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The Undertable: A Design Remake of the Mediated Body

Authors:

Sjoerd Hendriks,

Mafalda Gamboa,

Mohammad ObaidAuthors Info & Claims

DIS '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

Pages 2591 - 2610

https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3660698

Published: 01 July 2024 Publication History

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Abstract

Tables are a ubiquitous piece of furniture, a familiar sight in most environments from intimate to public. The dimensions of social interplay surrounding every single table are profoundly complex. In our project, we lift the importance of the neglected space under the table through the playful development of a tangible prototype. We approached this by a design remake of the Mediated Body: a wearable prototype encouraging touch between strangers using the conductivity of the skin. Instead, we leverage the familiarity of tables as a means to encourage playful explorations of bare-skin touch. We report in visual and textual form on the emerging design knowledge throughout our design process, including first-person narratives by the designers. We contribute with (1) a series of counterfactual table artifacts inspired by the Mediated Body; (2) a sequence of participant studies analysed through reflexive thematic analysis and summarised into the notion of “an odd invitation” as a new lens for homo explorens; and (3) an appeal to the importance of design remakes for research-through-design.

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Cited By

Hagberg DSaoulidis NGamboa MHendriks S(2024)Prototyping Playful Touch with a Sound-Mediating TableCompanion Publication of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3656156.3665424(309-313)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656156.3665424
Gamboa MHendriks S(2024)In Praise of Shadows: Sensibility and Somaesthetic Appreciation for Shadows in Interaction DesignProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660679(3272-3286)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660679

Index Terms

The Undertable: A Design Remake of the Mediated Body
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI theory, concepts and models
  2. Interaction design

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

DIS '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

July 2024

3616 pages

ISBN:9798400705830

DOI:10.1145/3643834

Editors:
Anna Vallgårda
IT University of Copenhagen
,
Li Jönsson
Malmö University
,
Jonas Fritsch
IT University of Copenhagen
,
Sarah Fdili Alaoui
LISN-Université Paris Saclay
,
Christopher A. Le Dantec
Northeastern University

Copyright © 2024 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Published: 01 July 2024

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Swedish Research Council (VR)
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DIS '24

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DIS '24: Designing Interactive Systems Conference

July 1 - 5, 2024

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Cited By

Hagberg DSaoulidis NGamboa MHendriks S(2024)Prototyping Playful Touch with a Sound-Mediating TableCompanion Publication of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3656156.3665424(309-313)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656156.3665424
Gamboa MHendriks S(2024)In Praise of Shadows: Sensibility and Somaesthetic Appreciation for Shadows in Interaction DesignProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660679(3272-3286)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660679

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