News/Research

BCNM at CHI 2016

17 May, 2016

BCNM at CHI 2016

Congratulations to the incredible faculty and students who represented BCNM at CHI 2016, the premiere conference for Human-Computer Interaction.

BCNM was particularly excited to receive the following accolades:

Best Paper Award

The Best Papers committee selected the top 1% of total submissions. Only 20 Papers and Notes received a Best Paper award.

“I don’t want to wear a screen”: Probing perceptions of and possibilities for dynamic displays on clothing
Laura Devendorf, Joanne Lo, Noura Howell, Jung Lin Lee, Nan-Wei Gong, Mustafa Emre Karagozler, Shiho Fukuhara, Ivan Poupyrev, Eric Paulos, and Kimiko Ryokai.

This paper explores the role dynamic textile displays play in relation to personal style: What does it mean to wear computationally responsive clothing and why would one be motivated to do so? We developed a novel textile display technology, called Ebb, and created several woven and crochet fabric swatches that explored clothing-specific design possibilities. We engaged fashion designers and non-designers in imagining how Ebb would integrate into their design practice or personal style of dressing. Participants evaluated the appeal and utility of clothing-based displays according to a very different set of criteria than traditional screen-based computational displays. Specifically, the slowness, low-resolution, and volatility of Ebb tended to be seen as assets as opposed to technical limitations in the context of personal style. Additionally, participants envisioned various ways that ambiguous, ambient, and abstract displays of information could prompt new experiences in their everyday lives. Our paper details the complex relationships between display and personal style and offers a new design metaphor and extension of Gaver et al.’s original descriptions of ambiguity in order to guide the design of clothing-based displays for everyday life.