Studies of Dancers： Moving from Experience to Inte

 1 International Journal of Design Vol.4 No.2 2010IntroductionAsmovement-based,interactivetechnologiescontinuetobecomemoreembeddedinourdailylives,aliveness,vitalityandpleasureinourinteractionswiththesetechnologiesarebecomingsought-afterqualities.Thedesignersofinteractivetechnologiesareseekingtodevelopapproacheswithacentralfocusonmovement,bodilyawarenessandfeltexperience,whichaccountforsuch“ineffable”qualitiesofhumanexperience;qualitieswhichcanoftenescapedefinitionormeasure,butareanecessarypartofmeaningfulexistence.Dewey(1934)wroteaboutthe“aesthetics”ofexperience,notinthesensethatweassociateaestheticswithaspecificqualityofsomeartwork,butasacrucialcomponentofallhumanexperience,namelywhereourneedforasenseofthemeaningfulnessandwholenessofouractionisfulfilledandfromwhichasenseofselfemerges,isdevelopedandtransformed.WritingonDewey’swork,McCarthyandWright(2004)noted:Althoughexperiencealwaysoccursincultural,historical,andmaterialcontexts,meaningfulengagementdependsontheeventoractionbeingfelt,known,andvaluedinuniqueways.Thisisalsothekindofmeaningfulengagementthattransformspeopleandsystems(p.56).Ourunderstandingofaestheticsinthecontextoftechnologydesignisanaestheticsofexperiencedeeplyanchoredinthebody.Inourresearchweareforegroundingthekinaesthetic(thefeltsensationofmovement)inanaestheticsofexperienceappliedtointeractiondesign,henceanaestheticsofinteraction.Thisisnottosaythatothermodesofsensoryexperienceandactionarenotrelevantforanaestheticsofinteraction,butinourcaseweareplacingasharplensonmovementanditsfeltexperienceinordertounderstandmoredeeplythephenomenasurroundingdesigningformovement-basedinteractionswithtechnology.Ourresearchisstronglyinterdisciplinaryandseekstoinformanapproachtodesignwhichfocusesontheaestheticsofinteractionbydrawingonotherdisciplinessuchasdanceandperformance,thathavealongtraditionofembodiedknowledge,skills,sensibilities,techniquesandtraininggroundedinthesensingandfeelingbody.ReceivedMarch20,2010;AcceptedJune17,2010,2010;PublishedAugust30,2010.Copyright:©2010LokeandRobertson.Copyrightforthisarticleisretainedbytheauthors,withfirstpublicationrightsgrantedtotheInternationalJournalofDesign.Alljournalcontent,exceptwhereotherwisenoted,islicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5License.Byvirtueoftheirappearanceinthisopen-accessjournal,articlesarefreetouse,withproperattribution,ineducationalandothernon-commercialsettings.*CorrespondingAuthor:[e-mail] of Dancers: MovingfromExperiencetoInteractionDesignLianLoke*andToniRobertsonUniversityofTechnology,Sydney,AustraliaAsmovement-based,interactivetechnologiescontinuetobecomemoreembeddedinourdailylives,aliveness,vitalityandpleasureinourinteractionswiththesetechnologiesarebecomingsought-afterqualities.Danceisonedisciplinethatworksdirectlywiththesequalitiesofaestheticexperiencethroughthemovingbody.Weconductedaseriesofstudieswithtraineddancersandphysicalperformerstoexplorewaysofworkingwiththemovingbodyininteractiondesign.Thefirststudywasoffallingbyskilledmovers.Theaimwastoexplorethefirst-personexperienceandexternalrepresentationsoftheactoffalling.Thesecondstudyexploredwaysofinventingandchoreographingmovementforuseinthedesignofmotion-sensingtechnologies.Theresultsofthestudieswereexaminedtoidentifyanemergingsetofmethodsandtoolstoenabledesignerstoworkwithmovementandfeltexperienceinthecontextofmovement-based,interactivetechnologies.Themethodsandtoolsenabledesignerstomovebetweenandintegratethethreedifferentperspectivesofthemover,theobserverandthemachine.Thisactofintegrationmakesitpossibleforthedesignertoremainaccountabletothedifferentviewsofthemovingbody,inanapproachtointeractiondesignwiththeprimacyofembodied,livedexperienceatitscentre.Keywords–Dance,FeltExperience,InteractionDesign,Kinaesthetic,Movement.RelevancetoDesignPractice–Thispapercontributestodesigners’understandingsofthemovingbodyasinputintosensingtechnologiesthroughstudiesofmovementwithtraineddancers.Itsuggestspossiblewaysofdescribing,representingandexperiencingmovementforuseinthedesignofvideo-based,motion-sensingtechnologies.Citation:Loke,L.,&Robertson,T.(2010).Studiesofdancers:Movingfromexperiencetointeractiondesign.InternationalJournalofDesign,4(2),Pagenumbers.SPECIALISSUEONDESIGNINGFORAESTHETICSOFINTERACTIONThedangeroftryingtocodify,generalize,andformallymodeltheaestheticexperiencefortechnologydesignisthatitmaymisspreciselythephenomenonthatwasoriginallyofinterest.Inabstractingfromspecificembodiedcontexts,manyoftheineffableaspectsoftheaestheticexperience—thoseescapingformalarticulation—maybeeitheroverlookedordesignedaway(Boehner,Sengers,&Warner,2008,p.3). 2 International Journal of Design Vol.4 No.2 2010Studies of Dancers: MovingfromExperiencetoInteractionDesignWithotherresearchersexploringsimilarterrain,weshareacommitmenttodesigninginteractivesystemsfromexperiencesandexplorationsofmovement,ratherthanfromatechnologicalstartingpoint.(e.g.,Buur,Jensen,&Djajadiningrat,2004;Schiphorst&Andersen,2004;Klooster&Overbeeke,2005;Hummels,Ov