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Embodied Interaction
This class approaches interaction design from the perspective of phenomenology. It is concerned with humans as embodied actors interacting in the world in the absorbed and unreflective manner of everyday experience. This standpoint is of particular relevance to emerging HCI disciplines of tangible computing and social computing. The goal of this approach is to create interaction experiences for users which are seamlessly intertwined with the surrounding physical and social environment. This course will provide the theoretical background to embodied interaction, explore the domains in which its model is applicable and provide practical experience with the fundamentals of constructing such systems. It culminates with a substantial project exploring location based services and interaction.
- Fundamentals of Embodied Interaction: Theory, Philosophy, Methods, Design
- Physical Computing: Sensors, tangibles, social
- Location Aware Services: Space/place, location aware services, urban computing
Dourish, P., “Where the action is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction”, MIT Press, ISBN 0262541785, 245 pages
Various research readings
| 5% | Attendance and participation |
| 10% | Literature review and critique |
| 15% | Term paper |
| 15% | Ethnomethodology |
| 20% | Physical computing project |
| 25% | Location aware services project |
| 10% | Exam |
Four projects from Embodied Interaction
Top left: A music system which changes its tune depending on where and how you are walking.
Bottom left: Tracking and displaying the emotional state of Levada hikers.
Top right: iCheers: using digital technology to break the ice in social situations.
Bottom right: Best Buddy: a medical tool to encourage and track healthy behavior in diabetic children.
