THE CHALLENGES OF STUDYING FLOW WITHIN ACOMPUTER-MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT

摘要

Flow theory has been borrowed from psychology to address positive user experiences with personal computers,rnand more recently, the Internet. The flow experience has been correlated to increased exploratory behavior,rncommunication, learning, positive affect, and computer use. This paper reviews the flow studies withinrncomputer-mediated environments to gain a more coherent understanding. The authors identify ambiguities inrnthe conceptualization of flow, challenges in the operationalization of flow constructs, and difficulties in datarncollection.