Technological Mediation in Construction: Postphenomenological Inquiry into Digital Technologies

Postphenomenology adds to the intentional relationship between subject and object (as in phenomenology) the fundamental mediated character through technologies. The focus in postphenomenology is on understanding the different roles that technologies play in the relationships between humans and the world. This study’s objective is to assess the applicability of Ihde’s postphenomenological model of human–technology relationships when exploring the impact of digital technologies on human–technology relationships in construction processes. To accommodate the different forms of human–technology relationship, a mature digital technology was chosen as the subject of a set of case studies: radio-frequency identification (RFID). Based on a literature review and interviews, the different roles that RFID applications
play in human–technology relationships are explored in terms of the four human–technology relations proposed by Ihde: embodiment, hermeneutic, alterity, and background relations. It is in the context of these relations that the impact of digital technologies in construction in general is assessed.