. Taylor1 
TL;DR: Norman's critique is indicative of the issue that while using the word natural might have become natural, it is coming at a cost and there is a need to understand the key assumptions implicit within it and how these frame approaches to design and engineering in particular ways.
Abstract: Norman's critique is indicative of the issue that while using the word natural might have become natural, it is coming at a cost. In other words, precisely because the notion of naturalness has become so commonplace in the scientific lexicon of HCI, so it is becoming increasingly important, it seems that there is a critical examination of the conceptual work being performed when it is used. There is a need to understand the key assumptions implicit within it and how these frame approaches to design and engineering in particular ways. A second significant element of this perspective comes from Wittgenstein, and his claim that, through action, people create shared meanings with others, and these shared meanings are the essential common ground that enable individual perception to be cohered into socially organized, understood, and coordinated experiences.

125 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
29 Apr 2007
TL;DR: From the analysis, a videowork lifecycle is derived to frame the practices users engage in when working with video technologies in the home, and two broad types of video usage therein are uncovered.
Abstract: In this paper we elucidate the patterns of behavior of home movie makers through a study of 12 families and a separate focus group of 7 teenagers. Analogous to a similar study of photowork [13], the goal is to provide a deeper understanding of what people currently do with video technologies, balancing the preponderence of techno-centric work in the area with appropriate user-centric insight. From our analysis, we derive a videowork lifecycle to frame the practices users engage in when working with video technologies in the home, and uncover two broad types of video usage therein. This has implications for how we conceive of and devise tools to support these practices, as we discuss.

121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2000
TL;DR: This paper describes one fieldwork program developed over a number of projects in ethnography that has been allied with computer systems and work practice design.
Abstract: Ethnography is now one of the key approaches used within the CSCW community to specify the role of computer based systems in work practice. Yet what ethnography involves as a program of inquiries is only discussed in a piecemeal way in the literature. This paper attempts to make up for that absence by describing one fieldwork program (or programme) developed over a number of projects in which ethnography has been allied with computer systems and work practice design. The discussions will be of interest to both expert practitioners of ethnography and novices.

118 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
04 Nov 2006
TL;DR: A field trial designed to investigate the potential of remote, situated messaging within the home shows a diversity of types of communication which highlight the role of messaging both to a household and to a place.
Abstract: In this paper we describe a field trial designed to investigate the potential of remote, situated messaging within the home. Five households used our "HomeNote" device for approximately a month. The results show a diversity of types of communication which highlight the role of messaging both to a household and to a place. It also shows the ways in which these kinds of messages enable subtle ways of requesting action, expressing affection, and marking identity in a household -- communication types which have received little attention in the research literature. These in turn point to new concepts for technology which we describe.

113 citations

Book
08 Oct 2010
TL;DR: In Texture, Richard Harper asks why the authors seek out new ways of communicating even as they complain about communication overload, and argues that users prefer simpler technologies that allow them to create social bonds.
Abstract: Our workdays are so filled with emails, instant messaging, and RSS feeds that we complain that theres not enough time to get our actual work done. At home, we are besieged by telephone calls on landlines and cell phones, the beeps that signal text messages, and work emails on our BlackBerrys. Its too much, we cry (or type) as we update our Facebook pages, compose a blog post, or check to see what Shaquille ONeal has to say on Twitter. In Texture, Richard Harper asks why we seek out new ways of communicating even as we complain about communication overload. Harper explores the interplay between technological innovation and socially creative ways of exploiting technology, between our delight in using new forms of communication and our vexation at the burdens this places on us, and connects these to what it means to be humanalive, connected, expressivetoday. He describes the mistaken assumptions of developers that more is always betterthat videophones, for example, are better than handheldsand argues that users prefer simpler technologies that allow them to create social bonds. Communication is not just the exchange of information. There is a texture to our communicative practices, manifest in the different means we choose to communicate (quick or slow, permanent or ephemeral). The goal, Harper says, should not be to make communication more efficient, but to supplement and enrich the expressive vocabulary of human experience.

109 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2009

7,241 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Sep 1978-Science

5,182 citations

Book
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, Sherry Turkle uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, virtual reality, and the on-line way of life.
Abstract: From the Publisher: A Question of Identity Life on the Screen is a fascinating and wide-ranging investigation of the impact of computers and networking on society, peoples' perceptions of themselves, and the individual's relationship to machines. Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Sociology of Science at MIT and a licensed psychologist, uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, "bots," virtual reality, and "the on-line way of life." Turkle's discussion of postmodernism is particularly enlightening. She shows how postmodern concepts in art, architecture, and ethics are related to concrete topics much closer to home, for example AI research (Minsky's "Society of Mind") and even MUDs (exemplified by students with X-window terminals who are doing homework in one window and simultaneously playing out several different roles in the same MUD in other windows). Those of you who have (like me) been turned off by the shallow, pretentious, meaningless paintings and sculptures that litter our museums of modern art may have a different perspective after hearing what Turkle has to say. This is a psychoanalytical book, not a technical one. However, software developers and engineers will find it highly accessible because of the depth of the author's technical understanding and credibility. Unlike most other authors in this genre, Turkle does not constantly jar the technically-literate reader with blatant errors or bogus assertions about how things work. Although I personally don't have time or patience for MUDs,view most of AI as snake-oil, and abhor postmodern architecture, I thought the time spent reading this book was an extremely good investment.

4,965 citations

Journal Article

3,099 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The the practice of everyday life is universally compatible with any devices to read and is available in the digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you very much for downloading the practice of everyday life. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look hundreds times for their chosen novels like this the practice of everyday life, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer. the practice of everyday life is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our books collection spans in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the the practice of everyday life is universally compatible with any devices to read.

2,932 citations