But what's here is mine: materialities of physical personal workspaces

Abstract

The dominance of desktop computers for much of the past 30 years has meant the study of physical workspaces focused on the ergonomics of the machine and its surrounds, rather than design. The recent explosion of laptop, tablet and powerful mobile computing means that workspaces have new flexibility and constraints. We return to the early study of physical workspaces that informed the design of the desktop GUI and numerous digital workspace systems. Focusing on information work by students in libraries, we show that the allocation of physical space and devices to tasks is subtle and multi-faceted, and even transient workspaces show patterns that help the user manage complex tasks. We focus on the materiality of physical workspaces, as how itcaninform primary design considerations for workspace systems.