Wellbeing at Work: Four Perspectives on What User Experiences with Artifacts May Contribute

Abstract : Most work involves the use of artifacts; thus, user experience (UX) is a factor in how most employees experience their work. This study revisits the tool, media, dialogue-partner, and system perspectives on artifact use to explore how UX may contribute to wellbeing at work. It is found that artifacts foster positive UX when they lend the user expressive power (tool), are transparent (media) or perceptive (dialogue partner).They foster negative UX when they break the user’s task focus or make the user a mere system component. These findings are discussed and refined by elaborating the classic concepts of ready to hand and present at hand.