hello and thank you for joining us my
name is Netta Ofer
my co-authors are Fiona Bell and Mirela
Alistar
and i'm excited to present our work on
Designing Direct Interactions
with Bioluminescent Algae
in this work we present a design space
exploration with dinoflagellates
which are bioluminescent algae naturally
found
in marine environments
the bioluminescent phenomenon is a
chemical reaction
that occurs whenever dinoflagellates are
physically stimulated
whenever physically stimulated the
oxygen in the dinoflagellates
environment
increases causing a luciferin-luciferase
chemical reaction
and production of light in the organism
in terms of interaction design this
phenomenon
can be seen as immediate feedback to
physical stimulation
in the form of light emission
this mechanism holds opportunities for
HCI and interaction designers
to design direct physical interactions
with living matter
however we propose a design approach
that aims to shift away from previous
approaches of using living matter in
interaction design
as a material or tool and towards a
relationship
between the living organism and the
human user
we propose an organism center design
approach
inspired by more than human notions of
design
and the livingness quality of the
organism at the center of the
interaction
organism center design prioritizes the
needs and well-being of the organism
by first focusing on identifying the
environments
in which the organism can thrive in and
only then
exploring the available interactions
within those environments
since assessing the organism's
well-being and experience within the
interaction
is challenging we suggest a framework
that can help designers establish
boundaries when interacting and working
with an organism
in the next slides i will present the
components of our proposed
framework and demonstrate how we applied
the framework
to exploring direct and physical
interaction
with dinoflagellates
the framework consists of four
components
form reception feedback
and control the form component
investigates the various shapes this
environment can take
and the various materials the organism
can thrive in
the reception component investigates the
well-being of the organism
in this environment designers should
assess
if the organism is thriving in this
environment
how long it takes the organism to adapt
to this environment
and if this environment is stressful for
the organism
the feedback component is meant to assess
the behavior of the organism within
the environment designers should ask
what are the available feedback
abilities
of the organism in this environment what
are the qualities
of the behavior when interacting with
the organism
can the feedback of the organism be
perceived by the human in this
environment
and how long does it take the organism
to respond or change its behavior
once it's interacted with the control
component
addresses the human user's actions and
evaluates the potential
impact on the well-being of the organism
designers should ask what actions can
the human perform within this
environment
and do they harm the organism how does
the human interact with the organism in
this environment
and to what extent can the human control
the organism's response or behavior
we applied this framework in our design
exploration with dinoflagellates
and found three successful environments
we determined the environment successful
when the dinoflagellates
thrived in it the three environments we
found
are closed porous and open
environments in the following slides i
will present the aspects of each
environment
and an interaction example in order to
demonstrate interactions
in these environments transparent
containers can be used as closed
environments
for dinoflagellates whenever physically
stimulated
the whole container will light up with
the dinoflagellates light
such containers are used in lab settings
hence the dinoflagellates can thrive in
these containers for long periods of
time
we designed dinoflagellates checkers
ponds
to demonstrate interaction with closed
environments
porous materials such as sponge and foam
can hold dinoflagellates in their pores
and
act as porous environments
the light feedback by the
dinoflagellates is local
to wherever the human user applies
physical stimulation
spraying the dinoflagellates culture
onto a porous material
is also a possible interaction
dinoflagellates soaked
into porous materials can be used for
contact-games
such as hopscotch
dinoflagellates in and on open
containers and surfaces
can be used as open environments
open environments afford interactions of
mixing pouring and directly interacting
with the culture
open containers with the culture can be
used as a basket for a ball game
providing feedback whenever the player
manages to get the ball
in the bowl
with an organism center design approach
living organisms can be considered
as active entities in the design process
growing and maintaining living cultures
also emphasizes
the livingness of the organism allowing
the designer to form a relationship
with the organism and design
interactions that can benefit
all entities involved
as with all work with living matter
there are design
challenges and limitations however we
hope our work will encourage the design
community
to further explore physical and direct
interactions with living matter
and design with dinoflagellates while
considering the well-being
and needs of the living organism
thank you for watching and please reach
out if you have any feedback or
questions