Exploring Qualitative Displays and Interfaces

Much of how we construct meaning in the real world is qualitative rather than quantitative. We think and act in response to, and in dialogue with, qualities of phenomena, and relationships between them. Yet, quantification has become a default mode for information display, and for interfaces supporting decision-making and behaviour change. There are more opportunities within HCI for qualitative displays and interfaces, for information presentation, and an aid to help people explore their own thinking and relationships with ideas. Here we attempt one dimension of a tentative classification to support projects exploring opportunities for qualitative displays within design

Drawing as a Facilitator of Critical Data Discourse: Reflecting on Problems with Digital Health Data Through Expressive Visualizations of the Unseen Body Landscape

In a 1.5-hour workshop, we used drawing and self-reflection prompts to facilitate a value-driven discussion of personal and institutional data practices. Activities included mark-making in time with one's heartbeat, creating an inventory of one's personal data, and creating a qualitative personal health visualization. This article details the workshop structure and exercises and includes a summary of the discussion, which constructively encompassed both the empowering and the uncomfortable aspects of digital health data collection in a constructive manner. The workshop's design used the format of hands-on, expressive drawing activities to enable participants to achieve depth and breadth in a relatively short discussion about personal health, data autonomy, institutional trust, and consent. Critical discourse about data, especially health data, is a valuable experience for every person whose health data has been or is being collected; and approaches that take personal data as a starting point can support the practice of digital/data sovereignty more broadly

Talking to computers

A popular belief amongst UX designers is that the more voice user interfaces (i.e. Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant) speak and behave like people, the more functional they will be. But, conversational mimicry is not the only way a screenless computer can communicate information. The scope of sounds humans can interpret, manipulate, and make is broad. This project seeks to identify ways designers can mine this domain for interaction cues that promote a deeper understanding of digital content and the systems that deliver it

Co-gnito: a Participatory Physicalization Game for Urban Mental Mapping

This study introduces Co-gnito, a participatory physicalization game that supports collaborative urban mental mapping through storytelling. Through Co-gnito we investigate gaming as a means to elicit subjective spatial experiences and to steer the synchronous construction of a physicalization that aligns and represents them. Co-gnito was evaluated during seven deployments by analyzing how 28 players mapped their spatial experiences of two university campuses. Our results indicate that storytelling as a gaming mechanic, guided and motivated the gradual addition of personal contributions towards a collective outcome, but its reward system did not nudge the mapping direction as expected. We also demonstrate how the shared construction process of a physicalization is influenced by how the data encoding scheme was negotiated, by the token physical affordances and by the game mechanics. We therefore believe that our core contributions, comprising of: 1) a working research prototype; 2) an augmentation of the physicalization pipeline towards collaborative settings; and 3) a set of reflective considerations, provide actionable knowledge on how to design participatory physicalizations in the future

Synaesthetic-Translation Tool: Synaesthesia as an Interactive Material for Ideation

While the subject of synaesthesia has inspired various practitioners and has been utilized as a design material in different formats, research has not so far presented a way to apply this captivating phenomenon as a source of design material in HCI. The purpose of this paper is to explore the translative property of synaesthesia and introduce a tangible way to use this intangible phenomenon as an interactive design material source in HCI and design. This paper shares a card-based tool that enables practitioners to use the translative property of synaesthesia for the sake of ideation. It further introduces a potential area of where this tool may be utilized for exploring user experiences. This work has implications for the CHI community as it attempts to share a practical way of using the intangible property of synaesthesia to explore potential user experiences

Ivy: Reading a critical design for sedentary behavior in the office context

In this paper, we present and discuss Ivy, a critical artifact offering a novel design perspective on interventions that aim to reduce sedentary behavior in office workers. Ivy is an interactive office chair that represents the amount of sitting time through growing ivy strands. Using the matrix of common argument types by Bardzell et al., we propose a structured "reading" of Ivy, as an example supporting reasoned and accessible conversations about criticality in design. Our reading of Ivy emphasized that its criticality emerges mainly from data physicalization as a new form of interactivity intended to trigger reflectiveness. The insights of this design study contribute towards a critical perspective on designing interventions to reduce sedentary time and spark discussion amongst designers and researchers in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. © 2020 Owner/Author

