Immersion, a Constructivist Approach to Cognition and Culture

Studies of science and technology in cultural research, specifically within the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), have long been obfuscated by a longer tradition in cognitive science. This is due in part to a long tradition that has continuously separated both areas of enquiry, the subjective and cultural from the cognitive, making it difficult to embrace any form of discourse that would finally intertwine both.

Here, and as a way to break with such dichotomy, the concept of immersion through the lens of a constructivist debate appears essential, finally uniting both domains of epistemological enquiry. Such a conceptual shift may provide a move beyond the purely formal and abstract approach, adopted by previous studies of human computer interaction, into new aesthetic and political domains.