Frode Guribye

From Artifacts to Infrastructures in Studies of Learning Practices

This article addresses how Leigh Star’s notion of infrastructure as ecological and relational to organized practices can inform studies of learning practices and help understand the role that networked technologies play in such practices. A discussion of the relation between the view of technologies as mediating artifacts and as infrastructures is presented. Star’s work on infrastructure is also discussed in the light of debates in information systems research and computer-supported cooperative work. The article presents an empirical study of workplace learning as an illustrative example of how this notion can be brought to bear upon analyses of learning practices.

The Organisation of Interaction in Distributed Collaborative Learning

Organising interaction in distributed collaborative learning can impose a severe workload on the collaborating actors. The organisation of interaction is so complex, that collaborative efforts are just as much about understanding conditions for collaboration and co-ordinating work, as it is a matter of collaboratively constructing knowledge. Understanding and identifying what is required to organise distributed collaboration processes, is thus a key issue when analysing distributed collaborative learning. This paper identifies interactional processes and efforts that are constituent parts of such activities.

Designing for Tangible Affective Interaction

In this paper, four interactional modes of pervasive affective sensing are identified: in situ intentional, retrospective, automatic, and reconstructive. These modes are used to discuss and highlight the challenges of designing pervasive affective sensing systems for mental health care applications. We also present the design of the Grasp platform, which consists of a hand-held, tangible stone-like object with accompanying peripherals. This device is equipped with a force sensor that registers squeezes, includes capabilities for wireless transmission of data, and comes with a crib for initiating the wireless connection and data transfer. In addition, the platform includes an app on a tablet that can render squeezes in real time or visualize the data from a given time period. In this paper, we focus mainly on the design of the tangible interaction and address the challenges of designing for in situ tangible affective interaction.

Designing data-driven interventions for mental health care

This paper introduces the design of an assistive technology in a training program for cognitive and emotional control for adults with ADHD. We further address how patient-generated data (PGD) can support the interaction between patients and clinicians in this training process, and potentially increase the effect of the treatment.

Tangible Interaction in the Dentist Office

This paper presents the design efforts involved in making a system for supporting haptic communication between dentist and patient during dental treatment. We describe Grasp Live, a haptic interaction technology consisting of a tangible stone-like object connected to a vibro-tactile feedback device.

Towards Technology-Based Interventions for Improving Emotional and Cognitive Control

In this paper, we address designing for the delivery of timely cues to initiate skill-building exercises for improving emotional and cognitive control. W focus on adults with ADHD, as they frequently experience difficulties related to such control. We describe the design and current user experience evaluation of TimeOut - a skill-building assistive technology to be used by adults with ADHD to improve long-term mastery of self-regulatory abilities. TimeOut, in its current iteration, consists of a wristband monitoring physiological signals, visualization of these signals, an algorithm to prompt interventions, and the delivery of a skill-building exercise on a mobile phone.

Learning through collaborative design of location-based games

This paper describes the design, deployment, analysis, and evaluation of a learning scenario focused on exploring the educational potential of location-based games. Through its design and rationale, the scenario serves as an illustration of how students can learn through the collaborative design and playing of location-based games. It involves an exploration of the pedagogical potential of students as game designers, through a study of students designing location-based games for peers in order to learn history. This shows the potential of using both authoring tools to have students engage creatively with subject matter and as a focal point of collaborative learning activity. As the topic of the scenario revolved around learning about history, we also found that the ways they relate to this topic when using location-based games offers a new way of integrating curricula in learning activities, and that it is key to think beyond a single subject and look at cross-curricular elements and goals in such scenarios. We offer a very detailed description and analysis of the practical accomplishment of the learning activities involved in the collaborative design of location-based games.

The Changing Ecology of Tools for Live News Reporting

Broadcast news channels provide fresh, continuously updated coverage of events, in sharp competition with other news channels in the same market. The live moment is a valuable feature, and broadcasters have always relied on teams that can react quickly to breaking news and report live from the scene. Technology plays an important role in the production of live news, and a number of tools are applied by skilled actors in what can be called an ecology of tools for live news reporting. This study explores new video tools for television news, and the tinkering conducted by the reporting teams to adapt to such tools. Six journalists and photographers at broadcaster TV 2 in Norway were interviewed about their everyday work practices out in the field, and we present the findings in an analysis where six aspects of contemporary live news reporting are explored: (1) from heavy to light equipment, (2) more live news at TV 2, (3) the practice of going live, (4) the mobility of live reporters, (5) tinkering to go live, and (6) quicker pace of production. In the concluding remarks we summarize our insights about live news reporting.