Longing to be the Mountain : A Scoping Review about Nature-Centric, Health-Minded Technologies

Engaging with nature enriches people's life greatly, and it is a particularly powerful wellbeing activity. Unsurprisingly, researchers in HCI and beyond seek to augment and extend the relationship people have with nature through technology, to positively enhance their health as a result. In this paper, we report on a scoping review that examines research exploring health, nature, and technology research. By charting 29 papers from the last five years, we produce a situated snapshot of the current research landscape and identify three trends within the paper pool: Despite the potential for rich, experiential engagements, human-nature interaction is often understood as an endeavour that is 1) universal, 2) flattened and 3) disconnected from everyday life. We reflect on our findings to outline design opportunities for human-nature interaction that extend and re-orientate it; to design for multi-dimensional caring experiences that allow for a more-than-just-human understanding of nature.Peer reviewe

Towards Designing Playful Bodily Extensions : Learning from Expert Interviews

Interactive technologies offer novel opportunities for physically extending our bodies, with the most prominent examples being prosthetics along with systems emerging from the wearables community. However, most such systems appear to focus on instrumental benefits, missing out on the opportunity to use bodily extensions for play and its associated benefits (including a lower adoption barrier and the potential to reveal a broader understanding of such technologies). To begin understanding the design of playful bodily extensions, we interviewed five designers of bodily extensions that have been showcased in prestigious academic venues or turned into commercial products. Here we present themes and actionable advice from these interviews for the design of playful bodily extensions through a thematic analysis. Our work aims to support the design of future playful bodily extensions while promoting the experiential qualities of bodily extension design, with the ultimate goal of bringing more playful experiences to people's lives.Peer reviewe

ClothFace : A Passive RFID-Based Human-Technology Interface on a Shirtsleeve

This paper introduces ClothFace, a shirtsleeve-integrated human-technology interface platform, which comprises two wrist antennas and three radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuits (ICs), each with a unique ID. The platform prototype, which is created on a shirtsleeve by cutting the antennas and antenna-IC interconnections from copper tape, can be used for push button and swipe controlling. Each IC can be activated, i.e., electrically connected to the two antennas, by touching the IC. These ICs can act as wireless input buttons to the technology around us. Due to the used passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology, there is no need for clothing-integrated energy sources, but the interface platform gets all the needed energy from an external RFID reader. The platform prototype was found to be readable with an external RFID reader from all directions at distances of 70-80 cm. Further, seven people giving altogether 1400 inputs tested the prototype sleeves on a table and on body. In these first tests, 96-100% (table) and 92-100% (on-body) success rates were achieved in a gamelike testing setup. Further, the platform was proved to be readable with an off-the-shelf handheld RFID reader from a distance of 40 cm. Based on these initial results, this implementation holds the potential to be used as a touch interface blended into daily clothing, as well as a modular touch-based interaction platform that can be integrated into the surfaces of electronic devices, such as home appliances.publishedVersionPeer reviewe