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"Real, but glossy" - Technology and the practical pursuit of magic in modern weddings: 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2014

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Published
Publication date2014
Host publicationCSCW '14 Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages854-865
Number of pages12
ISBN (print)9781450325400
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Planning a wedding is arguably one of the most complicated collaborative tasks people ever undertake. Despite the commonplace use of technologies in "wedding work," little research has looked at this from an HCI perspective. Based on an interview study, we illustrate how technology is used to deliver the sought-after fantasy and a practical, yet entertaining, affair. We identify four ways that technology helps people do this: (a) by allowing much of the practical planning work to become "invisible;" (b) by easing navigation through the delicate rules of family configurations made manifest in the guest list; (c) by helping create a spectaclelike event that adroitly balances excess and realism; and (d) by documenting the wedding in ways that allows reexperiencing the magic after the event. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this pursuit on social graphs, place, and photography, contributing to the literature on technology and major life events.