People of ACM - Susanne Bødker

April 8, 2025

You are the author of the 1990 book, “Through the Interface: A Human Activity Approach to User-Interface Design.” What has surprised you most about how user-interface design has developed since you published that book?

Research-wise, I think the most interesting development is how much people now use multiple and changing devices for work as well as most aspects of life. Is that surprising? Well, at least there was no way of knowing back in 1990, when most people barely owned a PC and telephones were things that were connected to a slot in the wall.  

For someone who is unfamiliar with your field, will you explain what activity theory is and how it relates to human-computer interaction?

Activity theory was originally a cultural-historical theory that came out of Russian psychology. In contrast to the Western cognitive science tradition that dominated human-computer interaction in the 1980s, activity theory allowed for understanding of how humans engage with their material environment and how they learn, hence developing practices together in communities. Through the activity theoretical framework it has been possible to better understand computers as mediators of what human beings do in the world, how computers help us do what we otherwise would not be able to do, and how what we do with computers (and other tools) also shape our thinking and doing.

What was the goal of your recent project Common Interactive Objects (CIO)?

CIO was a fairly substantial project funded by the European Research Council and ran for 5+ years. Based on the activity theoretical thinking, the idea was to focus on common interactive objects to develop, explore and extend control over the technological environment by human beings both individually and together. Through CIO we developed a framework of collaborative user interfaces and interac­tion design methods and technological platforms to suit. Also, we developed and explored a number of technological concepts and prototypes in support of, e.g., traces and awareness in collaborative writing.

How is participatory design re-shaping your field?

Largely, participatory design is older than HCI and has always had a role in shaping the field. I think most HCI researchers and UX practitioners will subscribe to the idea that talking to users and finding out what they do with technology is important for design, be it in research or practice. This is a legacy from participatory design whether it is recognized or not. Thinking-wise it was part of the breakaway from cognitive science in the 1980s. At the same time participatory design is still its own vivid research community that not all researchers in HCI necessarily connect with. And it still puts challenging questions to the methods and activities of our field.