This course explores somatic approaches to experience design in HCI. Designing for Sensory Appreciation focuses on cultivating our bodily sensory experience as a resource for design. This course exemplifies how somatic approaches can be applied through sensory appreciation in the form of case studies that incorporate experience-based activities. We invite a rethinking of the process of designing for technology based on the emerging somatic turn within Human Computer Interaction that acknowledges design for the experience of the self and recognizes the interiority of human experience as an equal partner in technological design processes.

Attending to breath is a self-awareness practice that exists within many contemplative and reflective traditions and is recognized for its benefits to well-being. Our current technological landscape embraces a large body of systems that utilize breath data in order to foster self-awareness. This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the design space of systems that perceptually extend breath awareness. Our contribution is twofold: (1) our analysis reveals how the underlying theoretical frameworks shape the system design and its evaluation, and (2) how system design features support perceptual extension of breath awareness. We review and critically analyze 31 breath-based interactive systems. We identify 4 theoretical frameworks and 3 design strategies for interactive systems that perceptually extend breath awareness. We reflect upon this design space from both a theoretical and system design perspective, and propose future design directions for developing systems that "listen to" breath and perceptually extend it.

Human-Computer Integration (HInt) is an emerging paradigm in which computational and human systems are closely interwoven. Integrating computers with the human body is not new. however, we believe that with rapid technological advancements, increasing real-world deployments, and growing ethical and societal implications, it is critical to identify an agenda for future research. We present a set of challenges for HInt research, formulated over the course of a five-day workshop consisting of 29 experts who have designed, deployed and studied HInt systems. This agenda aims to guide researchers in a structured way towards a more coordinated and conscientious future of human-computer integration.

Many studies have proposed different ways of supporting flying in embodied virtual reality (VR) interfaces with limited success. Our research explores the usage of a user's lower body to support flying locomotion control through a novel "flexible perching" (FlexPerch) stance that provides user with leg moving ability while sitting. We conducted an observational study exploring participants' preferred usage of the FlexPerch stance, and a mixed-method study comparing the same flying experience with existing sitting and standing stances. Our results show that FlexPerch markedly increased participants' feelings of flying. However, people may not like "flying" when they really can - the freedom, feeling of floating, and novelty contributing to this sensation can also mean more effort and feeling unsafe or unfamiliar. We suggest that researchers studying VR flying interfaces evaluate the feeling of flying, and raise design considerations to use stances like FlexPerch to elicit feelings of flying and stimulation.

The Laban Movement Analysis system (LMA) is a widely used system for the description of human movement. Here we present results of an empirical analysis of the reliability of the LMA system. Firstly, we developed a directed graph-based representation for the formalization of LMA. Secondly, we implemented a custom video annotation tool for stimulus presentation and annotation of the formalized LMA. Using these two elements, we conducted an experimental assessment of LMA reliability. In the experimental assessment of the reliability, experts-Certified Movement Analysts (CMA)-were tasked with identifying the differences between a "neutral" movement and the same movement executed with a specific variation in one of the dimensions of the LMA parameter space. The videos represented variations on the pantomimed movement of knocking at a door or giving directions. To be as close as possible to the annotation practice of CMAs, participants were given full control over the number of times and order in which they viewed the videos. The LMA annotation was captured by means of the video annotation tool that guided the participants through the LMA graph by asking them multiple-choice questions at each node. Participants were asked to first annotate the most salient difference (round 1), and then the second most salient one (round 2) between a neutral and gesture and the variation. To quantify the overall reliability of LMA, we computed Krippendorff's α. The quantitative data shows that the reliability, depending on how the two rounds are integrated, ranges between a weak and an acceptable reliability of LMA. The analysis of viewing behavior showed that, despite relatively large differences at the inter-individual level, there is no simple relationship between viewing behavior and individual performance (quantified as the level of agreement of the individual with the dominant rating). This research advances the state of the art in formalizing and implementing a reliability measure for the Laban Movement Analysis system. The experimental study we conducted allows identifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of the widely used movement coding system. Additionally, we have gained useful insights into the assessment procedure itself.

Choreography includes much improvisation and situated decision-making. These embodied abilities have inspired recent trends in HCI to design systems for nuanced experiences of movement [1]. We look to defamiliarization as one tactic that can enable new perspectives in the creative process during otherwise familiar experiences. We became interested in more deeply analyzing the interaction between mover and choreographic systems when we discovered limitations when attempting to choreograph collaboratively with a variety of existing systems. This led us to look more closely at how defamiliarization has been used in existing human-computer interaction projects, to understand provocative interaction in a different domain. We then applied the same analysis to choreographic technology projects to confirm the creative options enabled by this framework. This paper presents a framework for co-creative systems that proposes analytical components of: Disorientation, Open-Play, Closed-Exploration, and Balanced Creativity. These components focus on design for choreography yet they can be applied to many creative domains. To test our framework, we also present a variety of speculative designs that would engage with a choreographer in the sensory exploration, movement generation, and composition processes.

