Ex-situ Technology Appropriation of an e-Deliberation Platform in an Art Gallery

When designing interactive web applications and services, understanding the situated nature of interaction and investigating technology appropriation experiences in the context of real-world use deserve special attention. In this paper, we report on experiences with technology appropriation of an e-Deliberation platform that we designed to support collaborative interpretation in an art gallery. Our qualitative study is based on interviews with 23 participants to explore a) visitors' practices when commenting on and interpreting art and b) how these practices are shaped by interaction with an e-Deliberation platform for collaborative writing that imposes strict regulations. An analysis of 12 hours of interview data yielded two particular appropriation practices related to the demand to satisfy additional visitors' communication needs, such as exchanging their ideas and thoughts face-to-face before writing an interpretation. Although the designers anticipated these specific needs, users also appropriated the e-Deliberation platform in unanticipated ways. These practices lead to a better understanding of the situated nature of ex-situ interaction when using interactive web applications to support remote collaboration in the art gallery context.