1.
Moradi, Fatemeh, 1985-, et al.
(author)
A NEAT Solution : Where Interaction Design and Public Health Meet
Other publication (other academic/artistic) abstract
Office workers tend not to move about during work hours. A series of medical observational studieshave shown that extended sitting is associated with several negative health outcomes includingobesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), breast and colon cancer and prematuremortality. Therefore, developing ways to encourage physical activity and breaking the habit ofprolonged sitting in offices is urgently needed. Few studies, however, have investigated the natureof local movement and mobility in workspaces in depth and taking a cross disciplinary approach.This paper reports on an ongoing cross-disciplinary research project targeted at increasing physicalactivity of office workers while reducing prolonged sitting. Our collaboration between thedepartments of Informatics, Public Health and Clinical Medicine and the Design School at UmeåUniversity resulted in two ethnographic studies. This led to the development and implementation oftwo prototypes referred to as the “NEAT Lamp” and the “Talking Tree”. The “NEAT Lamp” is asimple sensor-based lamp that was evaluated in situ in our second ethnographic study. The resultsof this study deepened our understanding of local movement and mobility in offices and resulted inthe design of a second prototype, the “Talking Tree”. Using the knowledge gained through ourethnographic studies and the experience of using the prototypes, we were able to develop aconceptual framework for describing the patterns of local movement and mobility of office workers.This paper describes the process leading to the development of this framework. Moreover, ithighlights how this process benefited from the cross-disciplinary nature of the project.
2.
Moradi, Fatemeh, 1985-
(author)
Working out work : from personal informatics to redesigning work
2016
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
"Personal Informatics" (PI) and "Quantified Self" (QS) are two contemporary notions in the field of Human–Computer Interaction. Such hardware and software systems gather personalized quantified data and visualize them for the purpose of supporting self-reflection. Many of these systems focus on breaking the habit of prolonged sitting and increasing physical activity in our daily lives. The problems associated with the sedentary lifestyle and prolonged hours of sitting have been noted in many studies. In fact, stationary behavior is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of type of cancer. Nowadays we, as adults, spend more than 8 hours a day on work and work-related activities. As a consequence, the time spent sitting in office workspaces contributes to the majority of stationary behavior in our daily lives. Throughout history, designers and technocrats have constantly redesigned workspaces in attempts to increase work productivity and efficiency. Thus "modern" office work configuration includes desks and stationary computers and so office workers have become accustomed to prolonged sitting in their workplaces. In relation to this research problem, I have worked on my PhD thesis within the context of a four-year cross disciplinary research project in which we have been exploring ways of increasing physical activity and breaking the habit of prolonged sitting among office workers. This is a thesis in informatics and closely allied to medicine and it focuses on studying how contemporary office work affects the body and how to redesign this context. For this thesis, I conducted three empirical studies and designed and developed two prototypes - the "NEAT Lamp" and the "Talking Tree". The "Sport Co." study was the first quantitative study, and was followed by two qualitative observational ethnographic studies – the "Housing Co." study and the "Health Co." study. The research process adopted during the work can be described as an intertwined process consisting of three methodological approaches: observational ethnographic studies, concept development and prototyping. These three came together to form a coherent contextual design process for tackling the research question, "How can we approach the design of work in today's offices in order to make office workers more physically active in their workspaces?" This process resulted in five papers presenting various aspects and results of the research conducted. The results cover the role of bodies at work by considering the history of work design, knowledge about the local movement and mobility patterns of office workers in modern office spaces and eventually the design and evaluation of the two prototypes introduced in this thesis. Finally, I conclude this thesis by highlighting my overall contributions. The first contribution targets designers willing to design for increasing physical activity and breaking the habit of prolonged sitting in workspaces. In relation to this I introduce a design space as a tool for understanding the design of work in relation to worker’s bodies. The second contribution highlights how observational ethnographic studies, concept development, and prototyping can be combined when exploring the context of physical activity in office environments and it shows how contextual design might be a suitable approach for such studies. In addition, it emphasizes ways for how we can redesign work and expand our contextual knowledge. This, by examining and evaluating interactive prototypes in real office settings.
3.
Odom, W., et al.
(author)
Time, temporality, and slowness : Future directions for design research
2018
In: DIS 2018 - Companion Publication of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450356312 ; , s. 383-386
Conference paper (peer-reviewed) abstract
A diverse set of research and design initiatives related to time, temporality, and slowness has emerged in the DIS and HCI communities. The goals of this workshop are to: 1. bring together researchers to reflect on conceptual, methodological, and practice-based outcomes and issues and 2. to develop an agenda for future research in this growing area.
4.
