Yoko Akama

Being awake to Ma: designing in between-ness as a way of becoming with

Co-designing is an activity based on emergence where constituents are mutually changing towards purposeful outcomes. Here, I draw on the Japanese philosophy of Ma as ‘between-ness’ to explore how we are transforming and becoming together among this heterogeneity. Yet, if emergence of potentiality is hard to articulate, it is even harder to understand. As we design, we are embedded within and inscripted by conditions that we cannot quite touch or see visibly, yet manifests through its evolution. Awakening to this in-between presence is a necessary start because co-designing is performed and emerges from relational sensitivity. Here, I entangle Ma with actor-network theory (ANT) to orient our senses towards that which have yet assembled or actioned. Latour describes these as empty spaces of a network, void and ‘plasma’ that also has agency. If ANT primarily helps us see the flow of actions among being and non-beings, Ma as between-ness can re-situate us in emergence and contingency. Seen this way, co-designing can be ways to bring others along on this journey of uncertainty in a pursuit to create ‘empty’ in-betweens within and among ourselves as we mutually become together through inter-relatedness.

Role of social networks in community preparedness for bushfire

Purpose – This paper aims to present on-going research on the role of social networks in community preparedness for bushfire. Social networks are significant in helping communities cope in disasters. Studies of communities hit by a catastrophe such as landslides or heatwaves demonstrate that people with well-connected social networks are more likely to recover than others where their networks are obliterated or non-existent. The value of social networks is also evident in bushfire where information is passed between family, friends and neighbours. Social interactions are important in creating opportunities for residents to exchange information on shared risks and can lead them to take collective actions to address this risk. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents on-going research on social networks of residents living in fire-prone areas in Australia to investigate how knowledge related to bushfire might flow, either in preparation for, or during a hypothetical emergency. A closer examination ...

SHOW AND TELL: ACCESSING AND COMMUNICATING IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE THROUGH ARTEFACTS

This paper contributes to the current discourse on the role of artefacts in facilitating and triggering interaction among people. The discussion will focus on artefacts used as part of an interview method developed in order to discover knowledge that was observed but absent from both project reports and other documentation within multidisciplinary collaborative research projects, located within the field of Interaction Design. Using artefacts in an interview context enabled participants to reveal insights that were, in turn, participatory and human-centred. Thus the method was effective and appropriate in illuminating knowledge situated in interaction. This ethnomethodological tool enabled participants to reflexively externalize their understanding of the complex interactions that occur within projects, encouraging participation, interaction, visualization, reflection and communication through the use of tools aimed at capturing and illuminating the lived experiences of human engagement. These interviews were conducted with a selection of participants, chosen because they were researchers, working together within a cooperative research centre. Keywords: best practices, consultancy, critical systems, theory, user-centered design (UCD)

Design + Ethnography + Futures: Surrendering in Uncertainty

This paper aims to co-explore alternative ways that a designed product is not and could be, by committing to a future-oriented approach to research with users. We do not report results but share our process and reflections to discuss how a co-exploration with users underwent a transformative process of our researcher-selves to re-make what we know and more importantly, how we not-know.

A candor in reporting: designing dexterously for fire preparedness

This paper challenges the domination of repeatable methods in HCI discourse and, instead, offers a design case study that details ad-hoc, contextually-driven decisions as to how processes can unfold in a community-based project, taking on fire awareness in Australia. The paper draws out details which enable us to understand why and how methods were modified or abandoned to overcome obstacles, and what was made a priority in arriving at greater understanding of communicating risk. This reporting differs from an established research accounting, but offers complexity and richness in human-centered research as we seek to develop our epistemologies of design research practice.

A ‘Way of Being’ in Design: Zen and the Art of Being a Human-Centred Practitioner

ISSN: (Print) 1448-7136 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfdp20 A ‘Way of Being’ in Design: Zen and the Art of Being a Human-Centred Practitioner Yoko Akama To cite this article: Yoko Akama (2012) A ‘Way of Being’ in Design: Zen and the Art of Being a Human-Centred Practitioner, Design Philosophy Papers, 10:1, 63-80 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279312X13968781797634

'With great power comes great responsibility' when we co-create futures

ABSTRACT Design, marketing and consumption are forceful fields that are shaping people’s lives and futures. This power carries a responsibility for those implicated, to interrogate what social priorities are expressed and how cultural values are invisibly inscribed into their ways of making change. This commentary highlights some questions that troubles a design researcher.

Designing digital and creative scaffolds to strengthen Indigenous nations: being Wiradjuri by practising sovereignty

ABSTRACT The proliferation of digitally mediated DIY practices constitutes new modalities of political expression and participation, shaping how citizenship is enacted and performed. However, our paper begins by problematizing concepts of citizenship in media and communication contexts that only speaks to identity-formation. For Indigenous Australians, citizenship does not need to be asserted or constructed—they are sovereign and they have never ceded their land, rights or identity. Pursuing this argument, we share insights of various digital and creative scaffolds that are being designed with Wiradjuri people as continuous ‘infrastructuring’ to express and practice Wiradjuri sovereignty. This exploration is enabling a political identity to form and creating multiple places to be Wiradjuri together. We also discuss how designing digital and creative scaffolds can be considered as a meeting place of sovereigns, to attend to a consciousness that non-Indigenous people are also practising their own sovereignty in relation to respecting Indigenous sovereignty/ies.

Designing interactive secure system: chi 2013 special interest group

Despite a growing interest in the design and engineering of interactive secure systems, there is also a noticeable amount of fragmentation. This has led to a lack of awareness about what research is currently being carried out, and misunderstandings about how different fields can contribute to the design of usable and secure systems. By drawing interested members of the CHI community from design, user experience, engineering, and HCI Security, this SIG will take the first steps towards creating a research agenda for interactive secure system design. In the SIG, we will summarise recent initiatives to develop a research programme in interactive secure system design, network members of the CHI community with an interest in this research area, and initiate a roadmap towards addressing identified research challenges and building an interactive secure system design community.

Urban HCI: (Re)adapting the City Together

With growing urban populations, the World Health Organization has highlighted the importance of urban design for everyone. It is widely recognized that quality of life in the urban environment could be improved through participatory design that includes the active involvement of diverse citizens. Technologies can offer potential tools for such inclusive engagement, however, working together across disciplines and expertise presents key challenges. The design and infrastructure of cities is inherently complex and requires attention to inclusion, translation, sharing and communicating information in effective and constructive ways across diverse constituencies. This workshop intends to bring together a multi-disciplinary community of researchers and designers who are investigating theories, practices, methodologies and technologies of the city; how we live in and (re)adapt them to changing needs together with citizens. This includes technologies that support collecting data on, representing and sharing aspects of urban environments and experiences, architectural envisioning, grass-roots civic engagement, local government planning, activism and creative practice. Our aim is to map a multi-disciplinary agenda for the future of urban HCI.