Design for Social Interaction in Public Spaces

– A TU/e DESIS Lab project *

* Partially to be executed in China, in cooperation with students from Jiangnan University * Students are expected to travel to China during the SDL weeks. * About the TU/e DESIS Lab: http://desis.id.tue.nl.

Abstract

The design challenge in this project is to find ways to design a physical locus of interaction, a specific, physical device that opens the ‘digital’ action possibilities of a city to the physical. While the context is the city, it is up to the designer focus the design challenge within that context. The big challenge of course is to let a 'generic' device grow into different meaningful forms and shapes dependent on the context of use, or the specific location in a city. Operationalize the concept of context dependent action possibilities.

Main competency development targeted in:

IC; IT; SCA; FS.

Targeted blocks

B1; B2; B3.2; M1.1; M1.2.

Proposers

Jun Hu, Joep Frens, Mathias Funk

Introduction

System and service design is a new challenge in the field of Industrial Design. It breaks the ‘one person – one product’ dictum in favor of a system of (interactive) products consisting of many ‘nodes’. The systems under investigation are woven into the social fabric of our lives and form, more than ever before, an integral part of it. Societal relevance is not optional but a necessity for this new field of design.

Currently the cities around us are coming to life in the digital world. How this digital city becomes meaningful to us remains to be seen but the first signs point towards visual solutions that augment the buildings, bridges, statues etc. in the cities with large projections and displays. The augmented layer can be used as decoration, but also as public media where the social interactivity can kick in. The augmentation can happen on existing structures, but also can be an integrated part of design when it is on the drawing board. You are encouraged to find new areas for this system to grow in, within the limits of the design challenge.

One of the ways to approach it is for example interactive public art installations. The current development in digital public arts involves a significant amount of new carriers in not only material, but also in technology, resulting new dynamic and interactive forms that require the artists and designers to construct their work from a system view and with a good understanding of human-system interaction and related interface technologies. It is no longer about carving stones and casting bronze; it is time to sculpture the interactive experience. The design challenge in this project is to find ways to design a physical locus of interaction, a specific, physical device that opens the ‘digital’ action possibilities of a city to the physical. While the context is the city, it is up to the designer focus the design challenge within that context. The big challenge of course is to let a 'generic' device grow into different meaningful forms and shapes dependent on the context of use, or the specific location in a city. Operationalize the concept of context dependent action possibilities.

Design challenges or research questions

Inspired by the theory of affordances (ecological perception) and phenomenology that identify that the (physical) world is a meaningful place and that focus on the lived experience we want you to focus on meaningful and rich interaction. Think ‘morphing’ shape rather than changing graphics; think physical controls rather than touch screens; think specific rather than generic;

Stakeholders

This project is expected to be executed in cooperation with students from School of Digital Media, Jiangnan University, at the Center for Social and Cultural Computing in Taicang, China. Selected students will be travelling to China during the SDL weeks, working together with their Chinese team members. The travel cost will be partially funded, and the accommodation will be fully covered.

Center for Social and Cultural Computing Science and Education New Town, Taicang, China

School of Digital Media, Jiangnan University, Wuxi. China DESIS Network. http://www.desis-network.org

TU/e DESIS Lab. http://desis.id.tue.nl

Joep Frens is an Assistant Professor in the DQI group. He is interested in designing for growing systems and in design in general. You might know him of the cardboard models that he makes.

Jun Hu is an Associate Professor in the DI group, and a Guest Professor at School of Digital Media, Jiangnan University. His current research activities are directed towards Design Research on Social Computing.

Mathias Funk is an Assistant Professor in the DI group, focusing on remote data collection and adaptive systems, but enjoys working ‘out of control’ with technologies from sound/video processing to the web. He is also co-founder of the TU/e spin-off UXsuite. In this project, he is most interested in the way people interact with and take ownership of a growing device, but also how the device has an impact in a network or system of such devices.

OoC: projects/DesigningPublicSpaces (last edited 2013-05-15 09:09:22 by anewhope)