Author Archives: Saara

New Media Doctoral Seminar, December 13

Welcome to the Media Lab Doctoral Seminar (Christmas gathering)
TIME: Thursday December 13, 2018, from 16:30–19:30
LOCATION: Aalto University, Learning Centre, room JUHO.

DOM-L0007 New Media Doctoral Seminar
Responsible teacher: Prof. Lily Díaz-Kommonen

PRESENTATIONS BY:
Guest speaker: Priscilla Ferronato (Illinois Informatics Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Massimo Menichinelli

See abstracts below.

 

The seminar is open for all in Aalto University. Welcome!

 

A transitory approach to post-human centered design: understanding the users’ perception of trust in open and decentralized technologies

by Priscilla Ferronato

The development of technologies like AI and ML, the rise of new forms of human-computer interaction, and the consolidation of areas of study like STS and posthumanism theories have been supporting the disruption of traditional design approaches. Moreover, open and decentralized networks, in addition to data, can be used to better understand society as part of a complex socio-technical system. However, the understanding, anticipation, and design of the dynamics of socio-technical systems, require a perspective beyond human-centered design. By investigating the human perception of trust in open and decentralized technologies and the dynamics of the interaction between humans and non-humans actors, this research aims to explore a new post-human centered design methodology for designing, researching and communicating transparent intelligent systems based on decentralized networks where both non-human and human actors are active agents that base their work and interactions on trust.

Priscilla Ferronato is a Ph.D. candidate in the Illinois Informatics Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, holds a Master of Science in Strategic Design, and her research focus is on the intersection of technology, design, and society. She is a User Experience Research at Synchrony Financial, one of the biggest corporate credit card provider in the USA, where she has been working on the implementation of a customer experience research center for the development and adoption of emerging technologies. As part of her Ph.D. dissertation, she has been using a mixed method approach to understand the users’ perception of trust in open and decentralized technologies, like blockchain and open governmental data.

 

A research through design approach for exploring meta-design tools and practice for the organizing of Open and Collaborative Design and Making processes.

by Massimo Menichinelli

The design research and practice have recently been investigating how to
have an active role in enabling collaborative and distributed systems
through the analysis, visualization and design of their collaborative
tools, platforms, processes and organizations. By adopting a meta-design
perspective, new possibilities have emerged for designers to be active
agents in the organization and management of collaborative and
distributed processes, especially design and making ones. How can be
collaborative design processes documented, analysed, managed, shared?
This research presents a research through design frameworks that
connects both practice and research, data formats and digital platforms,
researches and experiments for exploring the role and nature of
meta-design and meta-designers in facilitating collaborative design
processes starting from their description with digital ontologies.

Massimo Menichinelli: designer, has published several scientific
articles and books on the topics of Open Design, Makers and Fab Labs and
has lectured on Digital Fabrication and Open Design at Aalto University
(Helsinki, Finland) and Open Design at SUPSI (Lugano, Switzerland) and
in the Fab Academy (Opendot and WeMake, Italy). Massimo worked on the
development of the Aalto FabLab, the MUSE Fab Lab (Trento, Italy), the
Opendot makerspace/Fab Lab (Milan, Italy). He worked also as a Director
at Make In Italy Italian Fablab & Makers Foundation CDB where he
researched and facilitated Fab Labs and Makers in Italy. He works now as
a project manager for research projects at IAAC | Fab City Research Lab,
especially in the MAKE-IT and SISCODE Horizon 2020 European project and
as a coordinator of the Creative Europe platform programme Distributed
Design Market Platform and as project manager of Fablabs.io, the
official and open source platform for the global Fab Lab Network.

Kansalliskirjaston tutkijapaikat haettavana 10.12.2018 mennessä / National Library’s researchers’ workstations application period for 2019 open

Kansalliskirjaston tutkijan tutkijapaikkojen haku vuodelle 2019 auki:
National Library’s researchers’ workstations application period for 2019 open:
 
 
 

CfAR: Post Doc Art event 4.12.2018: Artists, Institutions and Social Responsibility

https://sites.uniarts.fi/en/web/cfar/artists-institutions-and-social-responsibility-4.12.2018

CfAR – Centre for Artistic research, Uniarts Helsinki
Post Doc Art event 4.12.2018

Artists, Institutions and Social Responsibility

Tuesday 4.12.2018 at 15:00–19, Theatre Academy, Room 525, Staircase C (Haapaniemenkatu 6, Helsinki)

The group ‘Socially Responsible Arts Institutions and Artists’ is a collective of artists and researchers. They are part of Cupore and ArtsEqual, specializing in promoting the potential in art to create equal encounters between people from different backgrounds. The group’s art and research take place in and with communities, on their own terms or for them. The forms of activity are prison theatre, community museum, community art, audience involvement courses and guided walks in the city. This is the first opportunity to share their work with CfAR. The session is led by Mari Martin and Pekka Kantonen.

