Explorations of Interactive Research Artifacts in Use: Applying Research through Design to Understand Ways Scholars Leverage Interactivity in their Research Practices

DOI

New technologies and digitization have the potential to vastly alter our knowledge infrastructures. Specifically, this work focuses on the effects of interactive technologies on research practices, referred as “interactive research artifacts.” Current research investigates the communicative affordances of such technologies, but there exists minimal work which critically examines the creative ways scholars are engaging with these artifacts. Through in-depth interviews with 14 scholars, and Design Studies literature, this work arrives at an understanding of interactive research artifacts as creative knowledge creation tools, rather than simply communicative tools. As such, to design for a future where interactive research artifacts become commonly used scholarly tools, an in-depth understanding of the ways these artifacts are used as knowledge creation tools is critical.