Setting the stage – embodied and spatial dimensions in emerging programming practices.

In the design of interactive systems, developers sometimes need to engage in various ways of physical performance in order to communicate ideas and to test out properties of the system to be realised. External resources such as sketches, as well as bodily action, often play important parts in such processes, and several methods and tools that explicitly address such aspects of interaction design have recently been developed. This combined with the growing range of pervasive, ubiquitous, and tangible technologies add up to a complex web of physicality within the practice of designing interactive systems. We illustrate this dimension of systems development through three cases which in different ways address the design of systems where embodied performance is important. The first case shows how building a physical sport simulator emphasises a shift in activity between programming and debugging. The second case shows a build-once run-once scenario, where the fine-tuning and control of the run-time activity gets turned into an act of in situ performance by the programmers. The third example illustrates the explorative and experiential nature of programming and debugging systems for specialised and autonomous interaction devices. This multitude in approaches in existing programming settings reveals an expanded perspective of what practices of interaction design consist of, emphasising the interlinking between design, programming, and performance with the system that is being developed

Exploring Physicality in the Design Process

The design process used in the development of many products we use daily and the nature of the products themselves are becoming increasingly digital. Although our whole world is turning ever more digital, our bodies and minds are naturally conceived to interact with the physical. Very often, in the design of user-targeted information appliances, the physical and digital processes are formulated separately and usually, due to cost factors, they are only brought together for user testing at the end of the development process. This not only makes major design changes more difficult but it can also significantly affect the users’ level of acceptance of the product and their experience of use. It is therefore imperative that designers explore the relationship between the physical and the digital form early on in the development process, when one can rapidly work through different sets of ideas. The key to gaining crucial design information from products lies in the construction of meaningful prototypes. This paper specifically examines how physical materials are used during the early design stage and seeks to explore whether the inherent physical properties of these artefacts and the way that designers interpret and manipulate them have a significant impact on the design process. We present the findings of a case study based on information gathered during a design exercise. Detailed analysis of the recordings reveals far more subtle patterns of behaviour than expected. These include the ways in which groups move between abstract and concrete discussions, the way groups comply with or resist the materials they are given, and the complex interactions between the physicality of materials and the group dynamics. This understanding is contributing to ongoing research in the context of our wider agenda of explicating the fundamental role of physicality in the design of hybrid physical and digital artefacts. Keywords: Physicality; Digitality; Product Design; Design Process; Prototyping; Materials</p

Importance of a Creative Dance Program for the Quality of Life of Long Term Care Residents

The purpose of this thesis was to study the impact of a creative arts-based program on nursing home residents. This research study examined staff and caregiver descriptions of elder participant’s experience of a creative music and dance program called “Dancing Heart TM ” in two long term care facilities. The research questions of this study were (a) what is the meaning and experience of music and dance for the participants? (b) what is the perceived impact of the dance program on quality of life of the participants? and (c) what is the perceived impact of the dance program on the culture of the nursing home? Results indicate that participation in the sessions encouraged increased physicality, personal validation and reminiscence as well as a sense of “flow”. In response to the second research question, results suggest that music and dance positively impacted participants’ quality of life through the building of new memories, bonding, sharing of joint meaning and creative expression, experiences of fun and excitement, as well as feelings of sacredness and healing. The results for the perceived impact of a creative arts-program on the nursing home show a positive culture change through increased personal interactions between residents and staff and facility-wide interest in art-based programming

Applying Math onto Mechanism: Investigating the Relationship Between Mechanistic and Mathematical Understanding

Physical manipulatives are commonly used to improve mathematical understanding. However, it is unclear when physical manipulatives lead to significant benefits. We investigated whether understanding the mechanism of a manipulative would affect mathematical use and understanding. Participants were asked to navigate a physical robot through a maze, and to create a strategy that could navigate differently sized robots through the same maze. Participants with a better understanding of the robot’s mechanism were more likely to utilize complex mathematical strategies during the maze task than participants with lower mechanistic understanding. These participants with higher mechanistic understanding also showed greater understanding of the mathematical relationships within the robot. The study provides evidence for a relationship between mechanistic understanding and mathematical understanding, suggesting that mechanistic manipulatives, upon which mathematics can be applied, may be especially beneficial for fostering mathematical understanding

Smart materials based research for tangible user interfaces

This article proposes an overview on the evolution of interaction design concepts considering smart materials based research. A series of design projects and experimentations, realized within recent years, are here presented with a specific focus on materials performances. Going through design experimentation on chromogenic and kinetic smart materials, the article would try to define three emerging visions that prefigure the creation of physical object used as interactive interfaces with physical users and or responsive systems to environment conditions. Toward these new design visions disciplinary contributions hybridize with interdisciplinary ones: product design methods work together with interaction design in the Smart Material Interface scenario. The article investigates on these recent advancements and its correlation with human habitat

Timbre hybridization processes and strategies. A Portfolio of Compositions

This document describes the processes and development of my compositional work, particularly concerning the introduction of modifications of timbral qualities, including combinations, and hybridization procedures. It describes compositional ethodologies, developed within a technological environment, and the interrelation between theoretical thought and computational approach. The following chapters present time, frequency, and timbre as materials of investigation, analysis, and re-composition, through real time electroacoustic strategies and treatments. The preparation and design of specific software, through the utilization of programming language Max/MSP Jitter, will illustrate the computational approach to composing, its inner correspondence with the theoretical approach, and interconnections with preparation and performing activity. Procedures progressively applied to the portfolio of compositions are presented in the final chapters of the document. The portfolio consists of six works completed during the last six years, for instruments and real time electronic treatment, presented as a CD with the complete recordings of three compositions, four scores, and a DVD, containing video recording of two works. The last three compositions presented are also part of a cycle of works –still in progress- dedicated to the whole instrumental spectrum, in which the voice represents the physical-musical material of each work