Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology

Digital media cultural practices continue to address the social, cultural and aesthetic contexts of the global information economy, perhaps better called ecology, by inventing new methods and genres that encourage interactive engagement, collaboration, exploration and learning. The theoretical framework for creative critical technology evolved from the confluence of the arts, human computer interaction, and critical theories of technology. Molding this nascent theoretical framework from these seemingly disparate disciplines was a reflexive process where the influence of each component on each other spiraled into the theory and practice as illustrated through the Constructed Narratives project. Research that evolves from an arts perspective encourages experimental processes of making as a method for defining research principles. The traditional reductionist approach to research requires that all confounding variables are eliminated or silenced using methods of statistics. However, that noise in the data, those confounding variables provide the rich context, media, and processes by which creative practices thrive. As research in the arts gains recognition for its contributions of new knowledge, the traditional reductive practice in search of general principles will be respectfully joined by methodologies for defining living principles that celebrate and build from the confounding variables, the data noise. The movement to develop research methodologies from the noisy edges of human interaction have been explored in the research and practices of ludic design and ambiguity (Gaver, 2003); affective gap (Sengers et al., 2005b; 2006); embodied interaction (Dourish, 2001); the felt life (McCarthy & Wright, 2004); and reflective HCI (Dourish, et al., 2004). The theory of critical creative technology examines the relationships between critical theories of technology, society and aesthetics, information technologies and contemporary practices in interaction design and creative digital media. The theory of critical creative technology is aligned with theories and practices in social navigation (Dourish, 1999) and community-based interactive systems (Stathis, 1999) in the development of smart appliances and network systems that support people in engaging in social activities, promoting communication and enhancing the potential for learning in a community-based environment. The theory of critical creative technology amends these community-based and collaborative design theories by emphasizing methods to facilitate face-to-face dialogical interaction when the exchange of ideas, observations, dreams, concerns, and celebrations may be silenced by societal norms about how to engage others in public spaces. The Constructed Narratives project is an experiment in the design of a critical creative technology that emphasizes the collaborative construction of new knowledge about one's lived world through computer-supported collaborative play (CSCP). To construct is to creatively invent one's world by engaging in creative decision-making, problem solving and acts of negotiation. The metaphor of construction is used to demonstrate how a simple artefact - a building block - can provide an interactive platform to support discourse between collaborating participants. The technical goal for this project was the development of a software and hardware platform for the design of critical creative technology applications that can process a dynamic flow of logistical and profile data from multiple users to be used in applications that facilitate dialogue between people in a real-time playful interactive experience

Natural language semantics and compiler technology

This paper recommends an approach to the implementation of semantic representation languages (SRLs) which exploits a parallelism between SRLs and programming languages (PLs). The design requirements of SRLs for natural language are similar to those of PLs in their goals. First, in both cases we seek modules in which both the surface representation (print form) and the underlying data structures are important. This requirement highlights the need for general tools allowing the printing and reading of expressions (data structures). Second, these modules need to cooperate with foreign modules, so that the importance of interface technology (compilation) is paramount; and third, both compilers and semantic modules need "inferential" facilities for transforming (simplifying) complex expressions in order to ease subsequent processing. But the most important parallel is the need in both fields for tools which are useful in combination with a variety of concrete languages -- general purpose parsers, printers, simplifiers (transformation facilities) and compilers. This arises in PL technology from (among other things) the need for experimentation in language design, which is again parallel to the case of SRLs. Using a compiler-based approach, we have implemented NLL, a public domain software package for computational natural language semantics. Several interfaces exist both for grammar modules and for applications, using a variety of interface technologies, including especially compilation. We review here a variety of NLL, applications, focusing on COSMA, an NL interface to a distributed appointment manager

Integrating Human Factors with Structured Analysis and Design Methods

Current human factors input to system development is effected through methods, tools and guidelines. Although the input prompts the consideration of human factors concerns during system design, reports have highlighted inadequacies with respect to the scope, granularity, format and timing of the contributions, e.g. Smith, 1986; Chapanis and Burdurka, 1990; Sutcliffe, 1989; etc. The thesis argues that such problems are obviated if design needs of both Software Engineering and Human Factors are appropriately represented within an overall system design cycle. Intersecting concerns may then be identified for explicit accommodation by the design agenda. To derive an overall design cycle, current conceptions for the individual disciplines should be examined. Since these conceptions are expressed at a lower level as methods, an overall design cycle may be instantiated more specifically by integrating compatible methods from the two disciplines. Methodological integration is desirable as design inter-dependencies and roles may be defined explicitly. More effective inter-disciplinary communication may also accrue from the use of a common set of notations. Methodological integration is facilitated if the design scope, process and notation of individual methods are well defined. Such characteristics are found in a class of Software Engineering methods commonly referred to as structured analysis and design methods. Unfortunately, the same are not currently to be found for human factors since its methods are generally unstructured and focus only on later design stages. 1 Thus, a pre-requisite for integration is the derivation of a reasonably complete and structured human factors method. Since well developed Software Engineering methods already exist, it would be appropriate (for the purposes of methodological integration) to structure human factors methods around specific structured analysis and design methods. The undertaking is exemplified by the present research for the Jackson System Development method. In other words, the scope of the thesis comprises the derivation, test and integration of a structured human factors method with the Jackson System Development method. In conclusion, the research contributes to the Human Factors discipline in two respects. Firstly, it informs the research community on how similar work with other structured analysis and design methods may be set up. Secondly, it offers designers an extended Jackson System Development method that facilitates the incorporation of human factors during system development