Triadic exchange as design practice

Contemporary “dyadic” perspectives on symbolic and material exchange emphasize reception or consumption in place of longstanding concentration on transmission or production. Analysis of the dyadic model reveals its limitations and suggests a triadic approach to specify how the resource environment—the integrative “field”—of exchange provides material‐symbolic support for creative action. The historical example of the Hawthorne Studies, in organizational communication, and the contemporary effort of hardware and software designers to derive user‐based approaches to computer‐mediated communication illustrate how (a) consumption‐production; (b) textual; and (c) ritual models can usefully inform (d) a participatory design approach that expands comprehension of the dynamics of triadic exchange.