Symbiots: Conceptual interventions into energy systems

Symbiots set out to examine values such as ease-of-use, comfort, and rationality assumed within conventions of ‘good design’, in order to expose issues related to energy consumption and current human- (versus eco-) centered design paradigms. Exploring re-interpretations of graphical patterns, architectural configurations and electrical infrastructure typical in Swedish cities, Symbiots takes the form of a photo series in the genre of contemporary hyper-real art photography. Painting a vivid picture of alternatives to current local priorities around energy consumption, the three design concepts depicted are strangely familiar, alternatively humorous and sinister

Representing older people: towards meaningful images of the user in design scenarios

Designing for older people requires the consideration of a range of difficult and sometimes highly personal design problems. Issues such as fear, loneliness, dependency, and physical decline may be difficult to observe or discuss in interviews. Pastiche scenarios and pastiche personae are techniques that employ characters to create a space for the discussion of new technological developments and as a means to explore user experience. This paper argues that the use of such characters can help to overcome restrictive notions of older people by disrupting designers' prior assumptions. In this paper, we reflect on our experiences using pastiche techniques in two separate technology design projects that sought to address the needs of older people. In the first case pastiche scenarios were developed by the designers of the system and used as discussion documents with users. In the second case, pastiche personae were used by groups of users themselves to generate scenarios which were scribed for later use by the design team. We explore how the use of fictional characters and settings can generate new ideas and undermine rhetorical devices within scenarios that attempt to fit characters to the technology, rather than vice versa. To assist in future development of pastiche techniques in designing for older people, we provide an array of fictional older characters drawn from literary and popular culture.</p

Rapid game jams with fluidic games: A user study & design methodology

We introduce rapid game jams, a style of game jam that takes only 1–2 h and is focused on design experimentation rather than on programming and technical implementation. To support that kind of rapid game-design experimentation, we have designed a class of games that we call fluidic games. These are mobile games in which the game mechanics and other aspects of the games are editable on the fly, directly on the device, allowing for frequent play/design context shifts. We have conducted four rapid game jams with 105 participants from a local Girlguiding organisation, in order to gain real-world experience with this concept. We analyse results from a survey instrument completed by 69 participants in two of these rapid game jams. In order to guide future work in addressing questions left open by this study, we did a qualitative analysis of the designed games to gain additional insights into participants’ design practice

Speculative Sound Circuits

HAMU, Prague and Český RozhlasAlternative approaches to electronic music through speculative sound circuits are discussed. These approaches borrow from emerging theories in speculative design and the work of designer/theorist Anthony Dunne. Dunne’s post-optimal technological object is also discussed along with slow tech and the slow movement. George Brecht’s Water Yam and the absurdist creative strategies of the Fluxus movement are seen as prototypes for speculative design. With particular reference to electronic music and speculative sound circuits, the instruments of Percy Grainger and Gijs Gieskes are considered. Speculative sound circuits are viewed as part of a broader theoretical framework in relation to critical making, as referred to by Garnet Hertz, John Cage’s ‘music of objects’ and David Tudor’s ‘composing inside electronics’. Finally, a specific example of the author’s work as Dirty Electronics, Making for Radio and Speculative Circuit, are offered up to illustrate speculative sound circuits along with spontaneous and intuitive approaches to circuit building, rapid prototyping strategies, and making as a processual part of performance. Indeterminate and chance-based music, models for extended instrumental techniques, and questions arising concerning physiologies in performance and human-machine interaction are also reflected upon

A pragmatic approach to resolving technological unfairness: The case of Nike’s Vaporfly & Alphafly running footwear

Background Technology is often introduced into sport to facilitate it or to improve human performance within it. On occasion, some forms of novel technology require regulation or prevention entirely to ensure that a sport remains fair and accessible. Recently, the Nike Vaporfly and Alphafly shoes have received some concerns over their appropriateness for use in competitive distance running. Methods This paper evaluates the use of these shoes against an existing framework for sports technology discourse and adopts a pragmatic approach to attempt to resolve them. Results It is proposed that the three concerns regarding cost, access and coercion cannot be ruled out but likely remain short term issues. As a result, it is proposed that these running shoes are acceptable forms of technology but that ongoing vigilance will be required as such technologies develop further in the future. Conclusions The Nike Vaporfly/Alphafly shoes do push the perceived acceptability of running shoes to the limits of the current sports regulations. However, the alleged gains have not manifested themselves to a level that could be considered excessive when reviewing historical performances or when evaluated against a set of well-cited criteria. The sport will need to adopt a stance of ongoing vigilance as such technologies continue to develop or be optimised in the future

Tangled interaction: on the expressiveness of tangible user interfaces

This is an analysis and exploration of a basic aesthetic issue in interaction design: how an ambition to design strong and persistent relations between appearance and functionality, evident in approaches such as tangible user interfaces, in crucial ways in which conflicts with the ways miniaturization of technology have changed the relation between the object's surface and its internal complexity. To further investigate this issue, four conceptual design experiments are presented exploring the expressiveness and aesthetic potential of overloading the object's surface by adding several layers of interaction, thus creating a kind of tangled interaction