1,720,965 research outputs found
Harmony in Design: A Synthesis of Literature from Classical Philosophy, the Sciences, Economics, and Design
No full textClassical theories of harmony have been used to explain phenomena like beauty, happiness, health, virtue, pleasure, peace, and even ecological sustainability. With the intent of making these theories more accessible to designers, this article reviews the conception of harmony from about 500 BCE to the present. It begins with a brief overview of harmony in classical Chinese and Greek philosophy. Then it examines the role of harmony in the renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the early modern period across topics in aesthetics, ethics, physics, politics, and economics. Finally, turning to the 20th century, this article highlights the conceptual function of harmony in psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and design. This synthesis concludes with a review of applications and implications for contemporary designers. An essential conclusion of this article is that harmony involves the integration of diversity into a greater whole; harmony is not pure agreement or “sameness.” Overall, we suggest that classical principles of harmony might serve as a theoretical framework to help designers develop a more sustainable and vibrant vision of the future.Design Aesthetic
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Digital Distraction Barrier Design: Using Lean startup to develop an app that creates intentional friction to create conscious phone usage
No full textSmartphones have revolutionized the way we live, giving us instant access to countless tools and apps (replacing dozens of single-function products), and this has made us more and more dependent on them. But there is another side, they are taking a heavy toll on our time and attention. Unpluq is a startup that aims to help people reclaim their time and attention from their smartphones and improve people's digital wellbeing. It was started by Jorn Rigter and Tim Smits (author of this graduation project). Unpluq’s first product is a physical key that users need to plug into their phone to access distracting apps. This physical distraction barrier changes using distracting apps from a mindless habit into a conscious choice. While the key acts as a successful hardware-based barrier, it is also a limiting factor in the growth of Unpluq, because of distribution and scaling. To overcome these problems this graduation project explores the development of a new software-only version of Unpluq as this opens up easy online distribution.Smartphones have taken over control of our time and attention. It details how social media is hacking our primal brain because the business model behind the attention economy is driven to optimize for engagement, their advanced algorithms are designed to keep users scrolling. The reality is that the majority of the population has become addicted to their smartphone, with screen time reaching a 6-hour average each day in 2022. This leads to negative side effects like decreased mental wellbeing, attention span, self-reported life satisfaction, sleep quality, personal connection, productivity and more.The project then shows the consumers' need for digital wellbeing and how thisneed can be addressed through the use of tools that leverage behavioural change theories through interaction design. It explores how through the “rational override” behavioural theory it is possible to break the normal flow of smartphone usage, prompting the user to reflect and take conscious action.Although 82% of people aspire to reduce their screen time, they’re struggling to do so. The built-in screen time features are too easy to circumvent, don’t change habits and miss a balance between giving up and having control.From all the gathered quantitive and qualitative research, the graduation project establishes a list of principles of “interaction design for digital wellbeing”. The principles aim to guide interaction designers on designing for healthy digital behaviour by making users conscious, providing tools, setting intentions and finding the right balance between restoration and access to digital distractions. The design process is further guided by the insights from the research phase and follows an iterative process called the “Lean startup method” in which the designer goes through 7 Build /Measure / Learn cycles.The main concept of the app is based on 6 distraction barriers (shaking your phone, tapping buttons and more), which have been carefully designed to find a balance between blocking access to digital distractions, while still allowing access with the right amount of conscious effort. The barriers work in combination with schedules, which let users select what apps are distracting at what time. To access the app within this time frame the user has to go through the “distraction barrier”. The distraction barrier acts as the rational override and helps the user to make a conscious choice: “Is this time well spent?”. The distraction barriers integrate theprinciples of interaction design for digital wellbeing. It helps the user to make a conscious decision, balances restricting access and control and nudging towards healthier digital behaviour. The app also will include other features that are based on the principles like setting intentions, showing average screen time, time saved by unpluq, nudging notifications and suggested distracting apps.In this graduation project, it has been established that digital wellbeing tools are necessary for overall human wellbeing as we increasingly spend our time in digital environments. Products like Unpluq can help people to improve their digital wellbeing and feel in control of their devices, making sure their time is well spent. This trend will continue to grow over the coming years, when the next major personal computer innovations like VR and AR become mainstream the necessity for digital well-being will only grow.Design for Interactio