Refreshments will be provided – Welcome!

Program 4.12.2018

Anu Koskinen: Participatory observing in prison theatre – An attempt to a thick description in the contexts of artistic action research
Demonstration

Pekka Kantonen: Aesthetical and ethical reflections of the invited outsider cameraman
Reflection with a video

Katja Thomson: Katja and a viola

Ajauksia artist group: Sensory exercise
The group’s work is based on equal decision-making and anonymity. Collective working method is based on bodily and sensory exercises. You can participate in the exercise, in your way, or you can follow it from the outside.

Ehvivaija group: A collective song on artistic research (in Finnish)
The audience can participate in repeating the phrases.

Sari Karttunen: What motivates this group of artist-researchers and how does it relate to the ArtsEqual research initiative

Joint discussion with the audience

Design or Die – Creative Value Creation and Competitiveness

Quite often people in the creative sector are not very familiar with selling their doings nor they are aware of their IPR. The seminar will also discus how companies and public sector could make use of design in multi disciplinary product and service development, innovation processes and strategic planning. 

You are welcome to discuss with us on Tuesday 4 December 2018 at 10-13 at Harald Herlin Learning Centre. 

https://studios.aalto.fi/design-or-die-event

Register for participation RSVP 3rd Dec at 9 the latest

Program:

Welcome to Aalto
JUHANI TENHUNEN (Aalto)
Design or Die – project in short
ANU RAAPPANA (LAMK)
Creative Industry as Primary Industry – not Just a Supporter
PETRA TARJANNE (TEM)
Crossing Borders between Design Education and Work Life through Collaborative Experimentation
TARJA SALMELA-LEPPÄNEN (ULapland)
 
Three Perspectives for Creative Work and Selling
”Selling Design”,
”Designers as Sellers”,
”Designing B2B Selling”
MIKKO ILLI (Aalto), MARIA KUUSISTO (Sherpa)
IPR Toolkit for Designers
JUSSI ILVONEN (Ornamo)
Panel discussion and questions 10-20 minutes.

Post-doc in creative circular economies

Full time, 18 months Post-Doc Position based at QUB, Belfast

Short description of the project:

Advancing Creative Circular Economies for Plastics via Technological-Social Transitions (ACCEPT Transitions) 

Queens University Belfast

This is a unique multidisciplinary multi-scaled project that brings together polymer scientists, chemists, engineers, architects/designers, political scientists, psychologists, users and manufacturers – The architect/designer Post-doc will bring a design and curatorial approach to the process. 

The overall project aims to integrate innovation and creative thinking across technological, policy, consumer behaviour and supply chain management domains on a focused region of the UK ie NI. It aims to develop ‘socio- technological transitions’ that facilitate a just transition to a circular economy for existing and future plastics, by conserving and creating sustainable energy and materials, developing new products and green jobs, and supporting economic growth in NI and the wider UK. 

The Post-Doc role will involve working with the QUB polymer centre to design, develop and prototype a 3-D interlocking block using plastic waste to suit the principles of circular design. The role will involve collaborating with psychologists to test and collate manufacturer and consumer/user response to the resultant prototypes, and also being responsible for curating outcomes across the entire project into a public exhibition. 

The role requires self- and project management skills, a creative approach, good documentation practices, digital imaging skills and a willingness to learn new software where necessary. 

This is a unique chance to work with a diverse and supportive academic team alongside six other post-docs.  Ruth Morrow (professor of Archtiecture) will be supporting the role as one of the project Co-I’s

Contact ruth.morrow@qub.ac.uk

New Media Doctoral Seminar, November 22

Welcome to the Media Lab Doctoral Seminar
TIME: Thursday November 22, 2018, from 16:30–19:30
LOCATION: Aalto University, Learning Centre, room JUHO.

DOM-L0007 New Media Doctoral Seminar
Responsible teacher: Prof. Lily Díaz-Kommonen

PRESENTATIONS BY:
Marjaana Veermans (University of Turku), guest speaker
Eva Durall

See abstracts below.

The seminar is open for all in Aalto University. Welcome!

 

Development of computational thinking, scientific reasoning and interest through art and design practices

by Marjaana Veermans

Abstract: Marjaana’s talk will explore how art and design processes can be implemented in interdisciplinary learning settings that will engage students in science practices. People’s general alertness, for instance, on health and nutrition topics, show that people are interested in reading and learning science when it comes to issues that relate to their daily lives. The concept of interest can explain why people want to engage in these topics and learn from them. In school context students should be guided to transform their practical problems into scientific questions and to translate science back into practical solutions. Integrating science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with art and design (STEAM), provides a concrete solution for creating science learning environments in which students’ existing interests can be better taken into consideration than in traditional science learning by creating student initiated design activities. In art and design learning the focus is on creating artifacts. This can be a way to move from the emphasis of content knowledge in science learning to the direction of learning how to do science. In addition, art and design are process oriented and solution driven.

