Join us in beautiful Weimar to work inbetween tech, design and social sciences!
We invite applications for a research assistant position (3 years fully funded at PhD student level or if you come with higher qualification, the funding will cover ca. 75% employment). The position is part of the DFG (German national research agency) project FLUID DATA, with start date around February/March 2020.
What if data moved off the screen, with 3D physical shape and materiality, into the world, so we could touch it, hold it in our hands, feel it – or if it is a big object, it might surround us and we could walk inside it? This is the field of data physicalization, which has become a shared topic of interest across InfoViz, HCI, but also in Design and the Arts
Our new project explores the user experience of Data Physicalization, in particular that of shape-changing representations of data and the role of materiality. Shape-change enables us to represent dynamic data or to provide feedback to user interaction. What is different about a soft surface than with hard materials? How does being able to touch shape-change the experience? Can touching increase empathy? There are so many questions…
You will work in a team of two, where your part lies in the planning and conduct (and analysis) of user studies, focusing on subjective user experience. The methods to use include experimental studies, with UX questionnaires such as AttrakDiff or PANAS, but also qualitative in-depth interviews. Beyond these, there is space in the project for other, more open-ended approaches and for engaging in creative design work yourself.
You have a Master degree (e.g. in HCI, Media Informatics or Psychology) that equips you with enough background to collaborate and understand the technical aspects of the project and with initial experience in user research. Your education may have focused on either qualitative or quantitative methods, but you should be open to expand your repertoire, as the project uses a mixed-methods approach. You have an interest in user experience, like to work with people, to discuss and think together, and ideally are already intrigued by the role of physicality (e.g. material qualities, physical touch etc.). And you like working in an interdisciplinary team, in the unique setting of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, where (new media) artists, product designers, architects, urbanists, civil engineers, and media theorists are never far away.
We are the HCI research group, located within the ‘Computer Science for Media’ department. We are inherently interdisciplinary, with members from HCI, media art and design, psychology and computing and our research focuses on computerized systems that are ‘out in the world’ in a physical form, be it smart textiles, tangible interfaces, media architecture, pneumatic shape-change, or unremarkable robotics.
While smallish, Weimar has a lot going in cultural events and arts/design scene, is full of history, and provides high quality of life, with most distances being walkable/bicyclable. We have an annual arts festival and a facade projection festival, restaurants and bars far beyond what a city its size would normally have (thanks to tourists), as well as a good ‘underground’ scene of student bars and student-organized events (such as the annual soap box race). Weimar is located only 2/3 hours away from Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, and has beautiful surrounding nature. Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is in the original buildings where Bauhaus was founded. A strong focus of education is project-oriented teaching in the spirit of our history. It is the only German University that contains a Faculty of Arts and Design.
Applications are considered until the post is filled. Please apply to [log in to unmask] with cover letter (describing background and motivation), full cv, study trancript, and any other supporting material (e.g. reference letters, names of recommenders, portfolio of work, etc.) for recommendation.
https://www.uni-weimar.de/en/media/chairs/computer-science-department/human-computer-interaction/
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