Designing mediation.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the concept of mediation in the context of current HCI research, with a special focus on the use of the concept to inform and guide the design of interactive artifacts and environments. The paper discusses the adoption of the mediational perspective on digital technology in HCI and reflects on how the perspective has informed design-oriented research in the field. It is concluded that there is a general trend of moving beyond relatively basic notions of technology mediation toward a more differentiated view of mediation as a complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon. The paper outlines a set of dimensions, which characterize technological mediation in relation to properties of mediational means, subjects and objects of mediated activities, levels of mediation, dynamics of mediation, and context. Design implications of adopting a view of technological mediation as a multi-dimensional phenomenon are discussed.