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Many studies in Human-Computer Interaction and related fields, such as pervasive displays, have historically centered around user evaluation and knowledge production, focusing on usability issues and on creating a more efficient user experience. As the trajectory of HCI moves toward the so-called ‘third wave’, new values are being emphasized and explored. These include concepts such as embodiment and engagement, complementing usability as the primary metric of evaluation. This paper explores the ideation, iteration, design, and real-world deployment of such a ‘third wave’ interactive pervasive installation in the form of an interactive, large cylindrical display. The purpose was to display the air quality data in a manner that would inspire elevated environmental consciousness and discussion among Umeå citizens, especially with regard to the environmental impact of different methods of transportation.

Many studies in Human-Computer Interaction and related fields,such as pervasive displays, have historically centered around userevaluation and knowledge production, focusing on usability issuesand on creating a more efficient user experience. As the trajectoryof HCI moves toward the so-called ‘third wave’, new values arebeing emphasized and explored. These include concepts such asembodiment and engagement, complementing usability as theprimary metric of evaluation. This paper explores the ideation,iteration, design, and real-world deployment of such a ‘thirdwave’ interactive pervasive installation in the form of aninteractive, large cylindrical display. The purpose was to displaythe air quality data in a manner that would inspire elevatedenvironmental consciousness and discussion among Umeåcitizens, especially with regard to the environmental impact ofdifferent methods of transportation.

As HCI becomes ever-increasingly more transdisciplinary it encounters increasingly complex problems practical, methodological, and pedagogical in natures. This paper is an introductory exploration of the influence HCI education has in bridging academia and industry as students become practitioners. We examined how design pedagogy materializes and takes shape in both work and student process/attitudes as they become professionals, suggesting there is an area of importance to the community that is overlooked. Education shapes designers, designers shape the world, which prompts the need for a dialogue on how education pedagogy shapes practitioners that embody methods, values, skills, goals, and practices. As practitioners embody their knowledge into designs there arises a discussion that ought to be had.

Through the course Dense Spaces 2012—i.e. designing small, intelligent spaces such as elevators—carried out together with a group of architecture students at Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University, Sweden, we report on, exemplify, and discuss how architectural theories, skills, and attitudes can come to complement and provide new food for thought for other design fields, including interaction design. We present the course, discuss some resulting spaces, and reflect on feedback from the participants. Then, we discuss some outcomes of the course that have broader implications. Unlike a more traditional technology-centered perspective, an architectural approach seems more prone to focus on designing what we term dynamic absence, i.e. design also concerned with what is not there. In a similar vein, an architectural approach also seems to address complexity by not fragmenting design challenges into smaller problems. The more holistic architectural attitude provides the opportunity to treat technology as a design material, along with the other architectural design materials the design situation offers, including structures, light, space, and absence. In this way, the architectural approach seems to shift the attention away from the design of representations and metaphors to instead focus on designing meaningful engagements in these spaces. 

The Voice Harvester is an exploratory interactive installation that embodies human voice in physical materials. Sound input is processed, amplified and transmitted through audio drivers connected to a thin, flexible membrane that agitates the material on it. The title “Voice Harvester” is derived from the original design brief, which called for an object able to elicit non-linguistic, expressive, and naturalistic human vocal sounds to explore the full range of capability of the human voice through use of a novel, playful, and embodied interaction. This paper describes the intention, design process, construction, technical details, interaction, and planned/potential uses of this design exploration.

Widely acknowledged as an archetypal design activity, sketching is typically carried out using little more than pen and paper. Today’s designed artifacts however, are often given qualities that are hard to capture with traditional means of sketching. While pen and paper sketching catches the character of a building, it may not equally well capture how that building changes with the seasons, how people pass through it, how the light moves in between its rooms from sunrise to dawn, and how its façade subtly decays over centuries. Yet, it is often exactly these dynamic and interactive aspects that are emphasized in contemporary design work. So is there a way for designers to be able to sketch also these dynamic processes? Over several years and in different design disciplines, we have been exploring the potential of stop motion animation (SMA) to serve this purpose. SMA is a basic form of animation typically applied to make physical objects appear to be alive. The animator moves objects in small increments between individually photographed frames. When the photographs are combined and played back in continuous sequence, the illusion of movement is created. Although SMA has a long history in filmmaking, the animation technique has received scarce attention in most design fields including product design, architecture, and interaction design. This paper brings SMA into the area of sketching in architecture by reporting on the planning, conduct, result, and evaluation of a workshop course carried out with a group of 50 students at Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University, Sweden.

In this position paper, we discuss some early in-house experiments in designing eye gaze input systems for text entry. We have focused primarily on improving the interface’s feedback for dwell time and selection, using both sound and visual feedback. While carrying out these design experiments, we have become interested in the potential of factors such as Read Text Events (RTE). While these are generally seen as disruptive, we have instead chosen to regard them as a natural part of the process of typing with gaze and tried to use RTE as a design element rather than a problem. In this paper, we present some initial ideas for how to design eye gaze input around it rather than against it.

Widely acknowledged as an archetypal design activity,sketching is typically carried out using little more than penand paper. Today’s designed artifacts however, are oftengiven qualities that are hard to capture with traditionalmeans of sketching. While pen and paper sketchingcatches the character of a building, it may not equally wellcapture how that building changes with the seasons, howpeople pass through it, how the light moves in betweenits rooms from sunrise to dawn, and how its façade subtlydecays over centuries. Yet, it is often exactly these dynamicand interactive aspects that are emphasised incontemporary design work. So is there a way for designersto be able to sketch also these dynamic processes?Over several years and in different design disciplines, wehave been exploring the potential of stop motionanimation (SMA) to serve this purpose. SMA is a basicform of animation typically applied to make physicalobjects appear to be alive. The animator moves objects insmall increments between individually photographedframes. When the photographs are combined and playedback in continuous sequence, the illusion of movement iscreated. Although SMA has a long history in filmmaking,the animation technique has received scarce attention inmost design fields including product design, architecture,and interaction design. This paper brings SMA into thearea of sketching in architecture by reporting on theplanning, conduct, result, and evaluation of a workshopcourse carried out with a group of 50 students at Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University, Sweden.