Liminal, Spiritual, and Ritual: Fabrication and Evasion in Urban Journeys through Portable Devices Nithya Sambasivan Department of Informatics University of California, Irvine Irvine 92697-3425, CA, U.S.A. nsambasi@ics.uci.edu Leena Ventä, Jani Mäntyjärvi, and Jonna Häkkilä Nokia Research Center Yrttipellontie 6 90230 Oulu, Finland {firstname.lastname}@nokia.com ABSTRACT In this paper, we briefly discuss our ongoing research on the morphing role of portable device ecologies in urban journeys. Specifically, we discuss spirituality and liminality, socialities that emerge from the hybridities of devices and people, and the inevitable intrusiveness caused by perpetual possession of devices. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.3.3 H5.2 [Information interfaces and presentation]: User Interfaces. Keywords Non-use, Urban computing, device ensembles, mobile devices, camouflaging, spirituality, liminality 1. INTRODUCTION With the increased ubiquity and decreased prices of wireless technologies, mobile technologies have merged into the practices of everyday life. Carrying these technologies almost everywhere one goes has become a common phenomenon in urban environments [2]. These device ensembles, or arrays of portable devices, include mobile phones, gaming devices, music players, and thumb drives [7]. The computation in these devices is not just physically embedded, but also socially and procedurally embedded. So much so, that we continually use these devices without thinking of them as computational [1]. However, as much as understandings of the use of device ensembles are important, non-use is traditionally neglected. The portability of information and informational objects has resulted in blurred boundaries between different spheres of life - namely work, home, and play, unrestricted by geography. This leads us to raise pertinent questions on the nature of interactions shaped and mediated by these portable devices in our urban journeys. We speak here of journeys of everyday life, augmented by technology, between first, second, and third places [5]. The transformative power of these devices lies not only in participating in different spaces, but also in creating them wherever we go. They aid in temporarily appropriating public spaces for personal use [3] [4] to escape the surrounding physical space. In our on-going research we find that in the presence of strange or insignificant spaces, people, or practices, these device ensembles can play an important role in providing the individual with a link to their private world, and intensify their personal and emotional relationship with the technology. In this paper, we reflect on our ongoing research on the role of portable technologies in our day-to-day lives. We question the role of device ecologies in daily routines, the marriage of technological spaces with physical spaces, and the practices surrounding non-use of portable technologies. 2. METHODOLOGY We conducted a round of interviews with 12 graduate students in the University of California, Irvine campus. The informant pool ranged from 23 to 35 years of age, with 7 male and 5 female. Each interview lasted approximately 60 minutes. Compensation was provided. The interviews were preceded by a questionnaire structured on features and processes that affect personal relationships with mobile devices, such as memories, personalization, routine, adaptation, and mobility. The interview questions themselves explored a typical day with portable devices, transition of spaces, the tasks and contexts of use of devices, offline and device intrusiveness, play, and liminality. 3. FINDINGS In this section, we introduce a subset of our salient findings relevant to the theme of this workshop. Liminality and spirituality: By spirituality, we differ from the conventional discourse on technology use for religious practices [8]. We broadly speak here of doing something “higher” as opposed to material or physical things [6]. Our findings show that technology can have good as well as bad impact on spiritual lives, and one has to be highly selective when dealing with technology for spirituality. Two forms of practices are worth noting here: the use of portable technologies in supporting spiritual practices and the liminal shutting down of devices to achieve a state of spirituality. The former involves emotional engagement with the technology, directly factored by intrusiveness, context, and worth. For example, mobile phones are considered spiritual when they helped in reaching a loved one, and portable music players in playing the right track at the right time on shuffle. The latter