Prototyping Things:Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT

Prototypes and other ‘things’ have had many uses in HCI research—to help understand a problem, as a stepping stone towards a solution, or as a final outcome of a research process. However, within the messy context of a research through design project, many of these roles do not form part of the final research narratives, restricting the ability of other researchers to learn from this practice. In this paper we revisit prototypes used in three different design research projects, conducted over a period when the Internet of Things emerged into everyday life, exploring complex hidden relationships between the internet, people and physical objects. We aim to explore the unreported roles that prototypes played in these projects, including brokering relationships with participants and deconstructing opaque technologies. We reflect on how these roles align with existing understandings of prototypes in HCI, with particular attention to how these roles can contribute to design around IoT

Land Body Ecologies: A case study for global transdisciplinary collaboration at the intersections of environment and mental health

Land Body Ecologies (LBE) is a global, transdisciplinary research group seeking to understand the mental health dimensions of minority, Indigenous and other land-dependent communities’ relationship to ecologies in a changing environment. We posit that our project is a successful case of global transdisciplinary collaboration that can serve as an example for others. In this paper we present: (1) an overview of our project structure across various disciplines and geographies; (2) a description of how we manage day-to-day operations and decision-making; (3) details of how we operationalise collaboration through examples from three key areas – creative methodologies, language considerations and authorship; (4) a discussion on strengths and limitations of the project