ABSTRACT
Organizational routines which link the external workplace and home computing activities may also be established, for example so that files may be transferred and shared between work and home computers. When an employer-owned computer is readily available to be brought home, it may also come to be used there for personal activities, and this may sometimes involve other members of the household in addition to the one who has a work-related reason for using it. However, one common kind of computing activity which forms a large proportion of their use of the computer for some of the study participants is precisely that of a pastime which serves no overtly rational purpose. The Internet extends the functionality of the home computer beyond that of professionalizing household information management functions or support for work and education, into the realm of communications device and media receiver.
