In proposing a transnational approach to Human-Computer Interaction, we draw upon recent scholarship in anthropology which examines the networks of goods and people, cross-cultural collaborations, the interplay between the global and the local, and political or socioeconomic relationships that move across national boundaries. Research on global IT largely focuses on macro-level changes like the formation of global markets, international organizations and trading agreements. In contrast, transnational studies highlight how a range of people, e.g. migrants, IT and knowledge workers and cosmopolitan jet-setters shape and are being influenced by these changes. These works point to ways in which borders are transgressed, but also how power relations lead to inequalities and frictions.

This understanding challenges research trajectories that assume a strong divide between global and local taxonomic models of cultural communication styles, or define cultural appropriation of technology in relation to geographically bounded spaces like the nation state. Recent work in HCI has followed suit, examining the connections between local technical practices and value systems developing generative models of cultural difference, and describing how national identity is enacted across multiple digital and geographical sites, and new forms of mobility. As such, this workshop extends and deepens an existing conversation within the CHI community.