DIY networking as a facilitator for interdisciplinary research on the hybrid city

DIY networking is a technology with special characteristics compared to the public Internet, which holds a unique potential for empowering citizens to shape their hybrid urban space toward conviviality and collective awareness. It can also play the role of a “boundary object” for facilitating interdisciplinary interactions and participatory processes between different actors: researchers, engineers, practitioners, artists, designers, local authorities, and activists. This position paper presents a social learning framework, the DIY networking paradigm, that we aim to put in the centre of the hybrid space design process. We first introduce our individual views on the role of design as discussed in the fields of engineering, urban planning, urban interaction design, design research, and community informatics. We then introduce a simple methodology for combining these diverse perspectives into a meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration, through a series of related events with different structure and framing. We conclude with a short summary of a selection of these events, which serves also as an introduction to the CONTACT workshop on facilitating information sharing between strangers, in the context of the Hybrid City III conference

Made-up rubbish: design fiction as a tool for participatory Internet of Things research.

As Internet of Things (IoT) technologies become embedded in public infrastructure, it is important that we consider how they may introduce new challenges in areas such as privacy and governance. Public technology implementations can be more democratically developed by facilitating citizen participation during the design process, but this can be challenging. This work demonstrates a novel method for participatory research considering the privacy implications of IoT deployments in public spaces, through the use of world building design fictions. Using three fictional contexts and their associated tangible design fiction objects, we report on findings to inform transparency and governance in public space IoT deployments

Adaptive architecture and personal data

Through sensors carried by people and sensors embedded in the environment, personal data is being processed to try to understand activity patterns and people’s internal states in the context of human-building interaction. This data is used to actuate adaptive buildings to make them more comfortable, convenient, and accessible or information rich. In a series of envisioning workshops, we queried the future relationships between people, personal data and the built environment, when there are no technical limits to the availability of personal data to buildings. Our analysis of created designs and user experience fictions allows us to contribute a systematic exposition of the emerging design space for adaptive architecture that draws on personal data. This is being situated within the context of the new European information privacy legislation, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016. Drawing on the tension space analysis method, we conclude with the illustration of the tensions in the temporal, spatial, and inhabitation-related relationships of personal data and adaptive buildings, re-usable for the navigation of the emerging, complex issues by future designers

Complex Pleasures: Designing Optional interactions for Public Spaces

This research aims to contribute to knowledge about the design of interactive systems sited in public spaces. In particular, the study concerns "optional interactions" where systems invite interaction from passers-by. These systems are action-orientated ratherthan goal-oriented, are designed to encourage engagement, and offer positive and rewarding experiences through the activity of interaction. This is in contrast to systems that provide functional services that are actively sought out by people, such as ticketvending machines or cash dispensers.This thesis asserts that this kind of optimal, designed experience can be examined and understood through comparisons with approaches taken by new-media artists working in interactive, technological media. Artists have different priorities, and use different methods to those employed by Human-Computer Interaction researchers, and this study aims to further understanding of the potential of these artistic approaches for interaction designers.The setting for these optional interaction systems is any public or semi-public environment, including museums, galleries, shopping centres, foyers and urban settings. As well as understanding the public and social context of these interactions, the experiential aspects of interaction are of primary importance in this study. The work is conducted with the aim of providing practical and theoretical resources to interaction designers tasked with creating engaging interactive systems that initiate and sustain experiences that are highly regarded by the participant. The thesis presents a designframework titled the Optional Interactions Design Framework

Data and the city – accessibility and openness. a cybersalon paper on open data

This paper showcases examples of bottom–up open data and smart city applications and identifies lessons for future such efforts. Examples include Changify, a neighbourhood-based platform for residents, businesses, and companies; Open Sensors, which provides APIs to help businesses, startups, and individuals develop applications for the Internet of Things; and Cybersalon’s Hackney Treasures. a location-based mobile app that uses Wikipedia entries geolocated in Hackney borough to map notable local residents. Other experiments with sensors and open data by Cybersalon members include Ilze Black and Nanda Khaorapapong's The Breather, a "breathing" balloon that uses high-end, sophisticated sensors to make air quality visible; and James Moulding's AirPublic, which measures pollution levels. Based on Cybersalon's experience to date, getting data to the people is difficult, circuitous, and slow, requiring an intricate process of leadership, public relations, and perseverance. Although there are myriad tools and initiatives, there is no one solution for the actual transfer of that data

Tangible possibilities—envisioning interactions in public space

This article explores approaches to envisionment in the field of interaction design. Design fictions are introduced as a method to articulate future possibilities. Three case studies are described which explore interaction in public space. The fictions create imaginative projections with the intention of generating reaction and responses in the public that will lead to a greater understanding of the physical and conceptual design space. The first case study explored how citizens could anonymously comment on their relationship with a city. The second study encouraged participants to reflect on their habits and rituals and to view these through fresh eyes. The final case study sought to surprise and engage gallery visitors through an interactive piece that raised issues concerning the surreptitious capture of data. The paper concludes by reflecting on the utility of design fictions and the role they can play in concept envisionment