The computer as a creative medium has largely influenced how we make, use, and share images. This study investigates how similarly or distinctively human designers and the computers see (i.e., process visual information from the activity of seeing) in creative practice. Based on the review of the perspectives relevant to seeing (e.g., visual experience, visual creativity, visual computing), we practiced a visual inquiry by marking how we see photographic images in comparison to what computer vision processes from the same images. Taking a researcher-introspective approach, two authors reflectively analyzed the processes and outcomes of the inquiry. The findings revealed that during the creative practice, the activity of seeing is a meaning-making process that is guided, shifted, and diffracted through visual conversations between visible and invisible qualities suggested by compositional rules and computer vision. We discuss potentials of computational visual intelligence as creative agents and conclude with methodological and practical implications.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3517539
We present Patch-O, a novel deformable interface devised as a woven patch that enables diverse movement-based interactions adaptive to garments or on-skin wearing. Patch-O interfaces are uniquely detachable and relocatable soft actuation units that can be sewn or attached to clothing or skin at various locations. To optimize the morphing effect while preserving a slim form factor, we introduce a construction approach that integrates actuators at a structural level and varies the texture and stiffness of the woven substrate locally. We implement three basic actuation primitives, including bending, expanding, and shrinking, and experiment with aggregation parameters to exhaustively extend the design space. A final workshop study inviting textile practitioners to create personalized designs of Patch-O provides insights into the expressiveness of the approach for wearable interactions. We conclude with three applications inspired by users’ designs and showcase the aesthetic and functional usages enabled by the deformable woven patches.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3517633
DNA-based digital data storage technology is hailed as a potential solution for the issues around exponential global data production. However, while the technology continues to strive towards its full commercialization, there is a lack of discourse on how it could be applied to facilitate interactions that are meaningful, ethical, and socially sustainable. As an approach to address this gap, we hosted a series of online workshops, soliciting 15 participants to engage in grounded speculations on plausible futures of DNA data storage. Themes drawn from the resulting imaginaries and discussions were situated within a selection of existing HCI literature, to generate an initial set of design opportunities and challenges for DNA data storage. Early analysis suggests that the system could be designed to 1) facilitate meaningful interactions that are intangible and molecular, and 2) foster better human relationship with more-than-human entities. Furthermore, we highlight the imperative for cross-disciplinary collaborations and pedagogy, to ensure fair and high quality access to the technology.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3501911
The increased adoption of smart home cameras (SHCs) foregrounds issues of surveillance, power, and privacy in homes and neighborhoods. However, questions remain about how people are currently using these devices to monitor and surveil, what the benefits and limitations are for users, and what privacy and security tensions arise between primary users and other stakeholders. We present an empirical study with 14 SHC users to understand how these devices are used and integrated within everyday life. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews, we investigate users’ motivations, practices, privacy concerns, and social negotiations. Our findings highlight the SHC as a perceptually powerful and spatially sensitive device that enables a variety of surveillant uses outside of basic home security—from formally surveilling domestic workers, to casually spying on neighbors, to capturing memories. We categorize surveillant SHC uses, clarify distinctions between primary and non-primary users, and highlight under-considered design directions for addressing power imbalances among primary and non-primary users.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3517617
Technological advancement has opened up opportunities for new sports and physical activities. We introduce a concept called {\it machine-mediated teaming}, in which a human and a surrogate machine form a team to participate in physical sports games. To understand the experience of machine-mediated teaming and the guidelines for designing the system to achieve the concept, we built a case study system based on tug-of-war. Our system is a sports game played by two against two. One team consists of a player who actually pulls the rope and another player who participates in the physical game by controlling the machine's actuators. We conducted user studies using this system to investigate the sport experience in this form and to reveal insights to inform future research on machine-mediated teaming. Based on the data obtained from the user studies, we clarified three perspectives, machine stamina, action space, and explicit feedback, that should be considered when designing future machine-mediated teaming systems. The research presented in this paper offers a first step towards exploring how humans and machines can coexist in highly dynamic physical interactions.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3517555