A different unit of analysis
Combines four features—functional versatility, perpetual connectivity, contingent combinability, and non-hierarchical interoperability—to explain why the focal device is insufficient.
PDF pp.5–10; paper pp.4–9.
Conference Paper · 2022
Digital Mesh: On the Rise of Mesh Computing
Official publication
Cite this work · APA 7
Wang, G. (2022). Digital mesh: On the rise of mesh computing. In Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Information Systems (pp. 1–14). Association for Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2022/adv_methods/adv_methods/5/
Explore the original contribution
Interactive paper explorationThe device you use can also be infrastructure for other devices.
Starting point
One device, one intended role
A conventional view foregrounds a device and the task it was designed to perform.
The paper’s insight
Roles emerge through connections
A device can use other devices as infrastructure and become infrastructure for them in turn.
What changes
Follow the digital mesh
Examine the emerging process of connected use, rather than assuming the device supplies the boundary.
The perspective the paper challenges
Device-centred accounts tend to start with a focal computing device, a relatively stable purpose, and infrastructure that supports it.
The paper’s original contribution
The paper advances digital mesh as a unit of analysis: a set of connected computing devices emerging where human life meets the digital world. Devices can acquire changing meanings through use and simultaneously invoke and provide infrastructure.
Concept explorer
Follow the concepts.
Select a concept to see its role in this paper’s contribution.
Concept 01
Digital mesh
The paper’s proposed unit of analysis: connected computing devices emerging at the contact between human life and the digital world.
Concept 02
Non-hierarchical interoperability
Devices work together without assuming a permanently dominating device; their roles can change.
Concept 03
Generative use
The paper’s proposed shift in emphasis: use can let a digital mesh emerge as life continues, beyond attaining a predefined goal.
Concept 04
Processual architecture
The design emphasis proposed in the paper: possible processes of living, rather than only the arrangement of an artifact’s components.
Concept 05
Processual biography
The historical events that initiate, sustain, and finish a particular digital mesh.
A connected research agenda
Develops the digital-mesh perspective using Ingold’s existing thesis of line, connecting generative use, processual architecture, and event-based study of processual biographies.
PDF pp.11–13; paper pp.10–12.
Design for changing roles
The design argument invites attention to the different processes a product can participate in as users’ lives unfold, rather than treating its initial purpose as complete.
Processual architecture discussion, PDF pp.11–12; paper pp.10–11.
Study use beyond the device boundary
The proposed processual biography directs attention to how connected devices become relevant together over time. This is a conceptual design implication, not a tested management intervention.
Research challenges and solutions, PDF pp.12–13; paper pp.11–12.
Why this matters
Questions for research and practice.
This perspective addresses increasingly connected products whose roles emerge through combinations in everyday life, extending analysis beyond the features of a standalone device.
Discuss this researchStudy context & evidence
Conceptual research paper and research agenda, illustrated with examples rather than tested through a new empirical study. Ingold’s thesis of line and existing process-analysis methods are foundations, not inventions of this paper.
Where to find these ideas in the paper
- Digital mesh frameworkPrinted pages 6–9
Changing meanings, device–infrastructure duality, and definition of digital mesh.
- Original research agendaPrinted pages 10–12
Use, design, and methodological proposals; research questions and limits.
This exploration is based on the author-supplied full text. It distinguishes the paper’s own contribution from established concepts it draws on. For formal citation, consult the publication.