Janis K. Jefferies

Sustainable HCI for grassroots urban food-growing communities

Mainstream food growing practices around the world call in to question our future food security, and in particular the sustainability of food consumption in urban centres. At the same time there has been a dramatic recent increase in grassroots urban food-growing communities in the UK and beyond. This paper looks at how research in sustainable human-computer interaction (HCI) can support better social and environmental practices through a focus on urban food-growing communities. In this paper we respond to recent work within sustainable HCI. We report on a field study at an urban city farm in inner London which took a participatory research approach with staff and volunteers. We discuss the values, needs and practices of the farm community which have emerged from the fieldwork. We conclude with a discussion of the implications and opportunities for designing with computational technology to help inform the conceptualisation of sustainable HCI and to serve as a resource for designers engaging with urban food-growing communities.

The talking plants: an interactive system for grassroots urban food-growing communities

We describe The Talking Plants, an accessible, intuitive and enjoyable interactive system for learning about plants: how to care for and prepare them, their medicinal and health qualities, and their histories. It was developed at Spitalfields City Farm, a community farm in inner east London. Visitors can approach the plants and use a watering-can augmented with RFID technology to hear them talk. The plant voices come from staff and volunteers, reflecting the diversity of the farm. The Talking Plants was developed as part of a wider research project that looks at sustainable HCI within the context of grassroots urban food-growing communities.

UbiComp for grassroots urban food-growing communities

In this paper we argue that research into ubiquitous computing for sustainability must move its focus beyond designing for individual consumer behaviours. Urban grassroots food-growing communities offer opportunities to learn about the role of participation, community, citizenship and collective action, where sustainability encompasses environmental, social and economic factors. We report on fieldwork at an urban community farm in east London, and initial trial of the Talking Plants Sale prototype, to support the values of the farm.

Swarm tech-tiles tim

This paper describes an exploration of visual and sonic texture. These textures are linked by a swarm of “tech-tiles”, where each tech-tile is a rectangular element of an image or a sequence of audio samples. An entire image can be converted to a single tech-tile, which can be performed as a composition, or a swarm of small tiles can fly over the image, generating a sonic improvisation. In each case, spatial (visual) structure is mapped into temporal (sonic) structure. The construction of a tech-tile from an image file or a sound clip and the swarm/attractor dynamics is explained in some detail. A number of experiments report on the sonic textures derived from various images.

Narrating the Digital: The Evolving Memento Mori

This chapter builds on concepts of embodiment and considers our relationship to our bodies and environment(s) through the construct of ‘posthumanism.’ By commenting on the relationship between death and the body we consider how our digital remains, both literal and affectual, may take the role of legacy continuing on and engaging, in some essence, with the living. This will include a central discussion on how concepts of Cartesian Dualism and Transhumanism have led to a futile search for immortality, as developed by modern understandings of the writings of Rene Descartes. This idea of aiming for literal immortality verses engaging with questions of mortality and trying to understand the relevance of what is left behind to our lives is developed through a discussion of two artists approach to technically informed body modification and how this ‘development’ of the bodies both dead and alive further informs the topic of Posthumanism. This leads on to the consideration of Tony Walters (1996) work on a New Model of Grief within which he discusses the importance within the bereavement process of constructing a durable biography. This idea has been developed through the psychological concept of continuing bonds, a topic that has been vastly altered by the new digital landscape becoming the norm rather than the exception. This chapter also seeks to reflect on how theories becoming prevalent within the Death Studies arena may provide a new framework for the developing field of End of Life research within Human Computer Interaction.

Katie Mitchell: intimate technologies in multimedia performance

Many critics have had an extreme reaction to Katie Mitchell, finding the slicing and reassessment of classic texts and the use of technology (for example, in Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, in … some trace of her based on Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, or in Crimp’s Attempts on her Life) troubling (de Jongh, 2008; Spencer, 2007; Tripney, 2008). We believe, however, that Mitchell’s use of technology, notably but not exclusively, in The Waves and … some trace of her, shows that she is one of the few directors in mainstream British theatre who understands how to creatively use available technology. It is often suggested that Mitchell’s interventions into British theatre-making, stage conventions and performance practices are heretical, the use of live filming and screen projection a mere distraction from the privilege of the written word (Bassett, 2008; Cavendish, 2008). Nevertheless, we will argue that Mitchell finds ways of operating in the ‘spaces between live action and close-up’, so that we do not only see ‘what is being created but how it is created’ (Mitchell, 2008b).1

Computational and spatially-organised narrativity

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Collaboration: a personal report

The paper presents a personal report on an art technology collaboration

Introduction: Back to the Future

Abstract At the Textile Society of America Biennial Symposium 2014 symposium, New Directions: Examining the Past, Creating the Future, I chaired a panel called “3C. Tech, Text, & Textiles.” Out of the papers and panelists present, two were invited to contribute to a special issue convened by Annin Barrett, Jeppe Emil Mogensen: Textiles and Space: The Experience of Textile Qualities in Hospital Interior Design, and Sandra Alfoldy: Cyber Comfort: Textiles as Markers of Care in Video Games. The authors have been joined by two further commissioned articles, Tincuta Heinzel: Reactive Architecture, Augmented Textiles, Domotics and Soft Architecture Fabrication: On Electronic and Reactive Textiles in Domestic Contexts, and Sarah E. Braddock Clarke: Outfitting Textiles, Fashion + Architecture: the Convergence + Interplay of Construction + Engineering for the Human Form.

Lived Lives: A Pavee Perspective. An arts-science community intervention around suicide in an indigenous ethnic minority.

Background: Suicide is a significant public health concern, which impacts on health outcomes. Few suicide research studies have been interdisciplinary. We combined a psychobiographical autopsy with a visual arts autopsy, in which families donated stories, images and objects associated with the lived life of a loved one lost to suicide. From this interdisciplinary research platform, a mediated exhibition was created ( Lived Lives) with artist, scientist and families, co-curated by communities, facilitating dialogue, response and public action around suicide prevention. Indigenous ethnic minorities (IEMs) bear a significant increased risk for suicide. Irish Travellers are an IEM with social and cultural parallels with IEMs internationally, experiencing racism, discrimination, and poor health outcomes including elevated suicide rates (SMR 6.6). Methods: An adjusted Lived Lives exhibition, Lived Lives: A Pavee Perspective manifested in Pavee Point, the national Traveller and Roma Centre. The project was evaluated by the Travelling Community as to how it related to suicide in their community, how it has shaped their understanding of suicide and its impacts, and its relevance to other socio-cultural contexts, nationally and internationally. The project also obtained feedback from all relevant stakeholders. Evaluation was carried out by an international visual arts research advisor and an independent observer from the field of suicide research. Results: Outputs included an arts-science mediated exhibition with reference to elevated Irish Traveller suicide rates. Digital online learning materials about suicide and its aftermath among Irish Travellers were also produced. The project reached its target audience, with a high level of engagement from members of the Travelling Community. Discussion: The Lived Lives methodology navigated the societal barriers of stigma and silence to foster communication and engagement, working with cultural values, consistent with an adapted intervention. Feedback from this project can inform awareness, health promotion, education and interventions around suicide and its aftermath in IEMs.