Framing complexity, design and experience: A reflective analysis

The paper discusses theory and practice in the roles of refl ective practice and contextual design in addressing issues of complexity in design. The author defi nes a new understanding of the role of complexity in design. The paper reviews theories in design and HCI related to refl ective practice, context, and embodied interaction. A case story of practice in interaction design and museums is presented as a practicebased investigation of the complex. The paper calls for the framing of larger research agendas in this area with the need to further work on issues of context, refl ective practice, embodiment and human activity in order to provide a more comprehensive and integral view of design activity. The paper concludes with the need to reframe concerns in design in order to emphasise situated participation, non-rational design strategies, in situ design and a re-orientation in focus from tasks to experience

Exploring the everyday designer

This paper discusses our preliminary analysis of how designer and non-designer participants discussed and engaged in design activity. For this research, we employed two design study experiments that included a total of forty-eight participants. In our preliminary findings we found differences between designers and nondesigners in how a design activity is analyzed. The more significant preliminary finding is that there were substantially less differences in how designers and non-designers engaged our design activity

Children\u27s drawing and telling of sustainability in the home

This paper describes a pilot study about children’s perspective on environmental sustainability in the home through the drawing-telling technique. We utilize the drawing-telling technique as described by Susan Wright [6] for interviewing children about issues related to sustainability. The participants (children from age 10 to 13) were asked to draw two houses (current and ideal) and then describe their drawings in terms of sustainable actions and features. This pilot study is an initial step to investigate if there are opportunities to develop eco-visualizations (EVs) with children in mind and shows that the drawing-telling technique is useful in researching sustainability and children

Living In A Prototype: A Reconfigured Space

In this paper, we present a twenty-three months autobiographical design project of converting a Mercedes Sprinter van into a camper van. This project allows us to investigate the complexities and nuances of a case where people engage in a process of making, transforming and adapting a space they live in. This example opens a radically different and productive context for revisiting concepts that are currently at the center of human-computer interaction (HCI) research: ubiquitous computing, home automation, smart homes, and the Internet of Things. We offer six qualities characterizing the evolving relationship between the makers and the lived-in environment: the van. We conclude with a discussion on the two themes of living in a reconfigured home and prototype qualities in a reconfigured space, and a critical reflection around the theme of the invariably unfinished home

Influences of concepts and structure of documentary cinema

This paper investigates the emergence of documentary practices on the Internet. It is potentially beneficial to researchers and practitioners in the emerging area of documentary Web work, and for museums or cultural institutions who utilize Web sites for exhibition programming and thematic presentations. The goal of the paper is to develop a methodological framework for analyzing Web documentaries based on current film theory, since to date, documentary practice has been rooted in filmmaking. A secondary goal is to describe the current state of Web documentaries as well as potential benefits and hurdles in its future development. A review of potentially relevant film theories assists in building a framework for analyzing documentary practices on the Internet. The framework proposed is based on Bill Nichol\u27s theory of documentary film. The study includes analysis of five documentary Web sites ranging from independently to institutionally produced sites. Our aim is to contribute to further investigations of the relationship between documentary cinema and documentary practices on the Internet

AmbientSonic Map: Towards a new conceptualization of sound design for games

This paper presents an overview of the main features of sound design for games, and argues for a new conceptualization of it, beginning with a closer look at the role of sound as feedback for gameplay. The paper then proposes and details a new approach for sound feedback in games, which provides ambient, intensity-based sonic display that not only responds to, but also guides the player towards the solution of the game. A pilot study and leading outcomes from it are presented, in the hopes of laying a foundation for future investigations into this type of sonic feedback

The role of participatory workshops in investigating narrative and sound ecologies in the design of an ambient intelligence audio display

We describe two participatory workshops conducted to support design decisions in the making of the audio display for an ambient intelligent game platform. The workshops discussed here explore specific issues of players’ interactions with sound and auditory display design. The workshops helped move our design process forward by specifying the role of narrative and sound ecologies in our design. They clarified the role of sound in creating narrative coherence, guiding player actions, and supporting group interaction. We describe the workshops, the auditory display issues we addressed, discuss how the workshops helped inform our subsequent design, and extend recommendations on how participatory workshops can be used by other designers of auditory displays

Understanding repair as a creative process of everyday design

This paper presents the findings from an exploratory study that looks at how creativity plays a role in the repair and reuse of objects in the home. We are interested in a particular form of creativity that manifests in the everyday – what John Dewey [8] describes as a constant doing and undergoing, as we actively adjust to everyday situations. The goal of this study is to show evidence of repair as not only an act of restoration, but also as an act of creativity that entails the repurposing and resourcing of objects. This study is part of a larger research initiative known as the Everyday Design, where it is believed that everyone is a designer and that design is an ongoing activity that includes the repair, modification, and appropriation of design objects and systems. Furthermore, this study serves as baseline research for future investigations in how to inform the design of technologies whose lifecycle can be extended for various contexts of use through repair