Full Frontal Intimacy - on HCI, Design & Intimacy

Abstract

The HCI community increasingly expands the borders of what topics are acceptable to explore, discuss and research. Recent workshops and papers on sexuality, intimate facets of the body and other sensitive topics show that intimacy in its widest sense and its impact on people's lives and well-being is relevant to the HCI community. In this paper, we draw on the results of an ongoing literature review on intimacy which shows that the concept is rarely defined, even though it has a variety of meanings. Nonetheless, as the parameters in which intimacy is explored are comparable in many instances, a predominant view prevails on what intimacy means. We share an imaginary abstract that breaks with these conventions and shows potential benefits of expanding the view on intimacy. This provocation therefore urges HCI researchers to rethink their idea of what intimacy is and offers directions of how to do so.