Playing with Perspectives and Unveiling the Autoethnographic Kaleidoscope in HCI – A Literature Review of Autoethnographies

Autoethnography is a valuable methodological approach bridging the gap between personal experiences and academic inquiry, enabling researchers to gain deep insights into various dimensions of technology use and design. While its adoption in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) continues to grow, a comprehensive investigation of its function and role within HCI research is still lacking. This paper examines the evolving landscape of autoethnographies within HCI over the past two decades through a systematic literature review. We identify prevalent themes, methodologies, and contributions emerging from autoethnographies by analysing a corpus of 31 HCI publications. Furthermore, we detail data collection techniques and analysis methods and describe reporting standards. Our literature review aims to inform future (HCI) researchers, practitioners, and designers. It encourages them to embrace autoethnography's rich opportunities by providing examples across domains (e.g., embodiment or health and wellbeing) to advance our understanding of the complex relationships between humans and technology.