SACHI seminar

Title: Digital tabletops: in the lab and in the wild

Speaker: Patrick Olivier, Culture Lab, Newcastle University

Abstract:
The purpose of this talk will be to introduce Culture Lab’s past and current interaction design research into digital tabletops. The talk will span our interaction techniques and technologies research (including pen-based interaction, authentication and actuated tangibles) but also application domains (education, play therapy and creative practice) by reference to four Culture Lab tabletop studies: (1) Digital Mysteries (Ahmed Kharrufa’s classroom-based higher order thinking skills application); (2) Waves (Jon Hook’s expressive performance environment for VJs); (3) Magic Land (Olga Pykhtina’s tabletop play therapy tool); and (4) StoryCrate (Tom Bartindale’s collaborative TV production tool). I’ll focus on a number of specific challenges for digital tabletop research, including selection of appropriate design approaches, the role and character of evaluation, the importance of appropriate “in the wild” settings, and avoiding the trap of simple remediation when working in multidisciplinary teams.

Bio:
Patrick Olivier is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computing Science at Newcastle University. He leads the Digital Interaction Group in Culture Lab, Newcastle’s centre for interdisciplinary practice-based research in digital technologies. Their main interest is interaction design for everyday life settings and Patrick is particularly interested in the application of pervasive computing to education, creative practice, and health and wellbeing, as well as the development of new technologies for interaction (such as novel sensing platforms and interaction techniques).

Event details

• When: 7th May 2013 13:00 - 14:00
• Where: Cole 1.33a
• Format: Seminar