Please find below a press release from Goldsmiths, University of
London for your attention.
22 November 2007
Inaugural Lecture:
Curious things for curious people: Designing technology for everyday
life
Tuesday 11 December 2007, 5.30pm - 6.30pm
George Wood Theatre, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross,
London SE14 6NW
Admission: FREE
Professor of Design and member of the innovative Interaction Research
Studio, William Gaver, will deliver his Inaugural Lecture titled:
'Curious things for curious people: Designing technology for everyday
life.' The Lecture will be introduced by the Warden of Goldsmiths,
Professor Geoffrey Crossick, followed by a reception.
Admission free, all welcome. The Lecture is unticketed, but please e-
mail [log in to unmask] or telephone 020 7919 7033 if you plan to
attend. Visit www.goldsmiths.ac.uk for map and travel information.
Lecture summary:
Digital technologies increasingly pervade our everyday lives. Sadly,
they tend to reflect life as an endless round of work, entertainment
and consumption. At the Interaction Research Studio, we design
computational products that tell more interesting stories about who
we are and what we care about.
The Plane Tracker, for instance, is an appliance that tracks passing
flight traffic and imagines views of their journeys. The Local
Barometer is a family of small devices that display text and images
from local sources as if blown through the home. The Home Health
Horoscope uses a set of 'shy sensors' to pick up indicative
information about household activities and reflects this back to
users in the form of automatically generated horoscopes.
Our designs share several features. They are purposefully made open-
ended, even ambiguous, to evoke curiosity and engagement rather than
provide predetermined experiences. They raise spaces of issues and
possibilities, but allow people to find their own answers within
them. They provide new views on the world, simultaneously asking
questions about the values we find in technology, and the values we
embrace more generally.
In this lecture, I will describe a number of the artifacts we have
built and what happens when we allow people to try them for extended
periods of time. I explain the design-centred methods we use for
understanding people, exploring possible designs, and assessing the
results, and propose these methods as an alternative to more
traditional science and engineering approaches. Finally, I will
discuss how doing this work in the multifaceted Goldsmiths
environment is shaping our approach to address new issues in the future.
Notes to editors: Professor William Gaver has pursued research on
innovative technologies for over 15 years, following a trajectory
that led from experimental science to design. His research work has
included an auditory interface for the Macintosh, devices that allow
people to move remote video cameras as if looking through a window,
and, most recently, a number of systems that explore playful
interactions at home. Much of his work has been pursued with and for
companies such as Intel, France Telecom, Hewlett Packard, IBM and
Xerox. He is a member of the AHRC and EPSRC Peer Review Colleges and
also on the Steering Group for the Joint Council Designing for the
21st Century initiative.
For more information on the Interaction Research Studio visit http://
www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/interaction/index.php
Images and interviews with Professor Gaver are available on request.
Press enquiries: Tim Hirst, Communications and Publicity, tel 020
7919 7970, e-mail [log in to unmask]
Tim Hirst
Press & PR Officer
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross, London SE14 6NW
t: +44 (0)20 7919 7970
f +44 (0)20 7919 7975
e: [log in to unmask]
www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/experts
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Paul Brown - based in the UK October - November 2007
mailto:[log in to unmask] == http://www.paul-brown.com
UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
Skype paul-g-brown
====
Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====
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