Materiality Matters-Experience Materials

ACM CHI 2012 conference organized a panel titled 'Material Interactions - From Atoms and Bits to Entangled Practices'. The panel was specifically arranged to discuss assemblages of digital and physical materials and how these compositions might form and enable new experiences, as well as questions related to how we might conceptualize the inseparability of digital materials, user experiences, and the social context. While the panelists agreed that a material perspective is necessary and that it brings with it some interesting opportunities for HCI, they also presented distinct and particular views on how this perspective should be framed, and appealed to different traditions as touchstones for an account of material interaction. A material lens was introduced that offers new opportunities for designers to think more broadly about what computation can comprise. It positions traditional or mundane materials.