Papers by Awais Hameed Khan
Democratizing Soap
Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2019
This paper explores methodological considerations of using constructive assemblies as a participa... more This paper explores methodological considerations of using constructive assemblies as a participatory design tool in order to explore new conceptual and material possibilities in saturated product categories. Constructive assemblies are tangible, reconfigurable, modular physical sets that can be combined in multiple different ways. They are valuable as collaborative tools on account of how they facilitate social inclusion by having a low skill barrier to participation. They are also valuable as generative tools, as users are able to quickly build complex constructions with the constituent components in different configurations. In this paper, we present a study in which a series of eight Participatory Design (PD) workshops were conducted with these assemblies, in which stakeholders explored possibilities for re-designing the everyday use of soap. Participants were drawn from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry and everyday soap users, and the workshops took three different configurations: video-conference and shared location, video conference and distributed location, and physical workshop and shared location. Our analysis highlights the consequentiality of the materiality of the assembly, the interplay between the specific workshop tasks, their setup and the physical constraints of the toolset, and emergent social behaviour from the experiments. We discuss these findings in relation to existing frameworks
Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2022
Although Augmented Reality (AR) has become increasingly common, the design of AR interfaces has p... more Although Augmented Reality (AR) has become increasingly common, the design of AR interfaces has predominantly relied on importing traditional 2D digital GUI interface elements. These do not always translate successfully to novel, three-dimensional, AR interfaces. To understand how users develop a folk understanding of AR interfaces, we conducted six workshops with participants to investigate their initial interactions with off-the-shelf puzzle interfaces, across three modes: tangible, handheld tablet, and head-mounted display (HMD) AR systems. We captured multiple points-ofview video data and co-analyzed it with participants. Our study (1) presents a catalogue of interactional gestures across the three modes; (2) highlights how errors are perceived as features in AR systems; (3) analyzes the evolution of gestures; and (4) identifies implications of occlusion and spatial judgement errors.
An open challenge for participatory design research is how to engage users and other stakeholders... more An open challenge for participatory design research is how to engage users and other stakeholders early in the design process, not only as informants, but as participants in the analysis of field data, prior to the formulation of design problems. Involving novice analysts introduces additional complexity as they are simultaneously domain experts but with little time available to engage with activities that do not directly inform their practice. In this paper, we develop methods that balance making data-rich video analysis accessible, whilst preserving enough of the sequential context of the video so that novice analysts can make informed judgements. We introduce a modified version of the Video Card Game, adapted to involve primary school teachers in video analysis for design. We evaluate two instances of the method. Our findings, among others discussed, suggest the approach enabled participants to leverage their domain knowledge in analytic tasks.
Bridging the cross-cultural language divide through design
Proceedings of the 30th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction, 2018
With the increasing trend of students going abroad to pursue their higher education, cross-cultur... more With the increasing trend of students going abroad to pursue their higher education, cross-cultural collaboration has become increasingly important. This study explores what considerations need to be taken into account when designing a pedagogical tool that helps enhance cross-cultural communication in a co-located context. We use a multi-stage approach that starts with a survey and observations to understand what are the key contextual aspects of cross-cultural groups. In the second stage, we design a technology probe Contributor, an interactive tabletop interface, which is deployed in a workshop involving university students with practical experience in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Results show that key considerations when designing for co-located cross-cultural collaboration tools in the context of higher education are: social accountability and visibility of prompts and accessibility of devices; focus on maintaining participants' attention to enhance conversation dynami...
Rent-a-Watt: Rethinking energy use feedback
32nd Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 2020
This paper details our journey toward re-imagining eco-feedback at scale. Simple in-home displays... more This paper details our journey toward re-imagining eco-feedback at scale. Simple in-home displays are found to offer limited efficacy and become disused, yet it is simply not feasible (or at least politically acceptable) to deploy high quality feature-rich energy feedback to every household in a region. This paper presents Rent-a-Watt, a speculative, rentable, sharing economy-based model of energy use feedback which is envisaged as a means of providing energy literacy at scale. Based on findings from a preliminary field deployment, we identify limits to engagement with smart plug-based feedback and outline avenues for future work, arguing a case for a sharing economy model of energy use feedback and the potential for a marriage of HCI work on energy use feedback with that on user-led thermal performance audits.
Designing Unconventional Communication Systems for Long-Distance Relationships Using the Flexi Card Game: A Card-Based Design Toolkit
19th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, 2020
In this demo paper, we present the Flexi Card Game – a card-based generative design toolkit to su... more In this demo paper, we present the Flexi Card Game – a card-based generative design toolkit to support designers and non-designers with different backgrounds in participatory structures in the development of unconventional communication systems, with a particular focus on supporting couples in long-distance relationships.
Flexi Card Game: A Design Toolkit for Unconventional Communication Systems for Long-Distance Relationships
Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2021
Mainstream communication technology today enables us to connect with loved ones across long dista... more Mainstream communication technology today enables us to connect with loved ones across long distances. However, even with the proliferation of easy-to-use technology, there are reports on increasing loneliness and isolation amongst people. The technologies that enable these interactions are not necessarily designed to support meaningful emotional communication for users in long-distance relationships (LDRs). Furthermore, there is a lack of participatory tools that are designed with the focus of supporting end-user involvement in the design of LDR communication systems. We developed the Flexi Card Game (FCG), a card-based generative design toolkit to support designers and non-designers within participatory structures that can help develop unconventional communication systems to support LDRs. The FCG was developed using an iterative design process, involving end-users, designers, and researchers across five workshops with 56 participants. The paper makes three main contributions: (1) presents FCG—the novel card-based design toolkit itself, (2) describes the process of developing an LDR framework into a participatory toolkit, and (3) offers lessons and insights that can help researchers who are developing participatory tools in similar contexts.
