Genevieve Bell, Intel
Mark Blythe, University of York
Bill Gaver, Royal College of Art
Phoebe Sengers, Cornell University
Peter Wright, University of York
Through the ownership and use of particular technologies and artefacts we make statements about ourselves, our values and our culture. Nowhere is this clearer than in the home, which is widely recognised as a complex and diverse design environment. Critical readings of the social context of use and the codification of meaning can generate innovative approaches to design problems. This workshop will consider how designers do, can, and should integrate cultural analysis in their technologies.
Issues of interest include:
· Design techniques that use cultural and social analysis to inform the design of new home based digital products.
· Analytical techniques for studying the cultural and political assumptions that are embodied in current domestic technology.
· Methods and techniques for designing across cultural boundaries.
We plan to cover the following general topics: theory, drawn from various disciplines; field studies and experiments; practice, through case studies of products and experimental designs; technique, and the design process. The workshop format will include a presentation by each participant and include substantial periods for discussion. We encourage participation from a wide range of disciplines including Computer Science, Product Design, Psychology, Social Sciences, Literary and Cultural Studies.
April 7, 2003
9:30 Session One: Theory
Moderator: Genevieve Bell
Bill Gaver – Designing for Ludic Activities in the Home
Mark Blythe and Peter Wright - The Meanings of Domestic Technology
Chris Csikszentmihályi - Edgy Product: Designing Radical Social Change
11:00 Session Two: Case Studies
Moderator: Phoebe Sengers
David Rose, Ben Resner, and Joseph “Jofish” Kaye – Social Considerations in Ambient Healthcare Awareness
Aida Khalid and Wiliana Sulistio – Intelligent Dwelling for a Typical Household Unit in Singapore
Elly Cramer and Carol Terrizzi – Outside the Box: Incorporating a Novel User Interface for the National Science Digital Library into Everyday Home Activity
Ian Tien – Keeping First Things First
1:30 Session Three: Design Ethnography
Moderator: Mark Blythe
Alex S. Taylor and Anne Cohen Kiel – Recovering the Social Life of Things
Genevieve Bell – Other Homes: Alternate Visions of Culturally Situated Technologies for the Home
Timothy Brooke – Position Paper (design ethnography for digital music players)
3:00 Session Four: Cultural Studies for Design
Moderator: Peter Wright
Phoebe Sengers – Doomed to Repeat?: How History Can (and Should!) Inform Home Technology
Marc Böhlen – A Lesson from the Sewing Kit
Susan Wyche – The Elderly and Domestic Cleaning Technology: Looking towards the Past to Shape the Future
4:00 Session Five: Discussion: Research Agenda and Future Plans