Bio: Marjaana Veermans is an Associate professor and a Collegium Research Fellow in the Department of Teacher Education in the University of Turku. Her area of expertise is on motivational aspects of learning environments. The methodological expertise of Veermans is in design experiments and conducting research in authentic classrooms, combining both quantitative and qualitative sets of data. Both her Ph.D. project and her postdoctoral project funded by Academy of Finland have been complex longitudinal research projects. She has also been involved as the responsible investigator in numerous EC-funded longitudinal research and developmental projects as well as national ones.

 

Reflection and Self-Regulation Using Monitoring Tools in Learning
– Critical Design Exploration on Self-Monitoring During Independent Study

By: Eva Durall

Abstract: Monitoring technologies enable the automatic collection and analysis of data to provide feedback about diverse activities and processes. Despite these technologies are increasingly present in different contexts of human life, for instance in the quantified-self movement, in learning, monitoring tools are still an emerging technology. To date, most approaches to use monitoring tools in learning have focused on finding application areas without problematizing the context of use. Little attention has been paid to issues like the nature of data and the inferences that are made based on them, the role of students in learning, and the conception of learning and technology. This presentation addresses this research gap and provides an understanding of the issues related to the design of monitoring tools and the adoption of techno-monitoring practices in learning.

Bio: Eva Durall is a Ph.D. candidate at LeGroup and holds a MA in ePedagogy and Visual Knowledge Building (Aalto University). Her doctoral research is focused on the design of learning tools that, informed by critical pedagogy postulates, help learners develop awareness and reflect about their learning process. Main research interests are connected to monitoring technologies, self-monitoring, reflection, self-regulation and critical design.

 

Call for doctoral students in interdisciplinary experience research

Aalto University opens six fully funded positions for doctoral students in the area of interdisciplinary experience research.

Application deadline January 10, 2019.

Open positions for six doctoral students in experience research

Experiences extend to all areas of human life and make life meaningful. Consumers and organizations increasingly invest in experiences that enhance subjective pleasure and wellbeing. Design practices will advance from problem-solving to human-experience-driven, which requires a radical change in industry.

As part of the recent Profi4 funding from Academy of Finland, Aalto University profiles and invests in experience design. With this support and the Aalto Experience Platform, Aalto University has the ambition, infrastructure, and resources to become a leading institution in interdisciplinary experience research. The research supports the Creative Economy initiative of the Finnish Government. The aim is to understand experience as a socio-cultural and bodily phenomenon and to study its manifestations. This knowledge will allow development of new experience design approaches to make citizens, businesses and the society not only to work efficiently but to flourish.

To address the above goals, Aalto University opens six fully funded positions for skilled and passionate doctoral students in this area. The students will be based in different schools of Aalto, but will form a community for knowledge sharing and collaboration in the spirit of multidisciplinary research.

The deadline for applications is January 10, 2019. The positions are filled during spring 2019 and the funding is provided until the end of 2022. The salary is determined based on applicant’s experience and qualifications according to the salary system of Aalto University. The positions are located in the quickly developing Otaniemi campus of Aalto University in Espoo.

The research project of each doctoral thesis should address an intersection of two or more disciplines in one of the following topics. Two professors from two different disciplines will supervise the work, and the supervisors will be decided depending on the specific research topic proposed by the applicant. The main contact person will help you to locate the right professor for inquiries, please contact us well in advance before applying.

Topics

Please follow the links below for the detailed information of the topic, supervisors, and application process. (Links to external page.)

1. Measurement and analyses of emotional experiences and social behavior in naturalistic conditions

2. Psychological and neural mechanisms of collective, group-shared and individual emotions

3. Employee experience in platform economy and the changing world of work

4. Understanding experiential aspects of creative work

5. Integrating Experience-Driven Design into industrial development processes

6. Physical materials in experience design

7. Digital materials in experience design

 

Submission of applications

Please follow the links above for the topic-specific submission instructions.

Please note that the final approval of the interdisciplinary doctoral students will follow the doctoral student admission schedules of each Aalto school, and the study right will be in force only after this process. We aim to start the work as soon as possible, most likely during the period of 1.3.-1.8.2019.

Aalto University reserves the right, for justified reasons, to leave the position open, to extend the application period, and to consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto has six schools with nearly 11 000 students and a staff of more than 4000, of which 400 are professors. Our campuses are located in Espoo and Helsinki, Finland.

