Special Issue of UXUC Journal (User Experience and Urban Creativity): Research through Interaction Design (RtD + IxD = RtIxD) (Aug 2021)

Website: UXUC

Deadline for submissions: 5 August 2021

UXUC Journal is an open access regular scientific publication devoted to contributing to knowledge exchange of researchers and professionals interested in developing relations between User Experience (UX) and the built environment, urban planning, public space, urban design, and other environmental applications (not excluding digital media).

Research through Interaction Design (RtD + IxD = RtIxD)

Design methodologies and processes leading to creative production as legitimate procedures in the field of research have been widely debated and discussed (Niedderer & Roworth-Stokes 2007). In recent years, particularly from the perspective of Frayling (1993), ‘research’ and ‘design’ have come together as operative terms in a methodology that recognizes the design process as an appropriate research activity - Research through Design (RtD) (Herriott 2019).

Such methodology is constituted, in Burdick's (2003) perspective, by “the design process itself, including materials research, development work, and the critical act of recording and communicating the steps, experiments, and iterations of design”. Several authors (Archer 1995; Stappers & Giaccardi 2002; Frens 2007; Zimmerman & Forlizzi 2014; Durrant et al 2017) claim that knowledge can sometimes be acquired more effectively through practice, i.e., through experience and consequent critical reflection of this experience. In this way, we learn through dynamic articulation of practice with theoretical research, and from it we generate a systematic reflection on the whole process.

Initially applied to Art and Design, RtD gained a position in other areas, such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design (IxD), being considered a relevant research way (Fallman & Stolterman 2010), as it integrates models and theories with technical knowledge in the design process (Zimmerman, Forlizzi & Evenson 2007). Within the scope of interactive systems, RtD also allows to expand knowledge by creative, speculative and experimental perspectives that help designers to deal with the complexity presented by our contemporaneity.

Despite existing connections, and ensuring adequacy of these processes in ​​Interaction Design to each research goal, there is still a need for further studies to better understand RtD within Interaction Design and how it can help to advance knowledge in the area. By realizing this, we propose as a theme for this call for papers the relation of Research through Design with Interaction Design (RtD + IxD = RtIxD).

With this we intend to: 1) create a space for interdisciplinary debate to strengthen RtIxD; 2) understand its application in different contexts, to measure any obtained results and to assess the impact on research, education and profession; 3) assess the potential of RtIxD for creating interactive systems, with a critical and speculative dimension.

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit papers, essays and reviews that fit the following topics of interest, but not limited to:

• Practice-based methods in Interaction Design;
• Interaction Design projects and corresponding documentation;
• Reflection in action in projects that involve interaction;
• Development of interactive projects: graphical interfaces (screens), voice interfaces, tangible interaction, home automation, HCI, augmented reality or mixed reality; etc.
• Evidence of creative process in Interaction Design (sketches, wireframes, prototypes) as steps to answer research questions.

For FULL PAPER (Journal publication) submissions please visit: https://journals.ap2.pt/index.php/uxuc/about/submissions

Important Dates

• Deadline (full paper for Journal publication): August 5
• Notification to the authors: November 1
• Camera ready paper: November
• Publication of the special issue: December

Guest Editors: Marco Neves (FA-ULisboa) and Sónia Rafael (FBA-ULisboa)

For scientific advices and for any query please contact:

• mneves@fa.ulisboa.pt
• s.rafael@belasartes.ulisboa.pt

References

Archer, B. (1995). The nature of research. Co-design, 3(1), 6-13.
Burdick, A. (2003). Design (As) Research. In Brenda Laurel (ed), Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, p.82. MA: MIT Press.
Durrant, A. C.; Vines, J.; Wallace, J. & Yee, J. (2017). Research Through Design: Twenty-First Century Makers and Materialities. Design Issues: 33(3). MA: MIT Press.
Fallman, D. & Stolterman, E. (2010). Establishing criteria of rigour and relevance in interaction design research, Digital Creativity, 21:4, 265-272.
Frayling, C. (1993). Research in Art and Design. Royal College of Art Research Papers Volume 1, Number 1, pp. 1-5. UK: Royal College of Art.
Frens, J. (2007). Research through Design: a Camera Case Study. In Ralf Michel (ed). Design Research Now. Essays and Selected Projects, pp.135-156. Basel: Birkhäuser.
Herriot, R. (2019). What Kind of Research is Research Through Design?. In IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. International Association of Societies of Design Research, Manchester, 11.
Niedderer, K., & Roworth-Stokes, S. (2007). The Role and Use of Creative Practice in Research and its Contribution to Knowledge. IASDR International Conference 2007, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Stappers, P.J. & Giaccardi, E. (2002). Research through Design. In: The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd. Ed. Chapter 43. Interaction Design Foundation.
Zimmerman, J. & Forlizzi, J. (2014). Research through design in HCI. In Olson, J. & Kellogg, W., eds., Ways of Knowing in HCI, Springer
Zimmerman, J.; Forlizzi, J. & Evenson, S. (2007). Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. CHI '07: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 2007, pp. 493–502.