Cocreation In Context: An Evaluation of Participatory Technology Design for Enhancing Community Engagement with Public Spaces

The integration of interactive public displays into urban regeneration is a dynamic research area, extending beyond traditional screens to offer accessible, alternative interactions in outdoor settings. These displays not only provide users with a wealth of information but also provide in depth emotionally charged interactions, evoking nostalgia and re-engaging people with a space.In the ever-evolving urban landscape, this thesis addresses the challenges posed by adapting spaces and the effect this can have on the way people engage with these spaces, highlighting a need for innovative interventions to help communities to remain engaged with their local spaces. This work centres on integrating interactive public displays into urban environments, with a primary focus on evoking nostalgia (an affectionate feeling for the past [54]) and topophilia (emotional connections to a space [271]). This thesis embarks on a journey, engaging a diverse range of users, including designers, children, regeneration experts, and community members. It commences with a nine-month deployment of a tangible embedded interface into a dynamic urban context, receiving over 10,000 session interactions. This real-world experience shows the importance of incorporating aspects of cultural heritage and immersive content into informative designs. Subsequently, the journey explores uncharted territories, navigating the landscape of cocreation methods and collaborative efforts, culminating in the development of a multisensory installation, that integrates olfactory, auditory, and visual elements. This exploration delves into the intricacies of community engagement, technology integration, nostalgia, and the dynamics of urban regeneration. As these chapters unfold, valuablelessons are drawn from field experiences, guiding a reflective journey through the design process with an aim to advance interactive public display creation by addressing gaps in design tools and methodologies. Resulting in feature requirements for an overarching master design suite, this contribution advances the field of HCI within urban regeneration. It brings together valuable lessons learned and recommendations for integrating novel multimodal installations of the future, while also addressing the need for adaptable tools to facilitate their design. This holistic approach underscores the transformative potential of technology in shaping urban environments and community engagement

#MDXPD Product Design 2019

A review of Middlesex Product Design staff, student and professional collaborator publications, research, awards and project work for 2019

Virtual reality for safe testing and development in collaborative robotics: challenges and perspectives

Collaborative robots (cobots) could help humans in tasks that are mundane, dangerous or where direct human contact carries risk. Yet, the collaboration between humans and robots is severely limited by the aspects of the safety and comfort of human operators. In this paper, we outline the use of extended reality (XR) as a way to test and develop collaboration with robots. We focus on virtual reality (VR) in simulating collaboration scenarios and the use of cobot digital twins. This is specifically useful in situations that are difficult or even impossible to safely test in real life, such as dangerous scenarios. We describe using XR simulations as a means to evaluate collaboration with robots without putting humans at harm. We show how an XR setting enables combining human behavioral data, subjective self-reports, and biosignals signifying human comfort, stress and cognitive load during collaboration. Several works demonstrate XR can be used to train human operators and provide them with augmented reality (AR) interfaces to enhance their performance with robots. We also provide a first attempt at what could become the basis for a human–robot collaboration testing framework, specifically for designing and testing factors affecting human–robot collaboration. The use of XR has the potential to change the way we design and test cobots, and train cobot operators, in a range of applications: from industry, through healthcare, to space operations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improved user experience with realistic virtual environments and environmental states

Abstract. Virtual reality has been a topic of keen research for last three decades. Recent advances on display technology and wireless network systems combined with easily maintainable and expandable social networks allow more pervasive experiences and better collaboration than ever before. Still the virtual reality remains as rarely used resource and a niche form of entertainment. Virtual Reality is still far from its Science Fiction epitome. Sci-fi presents virtual reality as a ubiquitous technology that generally provides an immersive experience that transforms the concept of communication and collaboration by taking the user into completely another reality. Thanks to leaps in technology, users can experience previously unseen levels of resolution with minimal network lag on consumer priced products. Despite of this VR technology has not caught on. From users’ perspective, this is affected by user experience. This thesis sets out to discover use cases for realistic virtual environments and states and issues in user experience affecting adoption. It will also take a look on different hindrances and difficulties concerning the mass adaption of virtual reality tools and applications.Realististen virtuaaliympäristöjen ja tilojen käyttö käyttäjäkokemuksen parantamiseen. Tiivistelmä. Virtuaalitodellisuutta on tutkittu vilkkaasti 80-luvulta saakka. Näyttöteknologian ja langattomien verkkojärjestelmien viimeaikainen kehitys yhdessä helposti ylläpidettävien ja laajennettavien sosiaalisten verkostojen kanssa mahdollistavat aiempaa kokonaisvaltaisempia kokemuksia ja yhteistyömahdollisuuksia. Tästä huolimatta virtuaalitodellisuus pysyy edelleen harvoin käytettynä resurssina ja viihteen erikoismuotona. Virtuaalitodellisuus on edelleen kaukana sci-fi visualistien haaveesta: kaikkialla läsnäolevana, ubiikkina teknologiana, joka tarjoaa mukaansatempaavia ja ainutlaatuisia kokemuksia, sekä muuttaa käsitystämme sosiaalisesta kanssakäynnistä. Uusimmat teknologiat tarjoavat käyttäjälle ennennäkemättömän korkearesoluutioista kuvaa ja minimaalista verkkoviivettä kuluttajahintaisilla laitteilla. Tästäkään huolimatta suuri yleisö ei ole lämminnyt VR-teknologialle. Käyttäjän näkökulmasta tähän vaikuttaa suuresti käyttökokemus. Tämä tutkimus käsittelee realististen virtuaaliympäristöjen ja -tilojen vaikutusta käyttäjäkokemukseen, sekä ottaa kantaa erilaisiin esteisiin ja hankaluuksiin virtuaaliteknologian leviämisessä suuren yleisön suosioon

Measuring and understanding photo sharing experiences in social virtual reality

Millions of photos are shared online daily, but the richness of interaction compared with face-to-face (F2F) sharing is still missing. While this may change with social Virtual Reality (socialVR), we still lack tools to measure such immersive and interactive experiences. In this paper, we investigate photo sharing experiences in immersive environments, focusing on socialVR. Running context mapping (N=10), an expert creative session (N=6), and an online experience clustering questionnaire (N=20), we develop and statistically evaluate a questionnaire to measure photo sharing experiences. We then ran a controlled, within-subject study (N=26 pairs) to compare photo sharing under F2F, Skype, and Facebook Spaces. Using interviews, audio analysis, and our questionnaire, we found that socialVR can closely approximate F2F sharing. We contribute empirical findings on the immersiveness differences between digital communication media, and propose a socialVR questionnaire that can in the future generalize beyond photo sharing

Emerging technology and pedagogical application in Design Education

This research paper investigates the emerging technologies and pedagogical applications in design education. The rapid development of technology has opened up new possibilities for design education, and it is important to explore how these emerging technologies can be used to enhance pedagogical practices. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential of emerging technologies in design education and their impact on pedagogical practices. The study employs a qualitative research methodology and draws on a range of literature sources, including academic articles, books, and reports. The research explores the use of emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and gamification in design education. It examines how these technologies can be used to enhance creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking skills among design students. Furthermore, the paper discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with the integration of these technologies into design pedagogy. The findings suggest that emerging technologies have the potential to transform design education and improve pedagogical practices. The use of virtual reality, for example, can provide students with an immersive learning experience and enhance their understanding of complex design concepts. Gamification can be used to motivate students and promote collaboration among them. Augmented reality can be used to enhance the learning experience by overlaying digital information on physical objects