This call originally posted here: https://experience.aalto.fi/phdcall/ 

Defence in the field of New Media: MA Eva Durall

MA Eva Durall will defend her doctoral dissertation

Reflection and Self-Regulation Using Monitoring Tools in Learning: Critical Design Exploration on Self-Monitoring During Independent Study

Friday 2 November 2018
Otakaari 1x, room A1
Starting at 12.00

Opponent: PhD prof. Anders Morch, University of Oslo
Custos: prof. Teemu Leinonen

Discussion will be in English.

 

 

More information:

In this dissertation opportunities and challenges of using monitoring tools in learning are critically explored from a design perspective. The results are two-fold: a design prototype that uses self-monitoring in independent learning situations (Feeler), and identification of reflection and self-regulation as relevant skills for autonomous and independent learning that self-monitoring tools can support. In light of these findings, this research proposes a set of design principles to guide further designs of monitoring tools aiming to support learning.

Inspired by critical and speculative design approaches, the Feeler prototype presents an extreme, yet plausible case of monitoring physiological data, which consists in monitoring brain activity to detect learners’ attention and relaxation levels during independent study. The design of the prototype was influenced by human-centered tradition and the participatory design approach. The prototype allowed students to experience and researchers to study a hypothetical solution regarding the use of self-monitoring tools during independent study.

The tests conducted as part of this research brought light into the dominant values and socio-economic discourses associated to mainstream uses of monitoring tools, and supported students critically reflect about these tools. In this regard, this research highlights the value of critical and speculative design approaches to research and discuss emerging technologies in learning and teaching.

This research identifies several design principles, which are grouped around the key themes of self-knowledge, agency-oriented technology, reflection and self-regulation. These principles are exemplified with the Feeler prototype in order to help practitioners and researchers understand how the empirical findings can be translated into actionable ideas when designing monitoring tools. This research points at data-privacy and design for autonomy as important design implications for the design of monitoring tools in learning. There is also a need for further research on these.

Monitoring technologies enable the automatic collection and analysis of data to provide feedback about diverse activities and processes. Despite these technologies are increasingly present in different contexts of human life, for instance in the quantified self movement, in learning, monitoring tools are still an emerging technology. To date, most approaches to use monitoring tools in learning have focused on finding application areas without problematising the context of use. Little attention has been paid to issues like the nature of data and the inferences that are made based on them, the role of students in learning, and the conception of learning and technology. This dissertation addresses this research gap and provides an understanding of the issues related to the design of monitoring tools and the adoption of techno-monitoring practices in learning.

Welcome!

Getting by: Negotiating Future Livelihoods in the Arts

A Symposium organised by Kiasma, University of the Arts Helsinki, University of Helsinki and Aalto University.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018
at 10:00 – 14:00
Kiasma Theatre
Free entrance

This symposium addresses the future of the artists’ livelihood. Hosted by Kiasma, and co-organised by Uniarts Helsinki, Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, the event focuses on the rapid changes in contemporary society and new affordances that those changes introduce for the professionals working in the arts field. The precarious work market suggests new roles for arts professionals and their education, but also opens up new opportunities for art researchers to probe into the complexities of the late modern society, culture and working life. These and other questions around artists’ future livelihood, along with questions of societal responsibility, are discussed during the symposium.

The symposium invites artists, art-related researchers, art educators, art students, and other stakeholders interested in the artist’s livelihood on Tuesday November 13, 2018, 10 am – 2 pm, at the Kiasma Theatre. Participation is free of charge.

The symposium language is English.

From: Uniarts.fi website

Visiting lecture: HORST HÖRTNER, Ars Electronica Futurelab

Welcome to an open visiting lecture:

Department of Media is pleased to host

HORST HÖRTNER

Senior Director, Ars Electronica Futurelab

Wednesday 24 October 2018
from 17:00–18:30
Väre, room F101 (by the main entrance)

Topic: Art Thinking and Artificial Intelligence

Horst Hörtner will introduce the Ars Electronica Futurelab and by referring to “Art Thinking“ focus on the power and importance of Visions to our future. The necessity of Visions become more important at times of fundamental changes, as we currently experience under the influence of the so called “digitalization” in its appearance as Artificial Intelligence.

Horst Hörtner is a media artist and researcher. He is expert in design of Human Computer Interaction and holds several patents in this field. He started to work in the field of media art in the 1980ies and co-founded the media art group x-space in Graz/Austria in 1990. Hörtner is founding member of the Ars Electronica Futurelab in 1996 and since then directing this atelier/laboratory.

Since 2013, Horst Hörtner also holds a position as conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle/Australia. He is working in the nexus of art & science and giving lectures and talks at numerous international conferences and universities.

 

Get to know Ars Electronica Futurelab:
https://ars.electronica.art/futurelab/en/ 

Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria:
https://ars.electronica.art/news/en/

This lecture is open to all!

Welcome!