1,721,019 research outputs found
Reframing the domestic smartness. Artificial intelligence between utopia and dystopia
No full textWith AI spreading in domestic environments, the space of the house can acquire new meanings, functions and unlock new possibilities. The digital realm can pervade physical spaces to better take care of the inhabitants of the house. However, how are private domains going to evolve to embrace the potentialities and changes that AI is offering and play a crucial role in developing our well-being?
These practices are at an embryonic phase, and not enough reflections are being made in the design community as they are missing the tools and methods to deal with AI. Nevertheless, the design discipline might translate its expertise into this trending technological field, fostering concrete answers and reasonable solutions for a new way of inhabiting the domestic environment.
Accordingly, the primary purpose of this chapter is to stimulate a conversation about this topic in the design community. To drive the investigation and trigger critical reflections, six – more or less – near-future scenarios, in the form Science Fiction Prototypes (SFPs), are envisioned. They are rooted in the convergence of psychology, design, and AI, revolving around theories of emotions to impact human beings beneficially. Then, a survey, including the evaluation of four of the SFPs, is presented to advance the discussion further and pave the way towards a designerly perspective on AI systems for the domestic environment
User Experience and AI-infused products. A wicked relationship
No full textThe current panorama of AI-infused devices portrays a significant dominance of first-party smart speakers, which appear to be the first massive embodiment of AI in the domestic landscape. These devices are nothing more than discreet ornaments, looking at their simple phys- ical appearance. Although, the simple appearance betrays a complexity determined by numerous features that make such products challenging to analyze from a UX point of view.
The main evident characteristic is that they are not just “simple products” but ecosystems consisting of several interfaces and touch- points. Most of them integrate multiple interfaces – namely physical, digital, conversational – sometimes overlapping.
The second element of complexity resides in their technological core, based on learning algorithms. Therefore, the same device can provide different outputs at the same input over time, a condition that can affect the user experience.
To increase the complexity of these devices, at least from a UX standpoint, there is the fact that their real potential is rarely exploited by most users, which mainly uses routine actions such as reading news, weather forecasting, and controlling simple home appliances.
Accordingly, the chapter frames the wicked relationship between user experience and AI-infused products. Moving from the three iden- tified elements of the complexity of AI-infused products, it advances reflection on how it could be possible to analyze these products from a UX standpoint
AIXE. Building a scale to evaluate the UX of AI-infused products
Full text linkDespite the diffusion of artifacts integrating AI systems, current UX evaluation methods are not yet prepared nor comprehensive enough to include the unique traits characterizing them. That is the main premise of the [removed for blind review] project, which developed a new method to assess AI-infused artifacts. The contribution traces all the research steps that have been necessary to build AIXE, a specific and comprehensive scale framed as a questionnaire with 33 items, and aimed to support the understanding of the core UX qualities of this spreading technology. Specifically, it presents the three main phases of the research, which include: (i) the exploration of the state-of-the-art of current UX methods and reflections about AI-infused objects, (ii) the identification of dimensions and descriptors (second and first order variables) to construct an attitude scale using mixed methods sharing a human-centered approach, and (iii) the validation of the scale with an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis
Defining immersion and immersive technologies
No full textThis chapter presents findings from a systematic literature review on immersion’s evolving definition amidst recent advancements in immersive technologies. Following PRISMA guidelines, 33 studies (2013-2022) from Scopus were analyzed. The results offer a comprehensive conceptualization of immersion and introduce its constituent elements, termed keys of immersion.
The review explores immersion across disciplines, notably in Computer Science and Engineering, focusing on Virtual Reality (VR),
Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) under Extended Reality (XR). It aims to define immersion, examine technology’s
role, and identify critical elements for immersive experiences.
Central to immersion is technology-mediated illusion, emphasizing sensory stimulation and user engagement (cognitive, emotional,
physical). The research identifies six keys: Presence (feeling inside the environment), Cognitive and Emotional Engagement, Sensory
Involvement (aligning real and virtual environments), Embodiment (active participation), and Isolation (positive detachment).
This review provides a comprehensive overview of immersion’s definition amid technological advances. The keys offer insights for
researchers, practitioners, and developers in immersive technologies, shaping understanding of immersive experiences
LBMGs and Boundary Objects. Negotiation of Meaning between Real and Unreal
No full textThe paper reports on a study grounded on higher education didactic experiences involving around 180 BSc students in the design of Location Based Mobile Games that mix digital contents and physical artefacts.
By means of data gleaned from a three-year didactic experience, we challenge the extant assumption that LBMGs should exclusively rely on the digital/mobile component. Looking at LBMGs as situated experiences, we investigate the relevant role and agency of physical elements: How do they interact with the space? With players? How do they affect players’ in-game behaviours? And players’ sociality?
We focus on the agency of the above mentioned physical objects, and their ability to trigger players’ actions and to persuade them to behave according to designers’ expectancies. We analyse how these objects translate the fictional world into a space intertwined with the real one, rather than simply overlapped, and how they foster meaning making and context awareness acting as boundary objects that activate negotiations of meaning between real and “unreal”
Interactive Players. LBMGs from a Design Perspective
Full text linkAdopting a player-centered approach, this contribution delves into the relationship and interactions LBMGs activate among people (between players, and among players and non-players), with the device, and with the spaces wherein the play activity takes place. In consequence, it taps into three different levels of implications: social, technological and spatial. It reports on some empirical advances gathered from a three-years analysis on three BSc courses and a total amount of 44 Location Based Mobile Games deliberately designed for prompting challenging interactions between the digital world and physical elements in the real space. Taking advantage of the potentialities of being situated and technology-supported, they enhance and facilitate immersion and sense of agency within the game. What emerges is a novel interpretation of LBMGs players as “interactive agents”, engaged in meaningful interactions with other persons, with the space and with technology
Design by data in adaptive morphologies
No full textDesign practices have looked at natural systems as the source of inspiration for centuries to emulate their formal aspects and their life and evolutionary complexity. Since the advent of the digital revolution and the technological innovation related to computation, this issue has become increasingly part of the design plan. Today, thanks to the code-based generative tools and processes, design research is increasingly exploring the principles of biology and particularly the aspect of adaptability, which means “adaptive,” the ability of an organism to transform its original structure into a different one relating to an environmental condition, and thereby designing a symbiotic relationship between body and surrounding context. As a result, this kinetic and adaptive matrix provides strategies for designing and constructing emerging morphologies and design elements to experience creative possibilities linked to the relationship with the environment.
The paper proposes a conceptual framework for the topic’s exploration in the context of computational design, that is a multidisciplinary area of study which can be defined as the application of computational strategies to the design process and whose relevant aspect concerns the creative, logical nature, and not the mere instrumental component of the “calculation”. The paper also aims to encourage rethinking the project’s territories, viewed as growingly hybrid context, where boundaries of the design’s fields (mainly design, architecture, art, engineering, etc.) can virtuously intertwine with digital subjects of computation and therefore acquiring and increasing design value
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