Tangible interaction and cultural heritage. An analysis of the agency of smart objects and gesture-based systems.

Drawing on a design perspective, this paper aims to analyse the agency of tangible and embodied interaction systems applied to cultural heritage and the role of design in shaping the expected behaviour of users. Going beyond tangibility in the strict sense of touching assets, in this paper we employ a broader interpretation of tangibility, understanding it as a practice of meaning-making that requires intense bodily involvement. In order to carry out the analysis, we adopt the concepts of delegated and conditional agency proposed by Kaptelinin and Nardi (2009), the idea that things have the ability to realize –or not– the intentions that are delegated to them by someone else (the designer). Therefore, different types of tangible interaction systems, (1) smart replicas/originals, (2) symbolic objects (3) codified gestures and (4) performing gestures, are analysed according to their ability to realize the intentions of those who imagined, created and programmed them. Specifically, each category is described and analysed in terms of its ability to stimulate user interaction and suggest the right behaviour to trigger interpretive content. Finally, some conclusions are presented as a starting point to orient future research.