Predicting drum beats from high-density Brain Rhythms
No full textEntrainment is a phenomenon of phase or temporal matching of one system with that of another system. Human neural activity has been shown to resonate with external auditory stimuli. When we enjoy a piece of music, there is a resonance of brain responses with auditory signals. The crux of music cognition is based on this resonance of musical frequencies with intrinsic neural frequencies. It has also been demonstrated that the neural activities are synchronized across participants while listening to music, shown by high inter-subject correlation. In this work, we use this fact to predict the drumbeat a participant listens to based on their EEG response to the drumbeat. We also tested whether we could train on a smaller dataset and test with the rest of the dataset. We generated a frequency∗channel plot and fed it to a CNN model to predict drumbeat with a classification accuracy of 97% for 60-20-20 (train-dev-test) data split protocol and 94% accuracy for 20-20-60 data split. We also got 100% classification accuracy for predicting participants for both the data split protocols. Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Design Aesthetic
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Design engagement for the Recharge app to help and motivate users throughout the program
No full textDue to an increase in remote working concerns around mental and physical health are increasing. Most people are aware of this problem, but find it hard to improve their health. Recharge is a company that wants to help these people by providing an app where users experience an one-week Bootcamp. In this week they are challenged to try out new healthy exercises to break old habits and kickstart new ones. However, Recharge had the problem that users lost interest after interacting with the app. This sparked the opportunity for this project. To explore what caused users to lose motivation and how design can play a role to engage and motivate users to finish the Recharge week. The project started with a literature research on Recharge and the integration of design on the topics motivation and engagement. As a result, a journey roadmap and a user scenario was developed to get an overview of the company and the service they provide. Furthermore, a framework was developed on what features can boost motivation in design, and engagement guidelines were formulated. It appeared that the app was lacking in providing community feelings, creating personalization and customization features and providing enough feedback. To confirm these results, in-depth interviews were conducted with current Recharge users. The interviews confirmed the previous insights and showed the value of adding guidance throughout the app, smaller tasks and prioritizing and reflecting on health more regularly. With these final insights, a design direction and vision were formulated.In the developing stage brainstorming, experimentation and user tests were performed to iteratively develop the final concept. The concept consists of a new onboarding experience where users experience more choice freedom in picking their goals and obstacles. Furthermore, well-being questionnaires were formulated to measure the success of the week and guides users to see what they want to achieve. A new checkbox system was developed where users could customize their tasks, participate in smaller tasks and personal recommendations were displayed based on the onboarding data. At last, reflection activities were added where users could select statements to make it easier to reflect on their day and a final survey of the week was added.During the last user test more feedback and reflection activities were added to the concept, for example adding a final summary at the end of the onboarding, day and week. In the daily overview users could reflect on the tasks by ranking them in a top 3 category. Furthermore, after every small task and at the end of the day/week users could check their progress. Although the last recommendations were applied, there was still room for improvement. To push Recharge in the right direction a strategic roadmap was created for the coming 2 years. This roadmap consists of the future user focus, future features, feasibility and the METUX spheres. At last, an evaluation of the project was conducted with it’s main takeaways and limitations. Finally, the project ends with a personal reflection on my ambition and learning curve.App prototype https://xd.adobe.com/view/c9efdbb2-24fe-4bb0-ab60-de0b28b1752a-9cbc/Design for Interactio
AI for Experience: Designing with Generative Adversarial Networks to evoke climate fascination
