INFO Seminar Series: Doenja Oogjes

The Department of Information Science Presents:

Doenja Oogjes

Wednesday, March 4

1-2 p.m.

IBS 155A

1440 15th St., Boulder, Colorado

Title of the talk: Designing for another everyday

Abstract: In this talk I present my ongoing research at the Everyday Design Studio that speculatively explores possible relations to everyday technologies. The everyday, and particularly the home environment, has been a longstanding interest in HCI and has motivated new types of design approaches that go beyond merely instrumental use of technology. However, within this mundane, messy and diverse context, what is considered “good” design is no longer so straightforward - and we are in need of new perspectives that can help us challenge stereotypes and deeply rooted assumptions. I will talk about three projects in particular. Firstly, Videos of Things presents narrative strategies that invert what is common in design videos to destabilize human-centered thinking. Designing for an(other) home explores how living situations that could be considered alternative to normative domestic dwellings can help us speculate on other ways technologies could be designed for the home. Lastly, I talk about the Morse Things, an ongoing design research project centered around internet connected ceramic cups and bowls that communicate with each other in Morse Code and over twitter. Collectively these projects explore different starting points, perspectives and designer commitments that have helped me to generatively speculate on technology-mediated everydays.

Bio: Doenja Oogjes (www.doenjaoogjes.com) is a PhD student at the Everyday Design Studio (http://eds.siat.sfu.ca/) at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Her research through design practice explores different types of relations people might form with everyday computational things, particularly through perspectives that may have previously been overlooked (such as non-normative and non-human). Doenja holds an MSc in Industrial Design from the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and for her graduation project on domestic food waste, she collaborated with IKEA of Sweden. Prior to joining the Everyday Design Studio, she has worked as a research assistant at RISE (previously, Interactive Institute) in Eskilstuna, Sweden. Doenja's research has been published and has received awards at conferences such as CHI, DIS and Research Through Design (RTD).