Rethinking the Interaction Architecture

Abstract

The chapter explores the design of the user interface within and across the user interaction spaces. It deals with a key issue of knowing the user from the known and unknown interaction contexts. In other words, how do we discern the reality from the actuality of user interaction? In comprehending the place and role of the user in various social, functional, and cultural contexts, we face the issue of understanding the dynamics of interactions in these sometimes overlapping and intersecting contexts. It argues that the notion of valorisation can be used to extend the concept of ‘interface’ from the realm of the ‘separation’ between the reality and the actuality, to the symbiotic realm of the actuality and reality. This symbiotic realm enables users from different realities to collaborate by pooling their knowledge and experiences, while sharing their cultural differences. In doing so, users enter into a symbiotic interaction space which facilitates the enhancing of both their common capacities (objective knowledge) and personal capabilities (tacit experiences). This perspective of seeking symbiosis between the user reality and actuality is termed here as ‘valorised reality’. This concept of valorisation provides a methodological tool for bridging the gaps between “actuality” and “reality” mediated by the symbiotic interface. The concept of the cultural holon is introduced to represent the network architecture of user interactions in a local-global context. In this perspective, the symbiosis represents the possibilities, choices and alternative paths available for user interaction in overlapping and inter-linked interaction spaces.