HCI 2006: New Forums for Arts HCI Research born

HCI 2006 saw two launch events among its workshop days this year. Since both were interesting developments in terms of direction, but neither dealt exclusively with usability or user-centred design, they will form part of the general introduction to this week's news, below, which specialises in reports from the workshops at HCI2006.

The rest of the week will feature a workshop a day and report on the conclusions that delegates at each came to. The diverse range included two separate days devoted to designing for older people; a day on usability for science interfaces; emotion in design; career paths for female academics in HCI; and meeting the challenge of recording and analysing data.

However, by far the most glorious and elaborate event preceding the main conference, was a conference in its own right. (re)Actor: the First International Conference on Digital Live Art, led by Jenn Sheridan of Lancaster University and Alice Bayliss of the University of Leeds, focussed on HCI, computing and club art: 'mobile, avant garde art, the kind not typically put in a theatre'. 22 papers, 12 installations and 10 performances (some impromptu) took over the staid but elegant Octagon at Queen Mary, University of London. It brought in several people from the States, including the designers of a giant ray-like suspended robot that swooped over the hall and was later customised to dance just over the heads of attendees for the evening session. As well as hosting stunning displays, like the jugglers with light, ReActor addressed the serious issue of evaluation of art, and determining value from an HCI perspective. The full line-up can be seen at http://www.digitalliveart.co.uk/.

Some eight hours after one set of artists had left, another group were coming in to putt up the interactive exhibition that accompanied the First Symposium on Culture, Creativity and Interaction Design. The multiple screens of the club setting gave way to more retiring works like the 16 quiet pictures on easels that murmured about their production, breathed softly and echoed with the sounds of the sea. Led by Leonardo Network member Chris Newell of the University of Hull and supported by an artist who had never worked with digital media and a poet, the piece was a truly interdisciplinary collaboration featuring a coastal landscape as it progresses from dawn to night.

The symposium itself brought together six presenters on aspects of interaction, topped and tailed by keynote talks from the new media theorist Jay David Bolter of the at the Georgia Institute of Technology, speaking on "Aura and Interaction Design", and philosopher of technology Andrew Feenberg of Simon Fraser University in Canada addressing "Culture and design: The view from Technology Studies". The event was the culmination of two years of the Leonardo Network, funded by the UK's EPSRC under its culture and creativity call to look at how arts and humanities theory and practice can be used in interaction design. Peter Wright, newly of Sheffield Hallam University, led the symposium's organisation, while UN editor Ann Light took responsibility for marshalling the artworks, the development of which had been supported by the network as a way of encouraging interdisciplinary working, reflection, and discussion around practice. For more details of all the exhibits and the history of their creation, visit the network's blog at http://www.leonardonet.org/wordpress.

Associated Link: HCI2006

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

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Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
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Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.