Developing somatic sensibilities for practices of discernment in interaction design

ABSTRACT

The recent turn in the field of human–computer interaction to design and the aesthetics of interaction has generated a renewed focus on the body as the fundamental site of experience. Interaction design researchers and educators are exploring how to design for the felt dimension of interactions with computing technologies, anchored in the sensing and feeling capacities of the lived body. An expanded view of aesthetics beyond the visual has led to calls for approaches that foster a somatic literacy for interaction design. Our focus in this article centers on the importance of incorporating somatic sensitization in design pedagogy, toward a more holistic approach taking advantage of the sapient capacities of the body as a tool for meaning-articulation. Through the presentation of our case involving a workshop comparing the notions of tactile sensing and felt-sensing, we discuss our strategies for including a somatic learning process in design education, particularly in the context of design evaluation and creativity. We discuss some of the challenges we have experienced in facilitating and developing somatic sensibilities for practices of discernment in the evaluation of the qualities of designed interactive technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Somatic literacy
• discernment
• aesthetics of interaction
• interaction design
• design education
• evaluation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lian Loke

Dr Lian Loke is an interaction design researcher and performance artist. She has an established research program of working with somatic practitioners and dancers to inform the design and human experience of body-focused interactive systems. She is Director of the Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts program, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney.

Claudia Núñez-Pacheco

Claudia Núñez-Pacheco is a researcher and lecturer in design at the Universidad Austral de Chile. Her research investigates how bodily self-awareness can be used as a tool for human self-discovery as well as a crafting material for the design of aesthetic experiences. In her research journey, she has engaged in a multidisciplinary exploration that merges design thinking and the novel inclusion of Focusing as a method and philosophy.