Felt Ethics: Cultivating Ethical Sensibility in Human-Robot Interaction
by Rachael Garrett Tuesday 2nd of April 2024, 14.00
https://umu.zoom.us/j/64414910712 and MIT.A.466
Ethical sensibilities are constantly enacted in design practice. This seminar will unpack felt ethics: an attitude of somatic, critical, and reflective attentiveness towards how our ethical sensibilities are engaged in design. Using four lenses – the felt self, intercorporeal self, socio-cultural and political self, and entangled self – I will discuss how our selves and ethical sensibilities are fundamentally constituted by a socially, materially, and technologically entwined world. Further, I will outline an approach to ethics in design practice that is comprised of (i) a processual cultivation of ethical sensibility through analytical, pragmatic, and practical engagement, (ii) an ongoing critical attentiveness to the limits of our own bodies and lived experiences, and (iii) the rendering visible of our ethical practices as a matter of care. Finally, I discuss two ongoing research projects involving autonomous technologies that employ felt ethics to explore the ethical assumptions embedded in industrial robots and, in future work, how we might reimagine and remake human-robot relations through design.
Bio: Rachael Garrett is an interaction designer and doctoral researcher in MID (Media Technology and Interaction Design) at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and supported by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS).
Learning to sense: enabling participation in design by Katerina Katka Cerna Monday 12th of February, 14:00 at MIT.A.466 https://umu.zoom.us/j/68421035936
We find ourselves amidst a global crisis affecting both the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. We need to develop novel strategies for engaging with our environment, to create a sustainable world where all living entities, human and more, can not only survive but live in balanced coexistence. In some ways, we need to learn a new sense for our environment and maybe for ourselves as well. To dive into this complex problem, I will present two seemingly disparate cases: a participatory design project focused on patients experiencing pain and a more-than-human design project focusing on integrating insects and plants into the design process. What connects these cases is the necessity to get to know the relevant bodies through different ways of engaging with them. The concept that will be the key for this discussion is enabling participation in the design process: What do we as designers need to know to be able to design in a genuinely sustainable way? But also what kind of experiences do our participants need to be able to make meaningful decisions in a design process?
Bio: Katka Katerina Cerna is an assistant professor at Halmstad University (Sweden). She uses design ethnographic and participatory approaches to understand learning and design to enable people to take the actions they need in the more-than-human world.
A designerly account on biomaterials for smart textiles by Sofía Guridi Wednesday 6th of December 14.00 https://umu.zoom.us/j/68421035936
Electronic textiles materials capable of sensing, reacting, and adapting to environmental stimuli have shown great potential in the fields of performance, healthcare and interaction design. Nevertheless, combinations of electronic components with complex textiles structures are commonly used to create them, raising questions about their life cycle and sustainability.
The presentation will address these sustainability concerns, with a particular focus on biomaterial´s potential to create soft interactive biodegradable interfaces. A range of biomaterials will be presented, such as mycelium or cellulose, showcasing their main characteristics, benefits and how they have been applied in the field of electronic textiles from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Bio: Sofia Gurudi is a designer specialized in blending textiles, electronics, and biomaterials to craft interactive surfaces. Her approach fuses traditional knowledge with material experimentation, leading to a portfolio spanning from applied research to artistic installations. Currently pursuing a PhD in Sustainable Smart Textiles, she contributes to Aalto University’s Fashion/Textiles Futures research group and the Bioinnovation Center.
Geographical Intelligence by William Lidberg November 6th, 13:00-15.30 at MIT.A.466 and https://umu.zoom.us/j/63546467001
Since the industrial revolution people in northern Europe have moved out of the countryside to the coast and into cities. The way we manage forests has changed from small-scale manual labor to industrial scale forestry. This also means that the number of people involved in forest management is reduced. A handful of people are now managing large parts of northern Europe. To do this they depend on automation and digital planning tools such as maps. However, current maps are created from aerial photos and it’s not possible to see landscape features underneath the forest canopy. Information such as the location of streams, wetlands, soils and cultural remains are missing from current maps. This leads to sol damage such as ruts and erosion which impact water quality and biodiversity. In this seminar I will talk about how airborne laser scanning, remote sensing and machine learning can be combined to solve some of the most severe problems with modern forestry. I will also discuss weather this is a good idea.
Bio: William Lidberg is a soil scientist from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and works across the disciplines of soil science, computer science and social science to reduce some of the negative impacts of modern forestry.
Frameworking for Feminist Ethics by Ana Henriques October 10 at 10:15, NAT.C1.203
This talk delves into the multifaceted relationship between ethics, technology, and gender. It provides a critical examination of how technology design can either perpetuate or challenge gender biases, shedding light on the ethical dimensions often overlooked in the digital realm. Through the exploration of real-world cases and research findings, I will explore the intricate web of ethical considerations within the design of technology. By understanding the subtle ways in which biases can manifest in our design choices, we will be better equiped to grasp the potential for technology to serve as a transformative force in promoting equity.
Bio: Ana Henriques (she/they) is currently a junior researcher at ITI-LARSyS, in Lisbon, Portugal. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico and a Master’s in Communication Design from the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Fine Arts. Ana has focused their research within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and is developing a process of ethical frameworking for digital civics in the context of the DCitizens project.
Designing from self to others in interaction design by Claudia Núñez Pacheco June 13 at 13:00, MIT.A.476 / Zoom https://umu.zoom.us/j/62796154691
The fact that bodies play a central role in our meaning-making process has motivated interaction design and HCI researchers to search out somatic methods to access the complexities of our lived experiences. The premise is that to design rich, multisensory interactive technologies, designers must first be able to understand and articulate the implicit aspects of how we sense and interact with the world around us. In this presentation, I will introduce a series of case studies –derived from my research–describing the design process of prototypes created to make audiences reflect on their stories through the lens of otherness. I will discuss aspects concerning empathy and the politics of sharing first-person data from the standpoint of ethics and representation.
Bio: I am an interaction design researcher and artist, currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design at KTH The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. I hold a PhD and a master’s degree from the Sydney School of Design at the University of Sydney in interaction design. My research investigates how bodily self-awareness can be used as a tool for human self-discovery as well as a generative crafting material for the design of aesthetic experiences. In my research journey, I have engaged in a multidisciplinary exploration that merges human-centred design and somatic-oriented methods, such as micro-phenomenology and focusing.
More about Claudia: https://linktr.ee/cnunezpacheco