How to do things with notes: The embodied socio-material performativity of sticky notes
Design Studies, 2021
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the uses of sticky notes in a range of design-oriented... more This paper presents a detailed analysis of the uses of sticky notes in a range of design-oriented activities, from three different projects. The paper makes two principal contributions. First, it introduces a socio-material analytic for the study of design materials, and exemplifies this analysis with respect to video data of designers’ uses of sticky notes. Second, it illustrates how the material properties of sticky notes come to have interactional consequences in the performance of particular social actions. Four general thematic considerations emerge from this socio-material analysis of sticky notes: (1) a reappreciation of the embodiment of space, ownership and actions-with-notes; (2) the interactional history of notes; (3) the social and conceptual inertia of gestalt contextures; and (4) the unity of the social, material and conceptual in embodied design activity.
Speculative Designs for Emergent Personal Data Trails
Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2020
Tracing Design
Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2020
The role of design in organizations has risen in prominence since the turn of the century. Our co... more The role of design in organizations has risen in prominence since the turn of the century. Our collective understanding of this role, identification of designerly practices, and ability to trace their value and influence within an organizational landscape however remains problematic. Both industry and academia have made distinct efforts to study design in practice, acknowledging the importance of the value of design as a competitive instrument but with little agreement on how it is understood, communicated and operationalised. This paper takes a pragmatic orientation, exploring the contemporary challenges design practitioners face in terms of documenting, accounting for and communicating the value of designerly work. We adopt a bottom-up approach, conducting 11 semi-structured interviews with design practitioners, to study how practitioners in situ negotiate the design-value space. Our findings present design value communication strategies, how design knowledge is consumed, what documentation practices are used, and the organizational challenges encountered.
Disconnect
Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
As the lines between the digital and analog worlds become increasingly blurred, it is nearly impo... more As the lines between the digital and analog worlds become increasingly blurred, it is nearly impossible to traverse modern life without creating a digital footprint. This integration is so deep-rooted into the fabric of society, that if one attempted to choose to disconnect from today's hyperconnected world, one would have to move away from civilization. Weiser's vision of the omni-present, ubiquitous computer of the 21st century [21] has been realized, but at a cost. With invisible interfaces we forego the ability to recognize when we are being watched, heard or influenced by external actors. This paper takes a bottom-up approach of using design fiction narratives to explore how to design mechanisms of control (MoC) that may help reinstate human control and agency over our data. Preliminary results show emergent themes pertaining to data access, governance and sharing; the forms of MoC; as well as methodological lessons.
DRS2020: Synergy, 2020
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Disconnecting
Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2020
Data collection from users' interactions with ubiquitous computing is a wicked problem for de... more Data collection from users' interactions with ubiquitous computing is a wicked problem for design. Despite legislation increasingly requiring "informed" consent, the apathy born from a constant bombardment of consent notifications means many users remain largely uninformed about the collection, manipulation and dissemination of their personal information. We explore existing semiotics as signposts that inform individual decisions, and report from a design activity where participants mapped out their daily personal data trails. Using these as inspiration we explore how to engage users with new or emergent data trails. This pictorial provides a visual argument for (1) engaging users with whole data trails, which may yield greater benefit than the optimisation of individual notifications, and (2) how a whole data trail perspective may be valuable in the development of semiotic conventions for acquainting users with emergent (future) data trails.
Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management, 2019
Understanding the value of design in industry is a contemporary issue both in academia and indust... more Understanding the value of design in industry is a contemporary issue both in academia and industry. Many studies have been conducted using historical data, macro-level indicators, questionnaire-based tools, and abstracted post-hoc accounts of the value of design. However, very little research attempts to uncover direct insights from real-world practical experiences of designers in industry and how they negotiate the design-value space. This study uncovers rich qualitative, pragmatic considerations of how the value of design is operationalized in situ by design practitioners in industry through a series of 6 in-depth interviews. Initial results indicate that different designers undertake a series of different context-dependent strategies: these range from changing the narrative of the contribution of design based on the KPIs of the audience, to taking a non-action stance allowing for consequences and pressure from external stakeholders to help drive design in practice, as well as pe...
Speculative Design for Education: Using Participatory Methods to Map Design Challenges and Opportunities in Pakistan
Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021, 2021
The global education landscape continues to be disrupted by COVID-19. The unique circumstances cr... more The global education landscape continues to be disrupted by COVID-19. The unique circumstances created by this crisis has led to unexpected opportunities to leverage innovative uses of technologies that can radically innovate education service delivery. We map out the context of Pakistan – a country where challenges pertaining to both access to education and quality learning predate the pandemic. A context largely under explored in design and HCI research. This paper presents insights from conversations with 21 stakeholders across 15 design activities, that were structured around speculative design proposals to collaboratively envision the future of education in Pakistan. The paper offers directions for the design of EdTech through a plural, and culturally rooted speculative discussion, highlighting (1) opportunities and considerations for localising design for education, and (2) reframing the value of education in Pakistan.
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Papers by Awais Hameed Khan