During September 2021, I participated in the workshop series Method, Theory, and Taking Action through Gender and Feminisms in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
In Event 3 about Learning Methods, I presented the a study about “Design Techniques to promote gender literacy in digital fabrication with primary school students” and facilitated a challenge on Designing Interactive Genderless Toys. Instructions can be found here: shorturl.at/tyHJM
Today I want to share a publication, I am particularly proud of. The journal article presents five embodied co-design techniques for children that I developed during my thesis in collaboration with the theatre school Plàudite in Barcelona. The research was recently published in TOCHI.
Marie-Monique Schaper and Narcis Pares. (2021). Co-design Techniques for and with Children based on Physical Theatre Practice to promote Embodied Awareness. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 28, 4, Article 22 (July 2021), 42 pages. DOI:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3450446
Abstract:
Research in Full-Body Interaction suggests the benefits of activities based on using embodied resources to strengthen the sensorimotor, cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of the user experience. However, scholars in this field have been often primarily concerned with the comprehension of and design for the user’s mind. Little attention has been drawn on its connection to the bodily experience. The scarcity of adequate co-design methods with and for children to raise an awareness of their body during design risks of deriving interaction design decisions only from the perspective of adult designers. In this article, we present our research on novel co-design techniques to elicit children’s embodied awareness. These techniques were analysed in the context of a design workshop series with a local theatre school. For the analysis, we used the Think4EmCoDe research framework, a tool to foreground key aspects of an embodied co-design technique for children. Results indicate the benefits of techniques based on physical theatre practice that (1) help children understand their body and space as mediators of ideas and meaning making processes; (2) allow them to incorporate the specific features of Full-Body Interaction in their co-design.
We are pleased to announce that we have published a new article in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.
Title: FUBImethod: Strategies to engage Children in the Co-Design of Full-Body Interactive Experiences
Abstract: In this paper, we present the FUBImethod, a method based on six stages to co-design interactive experiences based on Full-Body Interaction. The FUBImethod aims specifically to engage children in co-design processes and to benefit from their natural playfulness and expertise in movement. This approach allows designers to go beyond the surface level of content-driven ideas by raising awareness of the body and space, and by proposing techniques that help the design team to understand and incorporate the specific qualities that constitute Full-Body Interaction. We also propose strategies to strengthen the children’s perspective in the design process in reaching a common agreement in the design goals and the selection of adequate design choices within the design team. We ground our theoretical discussions on the outcomes of the research project “Evaluation-Driven Design”, the goal of which was the exploration and definition of adequate research and design methods in Full- Body Interaction.
Reference:
Marie-Monique Schaper, Ole Sejer Iversen, Laura Malinverni, and Narcis Pares. (2019). FUBImethod: Strategies to engage children in the co-design of Full-Body interactive experiences. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 132: 52-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.07.008
This Friday has opened the exposition ELISAVA Experimenta! During one week, I facilitated the workshop CITY AND SCIENCE for students of this design school in Barcelona. The workshop aimed at designing interactive interventions for a new urban sector in the city Viladecans. For the design, we experimented with different “experiential bubbles” based on embodied design techniques. The goal was to inspire students’ creativity, to engage their body in the design process and offer them another way of reflecting upon the specific qualities of public spaces. The ideation process was documented on a conceptual wall. The result of this workshop are two proposals for interactive interventions for the sector, (1) 5L: questioning our consciousness of water consumption and (2) ONA: translating the cultural heritage of a brick factory into an interactive artefact for the public playground.
Finally, the day has come… I successfully presented my PhD Thesis defence last Friday, 25th January 2019 at 11 am. It took place in Tanger Building, Room 55.309 (third floor), Campus Poblenou, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
The thesis is titled: Co-Design Strategies with Children in Full-Body Interaction for Situated Non-Formal Learning Experiences. The thesis was supervised by Narcís Parés and evaluated by the PhD committee composed of Ole Iversen (University Aarhus), Oscar Tomico (University Eindhoven of Technology) and Davinia Herandez-Leo (Universitat Pompeu Fabra).
This autumn I facilitated another workshop at the library Ignasi Iglésias-Can Fabra in collaboration with the American Space Barcelona. The children created beautiful interactive stories about a magical world behind the books of the library.
One group imagined a forest by night and a sky full of shooting stars. They designed an owl in Tinkercad and printed the model in 3D. They created an interactive sky with LEDs and Arduino. Finally, they augmented the model with music using conductive material and Makey Makey.
Another group created a world of volcanos, lava and fire that was inhabited by a hippogriff.
A third group created a dungeon of a castle in which a prisoner is guarded by two beasts.
I am currently collaborating in RavalSTEAM, a project between the María de Maeztu Unit of Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Barcelona City Council. My role is to provide support for teachers in STEAM related activities. This trimester we started with the co-creation of a digital school magazine in the High School Milà i Fontanals. The final presentation of the first edition was presented beginning of December 2018.
