When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI

Rory S Clark

When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

Abstract

Positionality is rapidly becoming an accepted and necessary aspect of conducting well contextualised and reflected research in HCI, yet it remains controversial. This short paper compares and contrasts the nature of positionality in HCI against the position of a historian and their facts, highlighting some similarities but more importantly demonstrating the impact that time and reflection can have on the way the author situates themselves and their work in the broader trends of society and culture. We take two pieces of respected and long-standing historiography and use them to situate current discourse of positionality in HCI to reveal methods, techniques and perspectives from the study of History that can be leveraged by the HCI practitioner.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 11 Mar 2026
Event	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026 - Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 https://chi2026.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Human factors in computing systems
Publisher	ACM
ISSN (Electronic)	1062-9432

Conference

Conference	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026
Abbreviated title	CHI ’26
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26
Internet address	https://chi2026.acm.org/

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title = "When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI",

abstract = "Positionality is rapidly becoming an accepted and necessary aspect of conducting well contextualised and reflected research in HCI, yet it remains controversial. This short paper compares and contrasts the nature of positionality in HCI against the position of a historian and their facts, highlighting some similarities but more importantly demonstrating the impact that time and reflection can have on the way the author situates themselves and their work in the broader trends of society and culture. We take two pieces of respected and long-standing historiography and use them to situate current discourse of positionality in HCI to reveal methods, techniques and perspectives from the study of History that can be leveraged by the HCI practitioner.",

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note = "ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026, CHI {\textquoteright}26 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

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When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI. / Clark, Rory S.
Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26). Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. (Human factors in computing systems).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI

AU - Clark, Rory S

PY - 2026/3/11

Y1 - 2026/3/11

N2 - Positionality is rapidly becoming an accepted and necessary aspect of conducting well contextualised and reflected research in HCI, yet it remains controversial. This short paper compares and contrasts the nature of positionality in HCI against the position of a historian and their facts, highlighting some similarities but more importantly demonstrating the impact that time and reflection can have on the way the author situates themselves and their work in the broader trends of society and culture. We take two pieces of respected and long-standing historiography and use them to situate current discourse of positionality in HCI to reveal methods, techniques and perspectives from the study of History that can be leveraged by the HCI practitioner.

AB - Positionality is rapidly becoming an accepted and necessary aspect of conducting well contextualised and reflected research in HCI, yet it remains controversial. This short paper compares and contrasts the nature of positionality in HCI against the position of a historian and their facts, highlighting some similarities but more importantly demonstrating the impact that time and reflection can have on the way the author situates themselves and their work in the broader trends of society and culture. We take two pieces of respected and long-standing historiography and use them to situate current discourse of positionality in HCI to reveal methods, techniques and perspectives from the study of History that can be leveraged by the HCI practitioner.

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

T3 - Human factors in computing systems

BT - Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

When Am I? How Historiography Can Inform Positionality In HCI

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