Martian delight: Exploring qualitative contact for decoupled communications

Exploring farther into our solar system for planetary exploration will require the human crews to reside in their space transfer habitats for a long period of time. These explorers will also face isolation, owing to the sheer physical distance from the Earth, which may eventually affect their health and well-being. Furthermore, looking at a trip to Mars, astronauts will have to wait for at least forty minutes to receive updated round communications from Earth, due to the time it takes for the signal to travel the separation distance at the speed of light. Thus, when it comes to longduration crewed space missions, communication and the feeling of connection with their loved ones—friends and family—on Earth is crucial for the astronauts’ well-being. In this context, exploring a new communication approach for long-duration spaceflight seems necessary for our missions to Mars. This paper attempts to introduce a new way of decoupled communication that enables astronauts to connect with their feelings towards their loved ones on Earth via embedded interactions, focusing on the idea of “qualitative contact”. The idea of qualitative contact was inspired by one of our previous studies on the concept of “qualitative interface” in relation to HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), then extended to our case study for human-object interactions. Much of how we construct meaning in the real world tends to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Yet quantification has become a default method for displaying, presenting and communicating information. In this paper, we explore beyond the idea of ordinary distance communication and information exchange during deep space exploration. We introduce how human explorers in a space transfer habitat can qualitatively contact their loved ones on Earth during their long-duration space missions. We discuss our design processes, which includes the study of human-centredness, communication barriers, the ideation process, and prototype development with a boundary-object based demonstration. We believe that our communication method or tool could stimulate ideas for space habitat designs beyond today’s technological solutions for long-duration and long-distance space missions. By advancing the astronauts’ physiological and psychological well-being, human explorers could venture to expand our civilization deeper into the solar system. What are the ways to make astronauts feel connected with their family and friends back on Earth during their long-duration space missions? Here we share the idea of qualitative contact through a device we call Martian Delight—a device intended to advance the astronauts’ well-being

Materialising data experience through textile thinking

In our digitally enabled lives, we are constantly entering into relationships and interacting with data. With little regard for their technical ability, consumers are obliged to accept and live with data experience. Digital literacy and information technology skills help to navigate these technologies, but little is known about the intimate practices of interacting with data from digital systems. The aim of this practice-based research is to identify how knowledge and experience of physical materials can offer novel processes and value to progress communications regarding digital use. This study draws on theory and practice from textile design and sets out to position textiles as a research discipline. Embodied methods are used to explore human relationships with textiles and materials to create physical representations which can be used to generate and share insights from people’s varied engagements with technology and data. Findings are presented which are valuable to the fields of both textile design and the field of data physicalisation. The methods employed engage the human body as a research tool using the senses to explore and create meaningful experiences with technology. Material handling, modelmaking, workshops and sensory ethnography, all captured on film, facilitate an embodied approach to explore the experience of data. Through this approach, alternative readings of everyday technology emerge. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is the paradigm of textile thinking as a research methodology. Textile thinking refers to the actions and mindset of textile designers. In this study the tacit knowledge employed by textile designers is presented as a challenge for reporting on design activity and is responded to through the use of embodied methods for engaging materials in research. Textile thinking approaches are embodied in practical experiments which invited people to express how they engage emotionally in relationships with technology and data. The field of textile design is interrogated to identify the unique characteristics of the discipline which are valuable research tools. Practical research shows that physical data representations enhanced through material choice can be used as opportunities for engagement to examine how people connect emotionally with information. The findings showed that this methodology increased the likelihood of sharing insights into the use of digital products and could be used to elicit emotional responses to technology and data experience. The types of responses included childhood memories, sensations, individual insights into the comfort of technology and engagement with information. This broader understanding shows how this approach can be used by designers, to stimulate an interest in using data and to improve engagement with the digital world through design. The outcomes offer new references and broader perspectives for textile design as a research discipline, supporting a paradigm shift to explore and accept new ways of approaching research and developing design theory