Desktop Computing as Paradigm: Hidden Assumptions That Suppress Mobile Information Technology

In this paper, it is argued that what we think of as information technology in support of mobility is related to and draws on traditional ideas of desktop computing in a multitude of ways. A key argument made is that these dependencies are not only beneficial and desirable-in terms of user familiarity, recognition, acceptance, and a supposedly steeper learning curve-but also carry with them restrictions and hidden assumptions that in different ways come to suppress mobility. Through an analysis inspired by phenomenological inquiry, this paper sets out to recognize some of the interactional assumptions and dependencies that mobile information technology holds in relation to the desktop computer, and which currently suppress mobility.