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

'Internet addiction' linked to Depression
Source: BBC, 9 February 2010
 
There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said.

Could *You* be more Usable?
Source: UN, 8 February 2010
 
Bet you could.

Stowe Boyd on 'Steampunk' thinking about the Future of Computing
Source: Stowe Boyd's blog via Experientia, 6 February 2010
 
Are established metaphors of user experience holding us back from new ways of structuring our interaction through computers?

Nokia's User Experience Programme
Source: UN, 5 February 2010
 
Nokia has put together a rich and informative website covering the key elements of user experience.

Interfaces magazine: latest issue available now
Source: HCI News Service, 4 February 2010
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available in pdf format, free from the Interaction Website.

A Lighter Brigade of Chargers
Source: UN, 3 February 2010
 
Lots of gadgets, one charger. At last.

Mobile Touch Screens could soon Feel the Pressure
Source: MIT Technology Review, 2 February 2010
 
A quantum switch could add pressure sensing to mobile screens.

Usability, Usability, Usability: why the iPad will Succeed
Source: Econsultancy, 1 February 2010
 
The tech critics love it, hate it, love it again, shrug it off. What do usability experts say?

British Airways - at last some good news
Source: Loop11, 30 January 2010
 
In a recent website usability study for the world's leading airlines, the British Airways website proved to be the most user friendly, with Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Atlantic having the lowest user experience rating.

Computation of Emotions in Man and Machine
Source: Royal Society, 29 January 2010
 
Advances in computer technology now allow machines to recognise and express emotions, paving the way for improved human-computer and human-human communications.