I made this ironic depiction (PDF) of how some in HCI research might view ‘science’, particularly as part of a broader ordering of knowledge. It was initially a reaction, taking the idea of CHI 2014’s ‘Interaction Science’ Spotlight (PDF) quite literally as best I could. This led to some interesting places as I attempted to (temporarily) inhabit that perspective and work out what the world might look like from standpoint of that intellectual place—specifically, for instance, considering how one might view ‘scientific knowledge’ and the corresponding knowledge productions of a ‘science of interaction’.
Personally I’m interested in bracketing this discussion. It is part of a broader set of questions in HCI around disciplinarity and often about a scientific disciplinarity of HCI. I have attempted to do this bracketing and address these issues in some other writings:
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Locating the ‘Big Hole’ in HCI Research (ACM Interactions, 2015)
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Human-Computer Interaction as Science (Critical Alternatives, 2015)
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Is Replication Important for HCI? (RepliCHI Workshop, CHI 2013)