Copyright (c) 2009 Sheffield Hallam University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c Recent Events in Performance and Interaction en-us Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:27:25 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/3 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/3 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:00:00 PDT This paper reports insights gained from an exploration of performance-based techniques to improve the design of relationships between people and responsive machines. It draws on the Emergent Objects project and specifically addresses notions of embodiment as employed in the field of performance as a means to prototype and develop a robotic agent, SpiderCrab, designed to promote expressive interaction of device and human dancer, in order to achieve 'performative merging'. The significance of the work is to bring further knowledge of embodiment to bear on the development of human-technological interaction in general. In doing so, it draws on discursive and interpretive methods of research widely used in the field of performance but not yet obviously aligned with some orthodox paradigms and practices within design research. It also posits the design outcome as an 'objectile' in the sense that a continuous and potentially divergent iteration of prototypes is envisaged, rather than a singular final product. The focus on performative merging draws in notions of complexity and user experience. Keywords: Embodiment; Performance; Tacit Knowledge; Practice-As-Research; Habitus. Joslin McKinney http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/2 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/2 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:30:00 PDT Nine causal relationships that explain the cause and effect relationships between aspects of human experience, context-of-use and particular aspects of product usability have been previously identified in a study that focussed on investigating the aspects of human experience that influence people's understanding of a product's use. This paper reports on a work-in-progress - a pilot study experiment with practising designers - that aims to further explore these causal relationships and to investigate how they can be employed in the conceptualisation stage of a design task that emphasises product usability. Data collection includes sketches and annotations produced during the design task, retrospective verbal reports of the designers' interpretation of their initial design concepts, and opinions about the use of causal relationships during the design process. Indicative outcomes of the pilot study illustrate that awareness of causal relationships can assist designers in generating novel ways to enhance product usability. Keywords: Context-Of-Use, Human Experience, User-Product Interaction, Product Usability, Product Design Marianella Ivonne Chamorro-Koc http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/1 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session10/track_c/1 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:00:00 PDT Technologists promise a future in which pervasive, distributed networks enable radical change to social and political geographies. Design of these abstract, intangible futures is difficult and carries a special risk of excluding people who are not equipped to appreciate the ramifications of these technological changes. The Democratising Technology (DemTech) project has been exploring how techniques from performance and live art can be used to help people engage with the potential of ubiquitous digital networks; in particular, how these techniques can be used to enfranchise people with little technical knowledge, but who nonetheless will have to live with the design consequences of technical decisions. This paper describes the iterative development of a performance workshop for use by designers and community workers. These workshops employ a series of simple exercises to emulate possible processes of technological appropriation: turning abstract digital networks into imaginable, meaningful webs. They were specifically designed to target a technologically excluded group, older people, but can also be used with other groups. We describe the process of workshop development and discuss what succeeded with our test groups and what failed. In offering our recommendations for working in this space, we consider the methodological issues of collaborating across science/art/design borders and how this impacted on evaluation. And we describe the final result: a recipe for a performance workshop, also illustrated on a DVD and associated website, which can be used to explore the dynamics of technical and social change in the context of people's own lives and concerns. Keywords: Performance; Older People; Marginalisation; Person-Centred; Ubiquitous Digital Networks; Interdisciplinary; Technology; Future; Evaluation Ann Light