Designing Group Music Improvisation Systems:A Decade of Design Research in Education

In this article we discuss Designing Group Music Improvisation Systems (DGMIS), a design education activity that investigates the contemporary challenge design is facing when we go beyond single-user single-artefact interactions. DGMIS examines how to design for systems of interdependent artefacts and human actors, from the perspective of improvised music. We have explored this challenge in design research and education for over a decade in different Industrial Design education contexts, at various geographic locations, in several formats. In this article we describe our experiences and discuss our general observations, corrective measures, and lessons we learned for (teaching) the design of novel, interactive, systemic products

Designing research prototype for the elderly: a case study

This paper describes a research study regarding intergenerational story sharing of the elderly living in the nursing home, including four iterations, applyinga Research-through-Design approach. It started from an exploration prototype named Interactive Gallery(1st iteration), and its findings helped to narrow down our research area and define our research question.To answer it, the prototype named Slots-story (2nd iteration) and Slots-memento (3rd iteration) were designed and implemented, which focused on life story and memento story of the elderly respectively. While the 4th iteration aimed at facilitating intergenerational story sharing and sustainably. The above research iterations offer an example of how research prototypes supports to focus research area, and answer the research question in stages. We finally conclude witha discussion of insights on designing prototype for the non-tech-savvy elderly

From Research Prototype to Research Product

Prototypes and prototyping have had a long and important history in the HCI community and have played a highly significant role in creating technology that is easier and more fulfilling to use. Yet, as focus in HCI is expanding to investigate complex matters of human relationships with technology over time in the intimate and contested contexts of everyday life, the notion of a ‘prototype’ may not be fully sufficient to support these kinds of inquiries. We propose the research product as an extension and evolution of the research prototype to support generative inquiries in this emerging research area. We articulate four interrelated qualities of research products—inquiry-driven, finish, fit, and independent—and draw on these qualities to describe and analyze five different yet related design research cases we have collectively conducted over the past six years. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for crafting research products and the implications they suggest for future design-oriented HCI research

Co-refining interactive systems with older adults from function, form and interaction

Designing interactive systems that are pragmatic, attractive and easy to use for older adults is challenging. Participatory design, as an approach to enhance the mutual understanding between designers and end users, has been proved to be useful to improve the quality of design for older people. However, PD research has long been criticized for extensively dealing with the early-phase design while putting less emphasis on the later stages. In this paper, we argue for the importance of collaborative refinement when designing interactive systems for older adults. Through a case study, we describe our experience of co-refining the preliminary design of an interactive system with older participants from three perspectives: function, form and interaction. We also explored to adopt some potential PD methods and conclude by discussing the effectiveness of the chosen approach and methods

LOOP:A physical artifact to facilitate seamless interaction with personal data in everyday life

We investigated how a physical artifact could support seamless interaction with personal activity data in everyday life. We introduce LOOP (Figure 1), a physical artifact that changes its shape according to the activity data of the owner, providing an abstract visualization. This paper reports on the design process of LOOP that was informed by interviews and co-creation sessions with end users. We conclude with future work on the evaluation of the concept. This paper makes two main contributions. Firstly, LOOP is proposed as an example of an alternative approach to physically represent activity data. Secondly, the design process and rationale behind LOOP are presented as design knowledge

Modeling water quality in the Anthropocene : directions for the next-generation aquatic ecosystem models

“Everything changes and nothing stands still” (Heraclitus). Here we review three major improvements to freshwater aquatic ecosystem models — and ecological models in general — as water quality scenario analysis tools towards a sustainable future. To tackle the rapid and deeply connected dynamics characteristic of the Anthropocene, we argue for the inclusion of eco-evolutionary, novel ecosystem and social-ecological dynamics. These dynamics arise from adaptive responses in organisms and ecosystems to global environmental change and act at different integration levels and different time scales. We provide reasons and means to incorporate each improvement into aquatic ecosystem models. Throughout this study we refer to Lake Victoria as a microcosm of the evolving novel social-ecological systems of the Anthropocene. The Lake Victoria case clearly shows how interlinked eco-evolutionary, novel ecosystem and social-ecological dynamics are, and demonstrates the need for transdisciplinary research approaches towards global sustainability. Highlights • We present a research agenda to enhance water quality modeling in the Anthropocene. • We review adaptive responses in organisms and ecosystems to global environmental change. • We focus on eco-evolutionary, novel ecosystem and social-ecological dynamics. • These dynamics act at different integration levels and different time scales. • Lake Victoria is an iconic example of an evolving novel social-ecological system

What matters for ritual visualization: towards a design tool for the description and the composition of rituals

Our lives are highly shaped by rituals. The way we wake up, the way we prepare tea or coffee are two of the many rituals many of us have constructed. As they structure our everyday lives, it is crucial to understand how to design them from a kansei design perspective. This Research-through-Design inquiry contributes to a larger research of addressing the way to design rituals. An annotated showcase of three ritual design projects is proposed. From the analysis of these three projects, we suggest 11 points of attention for the construction of a ritual visualization tool. This tool is expected to be used not only to support the analysis and the assessment of rituals, but also to contribute to the composition of rituals, towards the design of experientially rich rituals from an interaction perspective