Anna Vallgårda

Giving form to computational things: developing a practice of interaction design

The computer is no longer the center of attention. Thus, what we design is no longer the interface to the computer. Rather, what we design is a thing or an environment in which a computer might be used to create certain desired effects. Indeed, interaction design in a sense becomes the practice of giving form to artifacts or environments rather like any of the other design disciplines that we have know for centuries. However, giving form to computational things is highly complex and somewhat different than most other form-giving practices due to its temporal form element—its ability to change between states. Thus, an interaction design practice needs to encompass this temporal form giving in combination with physical form giving and performances of the interaction gestalt. In this paper, I propose this trinity of forms as a framework to unfold the practice of interaction design. I further demonstrate how computational composites present a way to work with the temporal form and the physical form in a process not too different from any traditional form-giving practice. Lastly, I point to some tools and techniques to deal with the interdependencies of the three form elements and thereby also demonstrate that a form-giving practice of interaction design is already well under way.

Materiality matters---experience materials

conceptualize the inseparability of digital materials, user experiences, and the social context. Aiming to address the current theoretical discourse in HCI focused on conceptualizing material integrations under the notion of materiality, we realized our panel session was quite timely. In browsing the technical program of last year’s CHI conference, we noticed that it contained at least three full papers on materials and materiality, one best paper, one alt.chi talk, two Doctoral Consortium papers, two posters, one interactivity presentation, one video presentation, and one complete paper session explicitly focused on materiality as a way to conceptualize these issues. We sought to contribute to this vibrant stream of research in our field.

Interaction Design as a Bricolage Practice

With this paper we propose bricolage as an interaction design practice. We make the case that bricolage promotes design qualities that are specifically tuned to tangible and material computing practices in that it is highly sensible towards the unstable physical world and proposes a non-hierarchical negotiation of forms. We further show how bricolage can aid design results with strong and rich cultural and material grounding. Finally, we argue how bricolage and mythical thinking can be proponents for new ways of thinking and using technology.

Embodied Design Ideation Methods: Analysing the Power of Estrangement

Embodied design ideation practices work with relationships between body, material and context to enliven design and research potential. Methods are often idiosyncratic and due to their physical nature not easily transferred. This presents challenges for designers wishing to develop and share techniques or contribute to research. We present a framework that enables designers to understand, describe and contextualise their embodied design ideation practices in ways that can be understood by peers, as well as those new to embodied ideation. Our framework developed over two conference workshops provides a frame for discussion of embodied design actions that leverage the power of estrangement. We apply our framework to eight embodied design ideation methods. Our contribution is thus twofold: (1) a framework to understand and leverage the power of estrangement in embodied design ideation, and (2) an inspirational catalogue demonstrating the diversity of ideas that embodied design ideation methods can foster.

PLANKS: a computational composite

What is a computer in interactive architecture and smart materials? How can we articulate the computer in order to be in sync with the design space it populates in these contexts? The design experiment presented here entails creating a physical manifestation of a computational composite--a concept used to articulate the computer as a material for design. The experiment is meant to explore part of the expressional landscape available through this material composite perspective. In the experiment, it is especially the computers ability to redefine established cause-and-effects between materials and their environments just as it is the computers ability to create a discrete dependence on contextual factors installing an explicit element of temporal form, which are explored.

A material focus: exploring properties of computational composites

In this paper we build on the notion of computational composites, which hold a material perspective on computational technology. We argue that a focus on the material aspects of the technology could be a fruitful approach to achieve new expressions and to gain a new view on the technologys role in design. We study two of the computers material properties: computed causality and connectability and through developing two computational composites that utilize these properties we begin to explore their potential expressions.

FeltRadio: Sensing and Making Sense of Wireless Traffic

Radio waves surround us but still they remain largely undetected by our senses. Unless we use specifically tuned hardware, such as FM radios, cell phones or WiFi modems, human beings cannot perceive wirelessly transmitted data. This paper presents FeltRadio, a portable and wireless technology that makes it possible to turn radio signals into visual and tactile stimuli as a form of sensorial augmentation. FeltRadio explores and makes us reflect upon what it would be like if we could sense, and feel, wireless traffic such as WiFi or Bluetooth. We present the technological design behind FeltRadio and the outcome of two exploratory studies with the technology focused on peoples experience of being able to suddenly sense and make sense of wireless traffic. We discuss the possible qualities of this embodied experience of FeltRadio and point to future experiments with the technology.

Ajna: negotiating forms in the making of a musical cabinet

Ajna is a musical cabinet made from a rich composition of acoustic materials and designed to perform digitally composed music. In this paper, we aim to unpack the design as well as key aspects of the design process that lead up to this unique artwork. We base our analysis on interviews with its two creators as well as on observations of Ajna performing in different contexts. From the perspective of interaction design, we first analyse the process of its making through the negotiations between physical form, temporal from, and the interactive gestalts. Lastly, we place these negotiations in a larger picture of bricolage as a design approach. Based on this we then discuss the qualities of bricolage in interaction design.

Material Programming: A New Interaction Design Practice

We propose the notion of material programming as a new practice for designing future interactive artifacts. Material programming would be a way for the interaction designer to better explore the dynamics of the materials at hand and through that familiarity be able to compose more sophisticated and complex temporal forms in their designs. As such it would blur the boundaries between programming and crafting these new smart and computational materials. We envision a material programming practice developed around physical tools (e.g. Fig 1) that draw on bodily skills and experiences (Fig 2) while enabling actions performed directly on the material with immediate effects (no program vs. execution mode). Finally, the tools would enable one layer of abstraction and as such encompass the potential of the computational materials but not that of possibly adjacent computers, which could run more complex algorithms.

Attending to Objects as Outcomes of Design Research

The goal for this workshop is to provide a venue at CHI for research through design practitioners to materially share their work with each other. Conversation will largely be centered upon a discussion of objects produced through a research through design process. Bringing together researchers as well as their physical work is a means of gaining insight into the practices and outcomes of research through design. If research through design is to continue to develop as a research practice for generating knowledge within HCI, this requires developing ways of attending to its made, material outcomes. The premise of this workshop is simple: We need additional spaces for interacting with and reflecting upon material design outcomes at CHI. The goal of this workshop is to experiment with such a space, and to initially do so without a strong theoretical or conceptual framing.