Disciplining the body? Reflections on the cross disciplinary import of ‘embodied meaning’ into interaction design

The aim of this paper is above all critically to examine and clarify some of the negative implications that the idea of ‘embodied meaning’ has for the emergent field of interaction design research. Originally, the term ‘embodied meaning’ has been brought into HCI research from phenomenology and cognitive semantics in order to better understand how user’s experience of new technological systems relies to an increasing extent on full-body interaction. Embodied approaches to technology design could thus be found in Winograd & Flores (1986), Dourish (2001), Lund (2003), Klemmer, Hartman & Takayama (2006), Hornecker & Buur (2006), Hurtienne & Israel (2007) among others. However, fertile as this cross-disciplinary import may be, design research can generally be criticised for being ‘undisciplined’, because of its tendency merely to take over reductionist ideas of embodied meaning from those neighbouring disciplines without questioning the inherent limitations it thereby subscribe to. In this paper I focus on this reductionism and what it means for interaction design research. I start out by introducing the field of interaction design and two central research questions that it raises. This will serve as a prerequisite for understanding the overall intention of bringing the notion of ‘embodied meaning’ from cognitive semantics into design research. Narrowing my account down to the concepts of ‘image schemas’ and their ‘metaphorical extension’, I then explain in more detail what is reductionistic about the notion of embodied meaning. Having done so, I shed light on the consequences this reductionism might have for design research by examining a recently developed framework for intuitive user interaction along with two case examples. In so doing I sketch an alternative view of embodied meaning for interaction design research. Keywords: Interaction Design, Embodied Meaning, Tangible User Interaction, Design Theory, Cognitive Semiotics</p

Consenting agents: semi-autonomous interactions for ubiquitous consent

Ubiquitous computing, given a regulatory environment that seems to favor consent as a way to empower citizens, introduces the possibility of users being asked to make consent decisions in numerous everyday scenarios such as entering a supermarket or walking down the street. In this note we outline a model of semi-autonomous consent (SAC), in which preference elicitation is decoupled from the act of consenting itself, and explain how this could protect desirable properties of informed consent without overwhelming users. We also suggest some challenges that must be overcome to make SAC a reality

Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development

This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear ‘upside down’, is discussed

Scaling Participation -- What Does the Concept of Managed Communities Offer for Participatory Design?

This paper investigates mechanisms for scaling participation in participatory design (PD). Specifically, the paper focuses on managed communities, one strategy of generification work. We first give a brief introduction on the issue of scaling in PD, followed by exploring the strategy of managed communities in PD. This exploration is underlined by an ongoing case study in the healthcare sector, and we propose solutions to observed challenges. The paper ends with a critical reflection on the possibilities managed communities offer for PD. Managed communities have much to offer beyond mere generification work for large-scale information systems, but we need to pay attention to core PD values that are in danger of being sidelined in the process

Diffusion of social cognitive theory in information systems research: A bibliometric study

Recently, Social Cognitive theory (SCT) has been widely adapted across various disciplines in business and management as well as Information Systems (IS) research. In IS, the use of SCT remains in its early stages. Few bibliometric analyses have been published on mapping theories across previous literature. However, to date factors related to literature review mapping in relation to SCT in IS have not been much examined. This paper aims to investigate the expliotiation of SCT in IS research based on bibliometric analysis. In this study a biblimetric analysis is conducted on previous literature reviews/abstracts based on Association of Business Schools (ABS) journal rankings from Information Management field perspective. 62 articles in Information Management field have utilised SCT were published in 17 (out of 53 journals) between 1995 and 2010. The study findings has identified that the organisation/firm and actors as a unit of analysis, positivist paradigm, empirical and quantitative research as well as survey method were used significantly in combination with SCT in IS studies. This bibliometric study will provide the needed platform for a better understanding of high quality research activities. Consequently, this can be used as an indicator to measure research quality and the impact of future direction and exploitation of SCT in IS research

Malicious User Experience Design Research for Cybersecurity

This paper explores the factors and theory behind the user-centered research that is necessary to create a successful game-like prototype, and user experience, for malicious users in a cybersecurity context. We explore what is known about successful addictive design in the fields of video games and gambling to understand the allure of breaking into a system, and the joy of thwarting the security to reach a goal or a reward of data. Based on the malicious user research, game user research, and using the GameFlow framework, we propose a novel malicious user experience design approac