Reflections Towards More Thoughtful Engagement with Literature Reviews in HCI

Literature reviews (or "lit reviews" for short) have become a popular way of knowing in HCI, yet there has been little reflection as to what we want from these reviews and how they can benefit the HCI design research community. Pushes toward more rigor and adopting standards within lit reviews often seem inappropriate and at odds with ways of knowing within the design research community. In this paper, we present critiques and associated risks of these viewpoints, and reflections towards a more thoughtful engagement with literature reviews in HCI design research. We open a discussion of how literature reviews currently inform research, and how we think they could better do so in the future.