Fluid Interaction in Mobile Work Practices

Abstract

This chapter discusses the increasing fluidity of interaction that workers perform in contemporary work settings. Everyday working life is increasingly constituted of a heterogeneous mélange where people, work objects and symbols, as well as their interactions, are distributed in time, space and across contexts. When considering interaction where participants, work, and interactional objects are mobile, the challenges of supporting the fluidity of interaction in collocated settings are immense. This chapter outlines mobile interaction in terms of the fluid topological metaphor and analyses the dimensions of struggling with fluid mobile interaction based on a framework characterising interactional asymmetries.