þÿ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Research</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFF66"> <font color="grey" face="Arial">RESEARCH</font> <hr> <font color="grey" face="Arial" size="2"> <p>MATERIALITY MATTERS <p>Taking a step back from the inspirational bits approach (see below) there are many different types of materials used in the design of interactive systems: classical input and output devices, different types of hardware platforms (phones, tablets, interactive tables, etc.), various sensors and actuators, different frequencies of wireless communication protocols (IR, Bluetooth , radio, wifi), and physical materials that in different ways are used to control digital media and applications (textile, metal, wood, rubber, etc.). It is not realistic for individual designers to hold a deep understanding of how all these materials interact and can be assembled in a user- and experience-centered design. Instead, an active exploration is required on the level of materials in order to understand the actual design space that the task at hand may be restricted to. <p>Also, it is not uncommon that a deep knowledge of materials leads to creative solutions, inventions and innovations, which only later may demonstrate real applications and industrial value. This applies not only to the field of interaction design, but is also well known in science domains such as biology, medicine, and physics. Structured experiments on forefront of technological development, from a perspective of interaction design, is therefore of great importance to identify new opportunities for developments that could revolutionize the way we currently use technology. <p>Because of these two perspectives, we need to create a base for a new type of research in interaction design, which without moving away from more traditional design practices, aims to create a greater understanding of materials, their different compositions, and the digital design spaces that they create/open up for. <P>We see that we for this need to work on the following four strands: <ol> <li>Material explorations: What are the limits, possibilities, and properties of a specific material/composition/resource in terms of making interactive artifacts? What experiences can this material trigger? What potential applications do we see? <li>Methods for material explorations: How do we achieve understanding and knowledge of a new material/composition/resource's specific qualities and limitations? What methods and measurements are needed? <li>Methods for communicating material properties, limitations and possibilities: How can the material properties be communicated to and understood by various stakeholders? What forms of representation can be used to in a meaningful way share this knowledge? (demonstrators, video, diagrams) <li>Practical application of knowledge gained from material explorations: How may deep understandings of material properties, limitations and possibilities be used concretely as a resource in interaction design? How may material explorations spur and potentially direct, inspire, open up for new technologies and innovations? </ol> </P> <hr> <p>INSPIRATIONAL BITS <p>In any design process, a medium s properties need to be considered. This is nothing new in design. Still we find that in HCI and interactive systems design the properties of a technology are often glossed over. That is, technologies are black-boxed without much thought given to how their distinctive properties open up design possibilities. In this line of work we describe an approach using Inspirational Bits to become more familiar with our design material in HCI, the digital material, It is also a way to become better able to share some of this knowledge with all members of an multidisciplinary design team. Inspirational Bits are quick and dirty but fully working systems in both hardware and software with the single aim of exposing one or several of the dynamic properties of some of the digital materials. </p> <hr> <P>AFFECTIVE LOOP EXPERIENCES <p>There is a lack of attention to the emotional and the physical aspects of communication in how we up to now have been approaching communication between people in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). As designers of digital communication tools we need to consider altering the underlying model for communication that has been prevailing in HCI: the in-formation transfer model. Communication is about so much more than transferring information. It is about getting to know yourself, who you are and what part you play in the communication as it unfolds. It is also about the experience of a communication process, what it feels like, how that feeling changes, when it changes, why and perhaps by whom the process is initiated, altered, or disrupted. The idea of Affective Loop experiences in design aims to create new expressive and experiential media for whole users, embodied with the social and physical world they live in, and where communication not only is about getting the message across but also about living the experi-ence of communication - feeling it. <P>An Affective Loop experience is an emerging, in the moment, emotional experience where the inner emotional experience, the situation at hand and the social and physical context act together, to create for one complete embodied experience. The loop perspective comes from how this experience takes place in communication and how there is a rhythmic pattern in communication where those involved take turns in both expressing themselves and standing back interpreting the moment. <P>To allow for Affective Loop experiences with or through a computer system, the user needs to be allowed to express herself in rich personal ways involving our many ways of expressing and sensing emotions  muscles tensions, facial expressions and more. For the user to become further engaged in interaction, the computer system needs the capability to return relevant, either diminishing, enforcing or disruptive feedback to those emotions expressed by the user so that the she wants to continue express herself by either strengthening, changing or keeping her expression. <P>In this line of work me and my colleagues have designed the <a href="http://www.sics.se/~petra/eMoto/">eMoto</a> and <a href="http://friendsense.sics.se/">FriendSense</a> systems. </p> <hr> <P>See <A HREF="publications.html" target="display-frame">PUBLICATIONS</A> for more details. </body> </html>