Poikolainen Rosén, Anton, 1992-
(author)
Noticing nature : exploring more-than-human-centred design in urban farming
2022
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
This thesis articulates, theorises and furthers the concept of “more-than-human-centred design” by studying the use and design of technology for noticing nature and caring for nature. The emerging field of more-than-human-centred design focuses on the mutual interdependence between humans and non-humans (e.g. organisms such as animals, plants and microbes, as well as autonomous technologies). It is a step away from seeing other organisms as inferior to humans or valuable only as resources. This implies that design research frameworks and methods need to be remade. How can we design for and with other organisms? What needs to be accommodated in a paradigm that allows for more-than-human-centred design? What are concrete design examples and implications of this kind of thinking? In short, there is a need to investigate what it means to design for more-than-human worlds.This is investigated in the thesis through a series of studies and design experiments, including ethnography (participant observation, interviews, surveys and workshops), design projects (design ideation, development and analysis of prototypes) and design critique of existing artefacts. Most of these studies are conducted within a four-year ethnography of a regenerative urban farming community in Stockholm, Sweden.The thesis draws on posthuman theory. This theory examines the implications of expanding concern and subjectivities beyond the human, and aims to understand the human subject and its relationship to the world in a non-anthropocentric light. Phenomenological analysis is further applied to articulate and understand the human-technology-nature relationship as it is experienced first-person.The thesis contributes an articulation of a more-than-human-centred design programme. Here, two design implications are suggested, “expanding the sensible” and “design for sensory-rich experiences”. Methods for noticing the more-than-human world are suggested, along with principles for designing for and with other organisms, such as finding leverage points in systems and providing a scaffold for naturally occurring processes. The meaning of “design”, “the designer” and “the user” is discussed. Lastly, a manifesto for more-than-human-centred design is proposed.
5.
Poikolainen Rosén, Anton, et al.
(author)
Noticing the environment : A design ethnography of urban farming
2022
In: Proceedings of the 12th nordic conference on human-computer interaction (NordiCHI’22). - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450396998
Conference paper (peer-reviewed) abstract
Sustainable HCI attempts to shift focus beyond humans, to care for both ourselves and our environment. In this paper, we build on this growing interest and contribute with a design ethnography of urban farming. We focus on practices of observing and gathering data about the environment which we frame as ‘noticing’. In our analysis, three approaches to noticing the environment were iden- tified, and design suggestions were developed for each approach: Green Thumbs (control-oriented), Dirty Nails (sensibility-oriented) and BeeNoculars (appreciation-oriented). The design suggestions, presented as posters, focus on ways to improve the alignment of the acquisition and display of data with the identified approaches. We discuss two themes: the noticing and balancing of systemic rela- tions and needs, and sensory-rich experiences of the environment. The paper contributes to a broader discussion in HCI of how tech- nologies could create a different understanding of and relationship to the environment.
6.
Poikolainen Rosén, Anton, 1992-, et al.
(author)
Towards more-than-human-centred design : Learning from gardening
2022
In: International Journal of Design. - : Chinese Institute of Design. - 1991-3761 .- 1994-036X. ; 16:3, s. 21-36
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
More-than-human-centred design is a growing field in HCI (human-computer interaction) that account for non-human actors in design processes (such as animals, plants, and microbes but also autonomous technologies). While the rationale for more-than-human-centred design is clear, there is a lack of design methods grounded in this thinking. We articulate the idea of noticing as a method for approaching design spaces as systems of mutual interdependence between organisms. The findings are based on a longitudinal ethnographic study of urban farming—including the study of urban farmers’ practices and use of technologies with a focus on the interplay between humans and non-humans, such as plants and microbes. We articulate noticing as a phenomenon and show examples of urban farmers’ practices of noticing. We discuss principles for designing with the interdependencies of several organisms based on what is noticed in a setting. We argue that the way we have separated ideas about the environment and human experience is a part of the sustainability problem—and suggest noticing as an approach that instead combines positive human experiences and the needs of the environment.
7.
Wiberg, Mikael, et al.
(author)
Mobility in the wild social aspects of mobile work : a framework for further research and design
1999
Conference paper (other academic/artistic) abstract
We report ongoing research in search of characteristics of mobile work and use of mobile ICT (information and communication technologies) to support such work. Based on an empirical investigation of the work of mobile service technicians at Telia Nära, we outline five areas of social interaction where mobility changes fundamental aspects of the work.
8.
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10.
Bergvall-Kåreborn, Birgitta, et al.
(author)
User driven service design and innovation platforms
2013
In: HCI International 2013 - Posters’ Extended Abstracts. - Berlin : Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology/Springer Verlag. - 9783642394720 - 9783642394737 ; , s. 3-7
Conference paper (peer-reviewed) abstract
Integrating consumers into the design and development process of IT is a promising strategy for companies. To stimulate this co-production of IT through end-user programming specific user platforms for innovation have been developed. In this paper we illustrate how end-user programming and configurations has been a successful practice throughout the history of the PC – from the early stationary computers in the 80s, via the development of the web, to recent toolkits for end-user configuration of mobile hardware. While this trend has been stable this paper illustrate how corresponding support for end-user programming of mobile applications is still missing. To address this need this paper presents the SATIN platform and its underlying design concepts. We view this as a contribution for advancing the development of innovation platforms and as an illustration of how concept design can help in envisioning the next step in user-driven service design.