With the proliferation of mobile devices, the world is saturated with data captured from these multi-sensor devices. Motion capture data is most commonly used for human figure animation. These data not only help us to create more realistic animation, but they also have been used for artistic purposes. With these data, we can model 3D animations that correspond to a human model. In this paper, we present a new way of comparing images of a human model in a stance to a database of 3D human figure poses. The results in this paper has shown that the new approach is both fast and accurate.

column Share on The somatic turn in human-computer interaction Authors: Lian Loke University of Sydney University of SydneyView Profile , Thecla Schiphorst Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser UniversityView Profile Authors Info & Claims InteractionsVolume 25Issue 5September-October 2018 pp 54–5863https://doi.org/10.1145/3236675Published:22 August 2018Publication History 28citation1,755DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations28Total Downloads1,755Last 12 Months496Last 6 weeks56 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Narrative visualizations engage audience in data stories, evoking emotions by using narrative patterns, rhetoric, visual design, and content among other strategies. How these elements combine to influence user experiences is complex and difficult to measure using empirical methods. This is partly due to the fact that narrative visualizations influence audiences affectively and implicitly [1]–[3]. Evaluations of narrative visualizations that aim to better understand these mechanisms should capture this rich complexity by focusing on gathering descriptions of lived experience. Micro-phenomenology, a rigorous set of methods developed for soliciting descriptions of experiences, has empirically been shown to improve recollection of otherwise implicit aspects of experience [4]. Building on work using micro-phenomenological interviews to evaluate static visualizations [5], we apply these methods to interactive narrative visualizations. We conducted a small study to explore the potential of these methods in this context. Our findings reveal how narrative patterns and designs influence affective states, how they support various forms of exploratory analysis, and how they can facilitate or hinder non-analytical reflection such as the imagining of stories described within visualizations. These types of insights can inform future designs and help researchers understand how techniques employed in narrative visualizations influence users in specific and often implicit ways.

Virtual reality (VR) is resurging in popularity with the advancement of low-cost hardware and more realistic graphics. How might this technology help others? That is, to increase mental well-being? The ultimate VR might look like lucid dreaming, the phenomenon of knowing one is dreaming while in the dream. Lucid dreaming can be used as an introspective tool and, ultimately, increase mental well-being. What these introspective experiences are like for lucid dreamers might be key in determining specific design guidelines for future creation of a technological tool used for helping people examine their own thoughts and emotions. This study describes nine active and proficient lucid dreamers' representations of their introspective experiences gained through phenomenological interviews. Four major themes emerged: sensations and feelings, actions and practices, influences on experience, and meaning making. This knowledge can help design a VR system that is grounded in genuine experience and preserving the human condition.

Busy daily lives and ongoing distractions often make people feel disconnected from their bodies and experiences. Guided attention to self can alleviate this disconnect as in focused-attention meditation, in which breathing often constitutes the primary object on which to focus attention. In this context, sustained breath awareness plays a crucial role in the emergence of the meditation experience. We designed an immersive virtual environment (iVE) with a generative soundtrack that supports sustained attention on breathing by employing the users' breathing in interaction. Both sounds and visuals are directly mapped to the user's breathing patterns, thus bringing the awareness researched. We conducted micro-phenomenology interviews to unfold the process in which breath awareness can be induced and sustained in this environment. The findings revealed the mechanisms by which audio and visual cues in VR can elicit and foster breath-awareness, and unfolded the nuances of this process through subjective experiences of the study participants. Finally, the results emphasize the important role that a sense of agency and control have in shaping the overall quality of the experience. This can in turn inform the design specifications of future mindfulness-based designs focused on breath awareness.

Respire is a virtual environment presented on a head-mounted display with generative sound built upon our previous work textitPulse Breath Water. The system follows the changes in user's breathing patterns upon which it generates changes in the audio and virtual environment. The piece is built upon mindfulness-based design principles with a focus on the breath as a primary object of the user's attention, and employs various approaches to augmenting breathing in the virtual environment.

Designing for kinaesthetic awareness, the perception of our body's position and movement, presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. While these implications are relatively new in the HCI community, they resonate with experiential knowledge from somatic practices and theories in embodied cognition. Still, moving is an interactive sound installation designed to support the perception of a person's micro-movements. We elaborate here on findings from a previous study, first emerged inductively from a grounded theory analysis of phenomenological interviews. Tracing the connections between these findings, and existing research in somatic practices and embodied cognition, reveals a range of distinctions and alternatives to flesh out the question: How can we understand and cultivate kinaesthetic awareness through interaction?

Movement-based interaction design is increasingly popular, with application domains ranging from dance, sport, gaming to physical rehabilitation. In a workshop at CHI 2016, a set of prominent artists, game design-ers, and interaction designers embarked on a research journey to explore what we came to refer to as "aesthetics in soma-based design". In this follow-up work-shop, we would like to take the next step, shifting from discussing the philosophical underpinnings we draw upon to explain and substantiate our practice, to form our own interaction design theory and conceptualisations. We propose that soma-based design theory needs practical, pragmatic as well as analytical study -- otherwise the felt dimension will be missing. We will consider how such tacit knowledge can be articulated, documented and shared. To ground the discussion firmly in the felt experience of our own practice, the work-shop is organised as a joint practical design work session, supported by analytical study.

Family members often rely on technology to connect and maintain their relationships over distance. Yet because of conflicting schedules and time zone differences, it can be hard to communicate synchronously with others. To help address this problem we explored the design of an asynchronous media sharing application called Mimo. Mimo allows family members to capture and share moments with each other using audio narratives as a way to connect time and activities together. We evaluated Mimo with participants who thought about and reflected on its design. Our results point to the value of connecting family members in a one-to-one, private fashion and how personalization is necessary in systems designed for asynchronous media sharing.

The boundaries between physical and virtual spaces are becoming more blurred in our everyday lives with the advent of wearable action cameras, virtual reality technologies, and algorithmically-led audience interactions. Artists and creatives have been at the forefront of exploring these new technologies; however, little literature exists that reflects on best practices for navigating this new complex space. We reflect on our experiences in creating and participating in what we refer to as 'hybrid multimodal performances' or performances that blend physical and virtual spaces. We propose a framework of aesthetic choices we have implemented to seamlessly blend physical and virtual entities. We consider aspects such as the interaction between the camera and performer, the integration of multiple conceptual spaces, the changing relation between the artist and the work, and the multiple transformations of shape that occur when transitioning between physical and virtual spaces.