Biointegrierte Materialien, Artefakte und Prozesse

Das Forschungsvorhaben "Biointegrierte Materialentwicklung" verfolgt die Entwicklung neuer funktionaler Materialien die beispielsweise in Städtebau, Architektur, Produktdesign und Agrikultur zur Anwendung kommen sollen. Durch die Kombination herkömmlicher Materialien und digitaler Konstruktions- und Bearbeitungsmethoden mit Organismen, organischen Prozessen und vor allem biologischem Wachstum sollen neue nachhaltige Materialien und Baustoffe, sowie andersartige Materialprozesse und alternative Formen der Poiesis untersucht werden. Sobald aber Werkstoffe nicht mehr nur als passive Einheiten betrachtet werden, die sich der technischen Konstruktion und der statischen Form unterordnen und in erster Linie durch Bearbeitungs- und Gebrauchseigenschaften bestimmt sind, sondern das eigendynamische zeitliche Verhalten organischer Systeme und natürlicher Wachstumsprozesse mit in den Fokus genommen werden, durchbrechen wir die gängige Dichotomie von Technik und Natur. Die Verbindung von Ingenieurprinzipien mit biologischen Prozessen und natürlichen Abläufen führt nicht nur zu andersartigen Entwurfsmethoden, Herstellungsverfahren und Produktlebenszyklen, sondern insgesamt zu einer Rehabilitation und Wiederinstandsetzung natürlicher Prozesse. Nicht mehr die analytische Beherrschung eines Gegenstandes oder die Erreichung detailliert geplanter Endzustände stehen im Zentrum, sondern die Konfiguration von Milieus und Potentialen, in denen sich natürliche Prozesse etablieren und in die wir gewünschte Funktionen einschreiben können, ohne das biologische Gleichgewicht zu zerstören

Data in the garden: a framework for exploring provocative prototypes as part of research in the wild

Research in the Wild (RITW) typically involves the deployment of technology in a setting, using the methodology of ‘probing’ contexts, to change behaviour or enhance community practice. This way of conducting HCI research is becoming an increasingly popular approach. To help in this endeavour, Rogers and Marshall [28] present an overarching framework that considers the different aspects involved. As part of the framework, they stress the importance of the design of the technology to be deployed. However, they do not detail how researchers should go about this. Here, we propose how to fill this gap: by providing a more explicit and principled rationale as part of RITW, presenting a method for accomplishing this, and reporting a case study about community gardening that uses a provocative prototype

Sociality and Skill Sharing in the Garden

Gardening is an activity that involves a number of dimensions of increasing interest to HCI and CSCW researchers, including recreation, sustainability, and engagement with nature. This paper considers the garden setting in order to understand the role that collaborative and social computing technologies might play for practitioners engaging in outdoor skilled activities. We conducted participant observations with nine experienced gardeners aged 22-71 years. Through this process, we find that gardeners continuously configure their environments to accommodate their preferences for sociality. They share embodied skills and help others attune to sensory information in person, but also influence learning through the features in their garden that are observed by others. This paper provides an understanding of sociality in the garden, highlights skill sharing as a key domain for design in this space, and contributes design considerations for collaborative technologies in outdoor settings.Comment: 13 page

A low-tech sensing system for particulate pollution

ABSTRACT We present an ultra low-cost sensing system, which enables participants to see and reflect on the particulates in their air. Drawing on prior work in paper computing, we introduce small sensors for particulate pollution that can be easily assembled from common paper materials for less than $1 USD, and mailed by regular postal service to residents of entire neighborhoods, cities, or geographic regions. Recipients collect particulate samples using these sensors and mail them back to a central location, where the particles are viewed and analyzed via a microscope. The data, which includes rich images of actual air pollution particles, can then be broadcast to larger audiences. This paper details the design of our system and its deployment with a local air quality activist community. We conclude by highlighting the tradeoffs between high-tech and low-tech sensing, and suggest opportunities for tangible interaction to support rich, new ways of seeing our environment

A Picture of Present Ubicomp Research Exploring Publications from Important Events in the Field

In this work we use a dataset of papers published in top conferences focused on ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) to provide an overview and analysis of recent ubiquitous computing research performed internationally and in Brazil. The contributions of this study are twofold. First, we extracted useful information from our dataset such as representativeness of authors and institutions, and the formation of communities. Second, we analyzed all papers published between 2010 and 2011 in all top international conferences, creating a taxonomy of recent ubicomp research performed internationally. Afterthat we mapped SBCUP papers (Brazilian ubicomp conference) according to this taxonomy, which enables the comparison of international and national research. This study is useful to guide novices in the field and it also provides experienced researchers with facts enabling the discussion of ubicomp research.Key words: Ubiquitous computing, scientific network, collaboration network, Pervasive, Percom, Ubicomp, SBCUP, taxonomy, characterization

Understanding and designing for trust in Bitcoin Blockchain

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that has created a new revolution in peer-to-peer technology. Built upon decentralised technology known as Blockchain, it supports transparent, fast, cost-effective and irreversible transactions, without the need for trusting the third-party financial institution. The privacy of Bitcoin users is protected, by the pseudoanonymous transaction. At present, Bitcoin holds the largest market share in cryptocurrency and the Blockchain technology had captured the interest of multi-corporations, such as Microsoft, Dell, and T-Mobile. However, Bitcoins have no legal tender in most and it is even worse with the illicit use by the irresponsible people and the cyber-attacks towards the application. Hence, these are the primary motivation of this Ph.D. work, to explore the trust between people and Bitcoin technology as well as identify the opportunities to design for the trust challenges. This thesis investigates the challenges and design works with 80 Bitcoin stakeholders such as users, miners, Blockchain experts and novices in six different but interrelated studies. The first and second studies report in-depth preliminary studies with 20 Bitcoin users and 20 miners to identify the trust challenges in people’s daily practices in using Bitcoin. Based on the findings, users’ risk related to dishonest partner in peer-to-peer Bitcoins transactions is the highlighted trust challenges to be addressed in this thesis. With a strong understanding of Bitcoin mining process, a physical Blockchain design kit, namely BlocKit was developed based on the embodied cognition theories and material centred design. This BlocKit was evaluated by 15 Bitcoin Blockchain’s experienced users and one of the important outcomes proposed the principles to design for trust application in peer-to-peer Bitcoins transactions. Later the algorithms of trust for Bitcoin application were developed based on the suggested principles and were validated by 10 Bitcoin Blockchain’s experienced users. Finally, based on the designed algorithms as well as a newly identified heuristic evaluation for trust, a mock-up prototype of Bitcoin wallet application namely, BitXFps was developed and the interface was evaluated for trust by 15 Bitcoin Blockchain’s experienced users

Nurturing Natural Sensors

Sensing has played a significant role in the evolution of ubiquitous computing systems, enabling many of today’s compelling interactive and ubiquitous experiences. In this paper, we argue for expanding the current landscape of sensing to include living organisms such as plants and animals, along with traditional tools and digital devices. We present a field study of ten individuals who routinely work with living organisms such as plants, fish, reptiles and bees, and rely on these organisms as well as analog instruments and digital sensors to infer environmental conditions and inform future actions. Our findings offer a new perspective on everyday biomarkers, and we use the lens of organic and non-digital sensing to reflect on current sensing paradigms in ubiquitous computing. We conclude with three opportunity areas to help frame future work in ubiquitous sensing: (1) incorporating traditional technologies and living systems into ubiquitous sensing applications, (2) developing information technologies that teach new ways of ‘seeing’, and (3) supporting richer forms of metadata to unite stakeholders through their actions, interests and concerns. Author Keywords Phenology, biomarkers, sensor