Gavin J. Sade

Design Research: Methodological Innovation Through Messiness

The third wave of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) involves more ubiquitous and embedded forms of computing. Making these useful, usable and even delightful for people needs design research. The more technologies become enmeshed in our lives and the more dependent upon them we become, the more essential it is that they are simple for everyone to use and they do not let us down in those annoying ways we have become used to tolerating. Embedding computing into more and more of the objects and environments we interact with makes them less visible but more ubiquitous, making their usability essential but challenging at the same time. Design research is a mechanism which can help researchers, programmers and designers to understand how to create better twenty-first century computing systems and environments. This chapter discusses how design research can contribute to allowing third wave HCI to benefit the lives of all citizens rather than frustrate them.

Experimental Creative Practices

From the earliest human creative expressions there has been a relationship between art, technology and science. In Western history this relationship is often seen as drawing from the advances in both art and science that occurred during the Renaissance , and as captured in the polymath figure of da Vinci . The twentieth century development of computer technology, and the more recent emergence of creative practice-led research as a recognized methodology, has lead to a renewed appreciation of the relationship between art, science and technology.

Gestural, Emergent and Expressive: Three Research Themes for Haptic Interaction

Drawing on three case studies of work in the fields of participatory design, interaction design and electronic arts, we reflect on the implications of these studies for haptic interface research. We propose three themes: gestural; emergent; and expressive; as signposts for a program of research into haptic interaction that could point the way towards novel approaches to haptic interaction and move us from optic to haptic ways of seeing.

Charmed : From concept to reality*

This article provides an introduction to Charmed, a tangible interactive media artwork that explores aspects of daily life in urban environments. The article discusses the conceptual, aesthetic, and technical dimensions of the work, our creative intentions, and the production process. The design and development of Charmed posed many challenges, which will also be addressed in this article, before concluding with discussion and reflections that took place after the first exhibition of the work at Experimenta Playground: International Biennale of Media Arts, Melbourne, Australia in 2007.

senseMix: sharing creative mobile content

This poster presentation will report on research undertaken by a multidisciplinary team into the design and development of applications for creation and sharing of audio visual content on mobile phones. It outlines the conceptual basis and design process of the project, describing a number of the demonstration applications developed. It also reports on the use of augmented reality middleware to implement a gestural user interface to these demonstrator applications.