Research
In our research we focus on design situated approaches in which the generation of knowledge and the development of applications go hand in hand. An important role in this is given to research prototypes, which instantiate know-what and know-how, and form the critical path throughout many projects.
The research of the DCC section has strong ties to the ID-StudioLab. Several projects and educational tracks in the section involve the development of interactive prototypes and field research platforms.
Key research areas are: contextmapping, experience sampling, interactive products, affective tangible interaction, urban interaction design, and design for sustainability and social innovation. We recognize that the transition from personal systems to complex socio-technical system entails an understanding of the multiple actors and values at play in an increasingly connected world.
In the area of research methods, we contribute to the methodological basis of Research through Design, i.e., using design methods such as visioning and prototyping as means to generate (scientific or applied) knowledge.
FieldLab for children’s play and exercise as part of an EU Interreg project. The lab focuses on research and innovation that brings together top-down approaches from the social sciences with bottom-up co-design research methods with children, to inform and inspire design for children’s well being through free play. In 2015, this focus was continued in the NWO project Co-design with kids, part of the 21st Century Skills programme, EU Climate KIC research on shaping the individual and social energy behavior of office occupants via a networked sensing and a self-reporting platform, which builds on the concept of experience sampling and self-reflection.
An exemplary Urban Interaction Design project is Open4Citizens, which has been awarded in Horizon2020 call on Collaborative Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation. Open4Citizens empowers citizens to make meaningful use of open data by creating OpenDataLabs where citizens gain digital literacy skills, can design new services and are supported in implementing these co-created solutions.
Urban Interaction Design...
The NWO/STW project MyFutures focuses on helping citizens to cope with the challenges of planning their future situation, e.g., old age care, retirement. Among other things, it aims to bring the benefits of generative techniques to support self-managed, individual reflection.