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From:
Nicolas Nova <[log in to unmask]>
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Nicolas Nova <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:34:01 +0200
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Workshop: Near field interactions
This is a call for proposals for a workshop on user-centred  
interactions with the internet of things at Nordichi 2006, October 14  
and 15, 2006 in Oslo, Norway.
http://nordichi.net.dynamicweb.dk/

The user-centred Internet of Things
The so-called ‘Internet of Things’ is a vision of the future of  
networked things that share a record of their interactions with  
context, people and other objects. The evolution of networking to  
include objects occupying space and moving within the physical world  
presents an urgent design challenge for new kinds of networked social  
practice. The challenge for design is to overcome the current  
overarching emphasis on business and technology that has largely  
ignored practices that fall outside of operational efficiency scenarios.

What is imminently needed is a user-centred approach to understand  
the physical, contextual and social relationships between people and  
the networked things they interact with.

The mobile device as early enabler
The mobile phone is likely to play a key role in the early adoption  
of the internet of things. Mobile devices offer ubiquitous networks  
and interfaces, enabling otherwise offline objects at the edges of  
the network. Near Field Communication (NFC: http://www.nfc-forum.org/ 
aboutnfc/) is a mobile technology that has been designed to integrate  
networked services into physical space and objects. NFC introduces a  
sense of ‘touch’, where interactions between devices are initiated by  
physical proximity.

In use, the mobile phone brings with it a history of personal and  
social activities and contexts. It is in this evolution that we see  
user-agency and social motivation emerging as an interesting area  
within the internet of things.

Workshop goals
In this workshop we intend to build knowledge around the hands-on  
problems and opportunities of designing user-centred interactions  
with networked objects. Through a process of ‘making things’ we will  
look closely at the kinds of interactions we may want to design with  
networked objects, and what roles the mobile phone may play in this.

We will focus on the design of simple, effective and innovative  
interactions between mobile phones and physical objects, rather than  
focusing on technical or network issues.

The primary questions for the workshop are:

What kinds of common interactions will emerge as networked objects  
become everyday?
What role will the mobile phone have to play in these interactions?
How do we encourage playful, experimental and exploratory use of  
networked things?
Some secondary questions are:

What interaction models can we bring to the internet of things? Do  
the fields of embodied interaction, tangible, social, ubiquitous or  
pervasive computing cover the required ground for designers?
What new kinds of social practices could emerge out of the  
possibilities presented by networked things?
How will the physical form of everyday objects and spaces be  
transformed by networks and near field interactions? How this would  
be reflected in users’ behavior?
How can the design of physical objects help in overcoming potential  
information or interaction overload, and how does search or  
findability change when in a physical context?
How can we move beyond commonsensical features such as object  
activation or findability?
What kind of user-communities will co-opt the technology and how will  
they hack, adjust and re-form it for their needs?
Workshop structure
Each workshop day will begin with a keynote presentation from invited  
experts. On the first day, participants will each give a short  
presentation of their position paper, no longer than 5 minutes.

Then groups of 3-4 people, each with different skills and backgrounds  
will then work on concepts, scenarios and prototypes. Prototypes may  
take the form of physical models, scenarios or enactments. We  
encourage the use of our wood, plastic and rapid prototyping  
workshops to create physical prototypes of selected concepts. We will  
provide workshop assistants for the creation of physical models.

Outcomes
The outcomes should be in a range of implementation styles allowing  
for a variety of outputs that speaks to a wide audience. A report  
will be written on the workshop, and published on the Touch project  
website and in other relevant channels.

Call for participation
The workshop is open to participants from human factors, mobile  
technology, social science, interaction and industrial design.  
Practitioners and those with industrial experience are strongly  
encouraged. Prior research work on embodied interaction, social and  
tangible computing would be particularly relevant. Participants will  
be selected based on their relevance to the workshop, and the overall  
balance of the group. Space is limited to 25 participants.

Call for short position papers
Application is by position paper no longer than two pages. The  
position paper can be visual or experimental in design and content.  
The themes should cover an issue that is relevant to the design of  
interactions with everyday objects.

Deadline for papers is 1 August, selected participants will be  
notified on the 9 August. The workshop itself is October 14 and 15,  
2006.

Papers and any questions should be submitted to timo (at)  
elasticspace (dot) com before 1 August.

Organisers
Timo Arnall is a designer and researcher at the Oslo School of  
Architecture & Design (AHO). Timo’s research looks at practices  
around ubiquitous computing in urban space. At the moment his work  
focuses on the personal and social use of Radio Frequency  
Identification (RFID) technologies, looking for potential  
interactions with objects and city spaces through mobile devices.  
Previously his research looked at flyposting and stickering in public  
space, suggesting possible design strategies for combining physical  
marking and digital spatial annotation. Timo leads the research  
project Touch at AHO, looking at the use of mobile technology and  
Near Field Communication.

Julian Bleecker is a Research Fellow at the University of Southern  
California’s Annenberg Center for Communication and an Assistant  
Professor in the Interactive Media Division, part of the USC School  
of Cinema-Television. Bleecker’s work focuses on emerging technology  
design, research and development, implementation, concept innovation,  
particularly in the areas of pervasive media, mobile media, social  
networks and entertainment. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering and  
an MS in computer-human interaction. His doctoral dissertation from  
the University of California, Santa Cruz is on technology,  
entertainment and culture.

Nicolas Nova is a Ph.D. student at the CRAFT (Swiss Federal Institute  
of Technology Lausanne) working on the CatchBob! project. His current  
research is directed towards the understanding of how people use  
location-awareness information when collaborating in mobile settings,  
with a peculiar focus on pervasive games. After an undergraduate  
degree in cognitive sciences, he completed a master in human-computer  
interaction and educational technologies at TECFA (University of  
Geneva, Switzerland). His work is at the crossroads of cognitive  
psychology/ergonomics and human-computer interaction; relying on  
those disciplines to gain better understanding of how people use  
technology such as mobile and ubiquitous computing.
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