Ubiquitous computing for industrial workplaces: Cultural logics in designing for the ‘real world’

Ubiquitous computing technologies as constituents of intelligent environments open up previously inaccessible situations for data capture and therefore are becoming a major focus of corporate and financial interests. This paper is about the specific setting of UK road maintenance and construction as an application domain. Drawing on examples from qualitative fieldwork I suggest that cultural logics such as health and safety and liabilities are central in legitimising the introduction of ubiquitous computing technologies. They have an essential role in people´s reasoning about technologies in this setting. We therefore need to look at the ´broader picture´ of current social and cultural logics in contemporary society in order to understand and improve design, deployment and use of technologies in intelligent environments.