No full textOur world climate is an incredibly complex and ever-changing system. The reality of climate change and the consequential pressure to act fast to reduce greenhouse gas emissions requires immediate attention. And yet, despite this unprecedented urgency, active public engagement needed to motivate meaningful change is still missing. This graduation project explores how to utilize Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) – a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) – to motivate public engagement through the emotion of fascination and element of play. The final design of this exploration is an interactive exhibition piece that allows its users to create novel, AI-generated landscapes. In the first phase of the project, hands-on exploration of the use of GANs as a design opportunity was conducted and the experiences of the exploration process documented. Further research through interviews with climate researchers and literature review into the topics of climate change helped to get an understanding of the climate context and map out and narrow down the solution space for the following ideation phase. The context research revealed that the current climate debate is deeply emotional, with mostly negative emotions like fear and hopelessness in its center. Yet, it was also found that fostering positive emotions like fascination and joy is a potential means to increase interest and motivate people to engage with climate initiatives. Based on the context exploration, a series of design prototypes were created and tested with participants to inform the final design.The final concept LANDSHAPES is an interactive exhibition piece intended for the museum context. It features a circular projection of AI-generated aerial landscapes – images that look real, yet have never been seen by anyone before. The installation enables participants to become absorbed in the morphing landscapes and experience their potential impact on our surroundings in a playful, open-ended manner. A preliminary installation was evaluated with participants using qualitative methods of observation and interviews. The installation evoked a deep sense of beauty, calmness, and inspiration that contributed to a meditation-like, engaging experience. Even without a predefined narrative, participants automatically associated the morphing images with our changing planet and ascribed meaning to the abstract visuals. The addition of control over the moving landscapes resulted in a mindset shift, as the experience transformed from a passive and meditative experience to an experience with additional cognitive involvement. The preference of experience differed between participants. The design research conducted in this project strengthens the assumption that experiences with positive emotion in its center can be used to foster initial engagement with the topic of climate change. Furthermore, it showed that GAN technology can be used to evoke an emotional response, which offers interesting opportunities for future work. More specifically, the research suggests the potential for further development of playful experiences to make climate data accessible and engaging to the general public, as well as an opportunity to explore GANs that utilize emotional value as an input to generate targeted media that reinforces or counteracts the viewer’s emotional response.Design for Interactio
Improving Search Relevance Feedback through Human Centered Design
No full textArtificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play a transformational role in health and wellbeing. Search (i.e. information retrieval) technologies already play a significant role in healthcare research and practice. Relevance feedback in Search is vital for system evaluation and improvements. However, in small user scale contexts, the exploitation of user behaviors may not infer valid relevance judgments. Therefore, engaging users to provide such feedback explicitly is essential for improving search performance (i.e. effectiveness). However, previous research has found that users are generally reluctant to provide explicit feedback in digital environments, and the willingness decreases overtime in some experiments. In collaboration with myTomorrows, an Amsterdam-based pharma-tech company, this Master thesis aims to find answers to the challenge mentioned above through a specific context of myTomororws AI-powered treatment Search which has the urgent need for engaging healthcare professionals (HCPs) in providing relevance feedback on search results (e.g. Clinical Trials and Expanded Access Programs) for system evaluation and improvements. Through Human Centered Design methods such as interviews, observations, and speed dates, the project yielded a future myTomorrows Search design enhanced with three relevance feedback collection concepts. As research materials, the concepts were tested and evaluated by nine HCPs from three countries (the Netherlands, China, and Brazil). The user study results indicate that embedding utility, as the motivator, in relevance feedback collection appeals to HCPs more than using motivators such as altruism or enjoyment. Moreover, the best point of user engagement is identified as the moment between users finishing the examination of information and starting the next ones. Additionally, this study generalized the project process and user study insights into a four-stage guide for designing explicit feedback collection in text-base Search. Although it remains unvalidated, this guide has the potential to apply to other small user scale contexts, guiding or inspiring user researchers and designers to design explicit user feedback collection in Search.Design for Interactio
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