OzCHI 2024 Workshop: Re-examining TEIs Using Provocations
Overview:
In this workshop we revisit Tangible and Embodied Interaction (TEI) design to construct a TEI spectrum of different levels of designed ‘reality types’ (e.g., Virtual Reality, Windowed Reality etc.) and the different ways that these types relate to interaction modes. We use this spectrum to structure a provocation which looks at the challenge of distanced intergenerational communication, using digital communication technology, between very young children and their much older relatives such as grandparents. We invite workshop participants to propose their own provocations using this framework so that we can together explore how it fits in a wide variety of contexts.
Workshop Details:
Workshop 4: Re-examining TEIs Using Provocations
Saturday Morning, Half-day (9am – 12:30pm)
Submissions:
We invite participants to submit a provocation in the form of a video, storyboard, or slides that explore the application of the reality spectrum in other contexts than distanced intergenerational interaction. Suggested contexts participants could explore include:
- Education and Training
- Healthcare
- Entertainment
- Shopping
- Tourism
- The workplace
- Art and Design
- Fiend engineering, mining and large plant interaction
- Storytelling
- Security
- etc
Focus should be on the application of various parts or all parts of the reality spectrum, and on how the provocation helps us to understand and/or develop the proposed spectrum.
Perspective workshop participants are invited to submit a short response to the provocation; this response can take any form, including videos, pictorials, presentations, or short written work (no more than two pages).
Please submit your provocation to tei.provocation@gmail.com by the 18th of November.
Facilitators:
Professor Alethea Blackler is Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education, and Social Justice at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and a Professor in the School of Design. Professor Blackler is a leading researcher in intuitive interaction. With a focus on tangible technology, she has led projects on intuitive interaction across age groups, including older adults and children. Professor Blackler is currently leading two Australian Research Council projects involved investigating TEIs, one on increasing active play for preschool children and another on distanced intergenerational interaction.
Dr Jane Turner is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Creative industries, Education, and Social Justice at the QUT, and a Study Area Coordinator and lecturer in Interaction Design and Games in the School of Design. Dr Turner’s research combines theories of place and meaning-making with game design and narrative methodologies. She is interested in the material and cultural aspects of design and the ways that design and designing are mimetic ‘storying’ practices. Dr Turner is currently a chief investigator in an Australian Research Council project on distanced intergenerational interaction.
Dr Nicole Vickery is a Lecturer of Visual Communication in QUT’s School of Design. Her research interests focus on designing playful interactions. Dr Vickery’s past work explores how to design playful tangible, embedded, embodied interaction (TEI) technologies to support children’s active play, and designing playful tangible technologies to encourage pre-school aged children to engage in nature-based play. She is currently a chief investigator in an Australian Research Council project on distanced intergenerational interaction.
Associate Professor Bernd Ploderer leads the Digital Wellbeing Lab at QUT, focusing on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Health Informatics. His primary research area is e-Health, particularly involving fitness trackers and wearable devices. At the University of Melbourne, he studied early adopters like fitness enthusiasts and the Quantified Self community. Since joining QUT, Ploderer has applied his health informatics expertise to clinical domains, collaborating with experts in diabetic foot care, post-stroke rehabilitation, and sleep. His work aims to create digital solutions that empower patients in their self-care.
Associate Professor Linda Knight is the Founder and Director of the RMIT Mapping Future Imaginaries research network. She uses critical arts methodologies and speculative research to explore social and educational futures in urban contexts. Her work centres on three key areas: reimagining citizenship and urban roles, redesigning education through algorithmic and networked technologies, and advancing employment equity through activist and collective processes. Linda’s current projects investigate urban living, education, and play, using inefficient mapping to explore urban citizenship and ethical urban planning.
Associate Professor Shital Desai is the Research Chair in Accessible Interaction Design, Director of the SaTS Lab, and Co-Lead of the Training Committee for CFREF Connected Minds at York University. An expert in Interaction Design, she focuses on developing inclusive design solutions, services, and technologies for diverse groups, including children, older adults, and individuals with cognitive impairments. With extensive experience in building partnerships with industry, research organizations, funding bodies, and users, she identifies future research directions and facilitates Knowledge Transfer (KT).
Funding:
This project is part of the Australian Research Council funded Discovery Project DP240102717 Designing Distanced Intergenerational Interaction with Tangible Technology, which builds on the 2020 project DP200100723 Enabling Children’s Active Play using Novel Technology.