This paper reports on a design experiment in an art gallery, where we
explored visitor practices of commenting on art, and how they were shaped in
interaction with a newly designed collocated, collaborative writing technology.
In particular we investigate what potentials previous practices carry with them
that may affect early use and further development of use. We base our analyses
on interviews in the art gallery and on socio-cultural theories of artefactmediated
learning and collaboration. The analyses help identify three forms of
collaborative writing, which are placed in the space between future use possibilities
and initial familiarity based on everyday practices. These forms met and at
times collided in a space where the actual use was shaped. We furthermore look
back on initial assumptions made in design regarding a productive collaborative
writing style, and confront these with the three above forms of practice. The initial
familiarity leads to two different early practices that get in the way of each
other, and the collaborative writing idea. They point instead towards a discursive
sharing of individual feelings, a different kind of past experiences than anticipated
in design.