In educational research it is important to explicate the relationship between digital technologies, their environments, and human behaviour (whether this be literacy practices, pedagogies, etc.). Since we are set to face an ever more digitised future with the growing popularisation of ebooks, augmented reality, game-based learning, and gesture-based computing (Johnson et al., 2011 – Horizon report), I think there’s a need to explore the purposeful connections between human agents and our technical artefacts. Sociomateriality, therefore, as a theoretical framework and lens, holds “equal and mutual emphasis of both social and material considerations” (Johri, 2011: p. 214).

http://leedstheorygroup.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/why-sociomateriality-in-education/