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Beat Rossmy
Designing Speculative Artifacts: Using Real-World Patterns to Inform HCI
Doctoral Dissertation, December 07, 2021. LMU Munich, Munich, Germany 46 pages. https://doi.org/10.5282/edoc.29413 (bib)

In recent decades, Mark Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing has become today's reality through embedded electronics, the rise of machine learning, and the proliferation of wireless Internet access. This development brings not only opportunities but also new challenges for the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community. Technology, for example, is (1) entering novel application scenarios and pristine interaction environments, (2) leaving the screen and conquering the physical world, and (3) changing the previous tool-like nature of computers to social, self-learning, and pro-active entities. As a result, there are no already established interaction paradigms, metaphors, and design strategies for designing such systems. Thus, HCI faces questions about the interaction design in the context of embedded systems and novel materials, the conceptualization of intelligent systems in everyday environments, and, subsequently, the consequences on human-technology relations. To approach such questions, a standard tool in HCI research is the human-centered design process, which creates knowledge about user needs and considers user perspectives to inform design decisions. Observations and interviews are used to understand the context, workflow, or tools, before developing ideas and concepts for technological improvements or solutions. This process has proven to be effective when dealing with matters familiar to users, such as their workplaces, leading to improved workflows and experiences. However, it remains open how design can be grounded if future technologies result in unfamiliar situations. When people can no longer contribute with their domain knowledge, what are novel interaction concepts, paradigms, and designs based on? To tackle these problems, I present and discuss a programmatic design approach to generate original design ideas and concepts. This approach builds on Speculative and Critical Design practices within the HCI context. The main idea central to this work is to create designs using real-world patterns to inform HCI since these patterns still comply with users' prior knowledge, experiences, and perception of fundamental social or natural principles. Such Real-World Patterns (RWP) can be familiar metaphors, morphologies, or mental models - e.g., understanding causality in the physical world or knowing the basic working principles of musical instruments. These patterns are chosen and then transferred into designs to meet or contradict users' expectations of the technology in order to create confrontational situations in which new perspectives are opened up. Based on the confrontation with the speculative artifacts, implications and requirements are deduced, which in reverse can be applied to future technologies. The projects presented apply this approach in various HCI research domains, including human-robot interaction, new interfaces for musical expression, and deformable and flexible interfaces. In this dissertation, I reflect on the approach using three questions: (Q1) How does the use of RWPs complement the Research through Design practice?; (Q2) How can RWPs be instrumentalized in the design of HCI systems?; and (Q3) How does the use of RWPs in design affect the relation between humans and technology? This thesis contributes (1) an overview of the approach as well as three perspectives which are instrumental in understanding and applying RWPs in the design of HCI, (2) eight speculative artifacts, which exemplify the approach, (3) theories and concepts inspired by the used RWPs, and (4) empirical knowledge deduced from the associated studies and surveys.