Extraordinary Computing: Religion As A Lens For Reconsidering The Home

We present results from a study examining how American Protestant Christians' faith affects their domestic life. There are two contributions of this work for the HCI community. First, we provide empirical evidence demonstrating how topics of interest to HCI researchers (e.g., material artifacts, routines, and ICT use) are used for religious purposes. Our findings show how Christians distinguish these aspects of domestic life from their secular counterparts. Second, we use our findings to reflect on current directions of future domestic ICT applications. Specifically, we critically evaluate the "problem solving" approaches dominating the design of future technologies, and present extraordinary computing or systems that promote and honor the special value accorded to some aspects of domestic life.