Rethinking the diversity of our devices
tl;dr can humor help us expand “mainstream” interpretations of technology
[Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow]
Asha: Joselyn and I took a really interesting class together this semester at CMU — Experiential Futures with Professor Stuart Candy. Candy’s work is all about creating “time machines” that allow participants to experience a future, and through experiencing it think critically about if they would accept or reject that future. You can read more about his lab/work here: http://situationlab.org/projects/
Joselyn: One of the things that struck me most in this class was an exercise we did listing out all of the different visions of the future that we have been exposed to via books, films, TV, etc. The examples our class collected on the whiteboard below ranged from 1984 to Xenon Girl of the 21st Century to The Handmaid’s Tale. It made me realize how so much of what is currently being built is influenced by our mainstream perceptions of technology from the future:
Asha: Zetus lapetus! I mean just think of all of the technology that has been developed from Star Trek — in-ear comms, holodecks (sort of), replicators (3D printers), etc.
It really made us think about how technology is not only shaped by who is creating it, but also by the expectations that these people have of what technology is supposed to be like in the future. Which is kind of worrying if you think about the representation gaps that exist not only in the tech workforce but also in popular media. Just another reason why Black Panther was such a great and timely movie to break into the mainstream (Ytasha Womack on afrofuturism people!).
[Breaking the mold]
Joselyn: We started thinking about ways we could push against some of these norms as a way to make technology more inclusive. It’s always worried me how voice assistants exclusively speak in a very neutral, American accent with strict dictation. How do y’all think these assistants fit into the lives of families like my own in the deep South? Or those of my friends that primarily speak Spanish in the home?
Asha: We realized that humor has a way of speaking to specific identities and groups, and could be an interesting technique for cultural personalization of technology. We decided to focus on two potential aspects of personalization in rough video prototypes:
Gestures: as mentioned in a previous post, gestures are a form of communication (check out Goldin-Meadow’s The Role of Gesture in Communication and Thinking) and signaling identity, yet we’re interacting with technology primarily through artificial gestures, i.e. pinches, zooms, and swipes. Consider how silly it is that a ‘click’ is used to convey so many different meanings. How could we incorporate identity-based gestures into activities to make them more meaningful?
Novel interfaces: people already do a lot to personalize their interfaces. Nowadays a laptop case communicates as much as a LinkedIn page, one sticker for every internship completed. What if we could design UI’s that represent integral parts of one’s identity?
[Nailin’ it]
Joselyn: For as long as I can remember, I have loved the idea of smart, acrylic nails. Nails and nail art have always been a big part of my identity. I see them as an awesome way to express myself and connect with friends, yet I rarely see feminine spaces being investigated in interface design (I’m working on a project with an amazing team about period technologies right now too if you want to chat!).
Asha: So we made these two, rough video prototypes and showed them to people. One focuses on the potential for a smart interface of an acrylic nail. The other focuses on gestures. What if you got an email from your boss at 5:00 pm on a Friday? Wouldn’t it be great if you could just wag your fingers and it would snooze until Monday?
Joselyn: Three things we learned from our participants:
The acrylic nails were a divisive concept. Some people instantly connected with the visual (reaction: yaasss I want 💅). But others thought it was weird (reaction: wut. 🤔). This could be an early indication of the implied association between the chosen interface and a user’s cultural or social identity.
Some of our participants found the gesture technology completely unbelievable. One of them even said it was like something from Harry Potter. Do they only see interactions like this occurring in fantasy and not science fiction?
In both cases, people frequently asked to offer their own ideal prototype ideas. A gesture suggestion offered by a participant imitated turning a key in a lock to close email over the weekend. You’d have to unlock it to open it again. Seeing an example of something tied to identity potentially triggered participants to consider how they might express things in their own way.
[Up Next: Vibranium]
Asha: There is soooo much to this space that excites us. Some of the key questions we’re thinking about:
How can personalizing technology based on culture and cultural humor create new, more meaningful experiences for people?
How could co-designing products with different cultures and subcultures change our perceptions of how technology could/should be used in the future?
How might changing the popular portrayals of future technology impact the technology we actually build?
Joselyn: And mostly, I just really want these smart nails to be a thing. If you want to help build those for real, let me know!
Bits and Giggles is a design research series featuring conversations between Carnegie Mellon University Human-Computer Interaction researchers Asha Toulmin and Joselyn McDonald.
