[ISEA2019] Paper: Bert Vandenberghe, Kathrin Gerling, Luc Geurts, Vero Vanden Abeele & Steven Devleminck — Interactive Technology as Toolkit: Structure of Communication, Senseware, and Research Strategy

Abstract

Keywords: Human-computer interaction, lived-in world, methodology, Skweezee, interactive technology, toolkit.

This research introduces a toolkit for creating interactive ob- jects as a strategy to observe and discuss their construction and experience as scientific, artistic, and social subjects. Interac- tive technology as toolkit is presented to be senseware (Hara, 2009), following three specific trajectories in depth: the de- sign and programming of interactive objects; the understand- ing of rich interaction; and the role of the design objects and their concurrent (scientific) models into the lived-in world. A multi-viewpoint theoretical approach investigates the concept and use of toolkits based on interdisciplinary research, replac- ing single viewpoint categorization. This is coupled with the concept of thickening (Geertz, 1973), as the research seeks to define a liquid form of understanding capable of approaching the complexity of artifacts that cross media and discourses, illustrated with an exemplary case study of Skweezee, a squeeze interaction toolkit.

  • Steven Devleminck holds a Master degree in Engineering from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and a PhD in Art and Philosophy from the University of the Arts, London, UK. Previously, he was the Director of the Transmedia Research Programme in Arts, Media and Design of the Leuven University College of the Arts (LUCA), and visiting Professor at maHKU, Utrecht. Currently he is the Head of the Mediated Environments Research Group at LUCA School of Arts and Professor at the Department of Computer Sciences at KU Leuven. His publications include books and a series of internationally published articles and conference papers. His practice based work has been shown internationally. Research interests are mediated environments, interactive technology, cartography and mapping. He is the Scientific Coordinator of the Innoviris Anticipate Smart Urban Community Interface Blocks research project investigating the design of IoT toolkits for creating interactive urban interventions for both placemaking and civic purposes.
  • Kathrin Gerling is an Assistant Professor at KU Leuven, Belgium. Her main research areas are human-computer interaction and accessibility; her work examines interactive physical computing technologies in the context of games, play, and with a purpose besides entertainment. Kathrin is interested in how interfaces can be made accessible for diverse audiences, and how playful interactive technologies can be leveraged to support well-being.
  • Luc Geurts is professor at KU Leuven, Belgium, where he currently leads the e-Media Research Lab. His research focuses on technology for tangible and playful interactions. He holds a MSc degree in Electronic Engineering and did a PhD on signal processing for cochlear implants. He now explores new paradigms for physical computing, investigates novel technologies for human computer interaction, and tries to implement these in the design and the development of playful interactive applications. A few years ago, he started to collaborated with several artists, helping them to create projects with challenging and novel technological components.
  • Vero Vanden Abeele is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven, Belgium, teaching and researching topics on human-computer interaction, user experience design, gamification, motivational design, social shaping and adoption of technology for health. Vero led the Belgian Chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGCHI) from 2010 to 2013, was academic chair for ACM CHI subcommittee games and play, and has been involved in the official organisation of ACM CHIPLAY since its advent. Vero is equally member on several program committees and guest editor for several journals related to human and player computer interaction. Her recent work, inspired by governmentality, focuses on disorderly design, i.e., the design of health technologies to support disorderly conduct and accommodate behaviors that escape normalizing power.
  • Bert Vandenberghe is a PhD student at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven, Belgium. He holds a Master’s degree Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology and worked at the Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven to study Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) from the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities. In his current PhD research, he studies squeeze interactions by implementing this novel interaction technique in health care settings. His research methods are strongly influenced by value-sensitive design, ethnographic research, visual methods, and researchthrough-design. He has a strong interest in the adoption & appropriation of technology; the ethics & politics of technology; and critical engineering.

Full text (PDF) p. 146-152