Based on an episode from a design case, it is argued that explorative interaction design with hybrid materials combining physical and digital properties is better conceptualized as palpating the hybrid materials, rather than having a conversation with them. This leads to a proposed design strategy for designers working with hybrid materials: to build prototypes and do material experiments in a way that foregrounds immediate sensate feedback and externalizes responses that are normally not perceivable.

Research in HCI involves a wide variety of knowledge production bringing forth theories, guidelines, methods, practices, design case studies / exemplars, frameworks, concepts, qualities and so on. This workshop is about mapping out the spaces, forms and potentials of such knowledge production in interaction design research.

When painting the broad-brush foundation appropriate to an introduction, the development of computing in society can be characterized in terms of three main epochs. In the first, computing took on the form of mainframe data storage and processing units supporting enterprises in handling organizational information. The second epoch consisted of the personal computing (PC) revolution where the power of information technology became available for individual domestic and leisurely use in the form of affordable and accessible desktop devices. Finally, the third epoch of ubiquitous computing has been predicted since the early 1990s (Weiser 1991) and is presently turning into the dominant computing paradigm in the wake of technological developments concerning the miniaturization of digital technology and the coverage of mobile Internet connectivity. 

We propose an experiential quality called evocative balance as key in designing for affective interaction that aims to empower users in and through the interaction. Evocative balance draws on the dual meaning of the word “evoke” in characterizing the user’s sense that data and actions evoke familiar recollections of lived experience, yet are still open enough to evoke multiple interpretations in an ongoing process of co-constructive making of meaning. Our aim is to capture those experiences that resonate with our lived, everyday, social and bodily experiences; those experiences that we can recognise in ourselves and, through empathy, in others. We elaborate on and substantiate the meaning of this quality by means of retrospective reflection on three of our own design projects. This account provides detailed insights on how to find the balance between openness and familiarity through design.

With many new forms of digital media–including such popular social media as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr—the people formerly known as the audience no longer only consume but also produce and even design media. Jonas Löwgren and Bo Reimer term this phenomenon collaborative media, and in this book they investigate the qualities and characteristics of these forms of media in terms of what they enable people to do. They do so through an interdisciplinary research approach that combines the social sciences and humanities traditions of empirical and theoretical work with practice-based, design-oriented interventions.

We present five design cases as an annotated portfolio, exploring ways to design for intimate, interpersonal touch and social intimacy in interaction design. Five key qualities are elicited from the cases, including novel connotations sparking curiosity; providing an excuse to interact; unfolding internal complexity; social ambiguity; norm-bending intimacy. The work highlights novel interaction design approaches fostering social play, turning participants into performers of their own narratives.

Collaborative media entail an emerging set of digitally mediated practices, characterized by collaborative communicative action within organically developing, cross-medial infrastructures. We argue that computers are increasingly turning from tools into (collaborative) media in everyday use, and that this shift poses a significant challenge to the discipline of interaction design. Particularly prominent aspects of the challenge include the way design processes are conceptualized and structured, and the way in which communicative perspectives take precedence over instrumental ones.

The notion of design research entails research where design practice forms part of the knowledge production. Based on our characterization of the nature of design, we propose to conceptualize this kind of research as programmatic design research. Two ongoing PhD projects in interaction design are presented as examples of programmatic research processes, highlighting issues to do with the virtues and qualities of the processes, the interplay of optics and engagements in a hermeneutical dynamic, and the production of takeaways for the academic community.

Information visualization, as a way of presenting different data types in an understandable form, has the potential to support the analysis of transportation data. Visualization can often help decision makers to efficiently analyse large amount of information. One application area of information visualization is to support the analysis of the transportation data and thus facilitate the decision-making process. Most of the previous studies in this area have focused on visualization of transportation infrastructures such as roads, bridges in order to enhance the public awareness regarding upcoming projects which makes it easier to reach a consensus on the high-level decisions. However, the main focus of this article is on methods for visualization of data generated by transportation simulation systems to support analysis of the consequences of applying different transport policy measures, such as the introduction of road user charging or investment in new infrastructure. In this work, we investigate how visualization techniques could address the challenges of transportation simulation data analysis in order to facilitate the decision-making process. For this purpose, we have applied the visualization methods to a real implemented agent-based transportation simulator called TAPAS. In this case study, we have analysed the visualization related requirements of users using a user-centric approach and the visualization tool has been designed and developed based on the identified requirements.