.motion .bodies .communities .technologies

I’ve been collaborating with Thecla Schiphorst, who heads the Art+Performance+Research Group at SIAT, and Pat Subyen, on further developing a website that documents an amazing and ambitious proposed project about movement and technology, to be funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The project is an extension (on a remarkable scale) of the Meaning from Motion project that Thecla and two other SIAT faculty, Lyn Bartram and Magy Seif El-Nasr, had been leading. SSHRC approved the LOI, which is very exciting! and we are now onto the next stage of the proposal.

There are four sections that I have been asked to write for the website:

• ABOUT
  An overview of what the project is about, a large part of which will be taken from the LOI.
• TECHNOLOGIES AND SENSING
  A description of precisely what kinds of technologies we will be looking into in the project. A particularly large emphasis will be sensors; I’ve started making a table for that.
• SIGNIFICANCE. Parts of the section will also be taken from the LOI.  I also have to match this part against the criteria set by SSHRC for funding its project. This is going to be a huge section, so I’m guessing that I will have to start writing this first of all the sections because this will require the most amount of work. It will have to be divided into sections. I anticipate that this section will actually form a chunk of my thesis introduction… so I might as well get writing!
  • First I have to argue for the originality, significance, and contribution to knowledge of the project. I’m guessing I will simply expand on some of the themes I will mention in the ABOUT section.
    • First we talk about the role of movement and the body in current trends in mobile and ubiquitous computing. I describe how these are accelerating and that certain trends are very clear. Then I will name some categories (HCI, movement sensing, movement interaction, machine learning for movement recognition, computational design) and describe (rationalize) why these categories are relevant/useful lenses for looking at these trends. I will review the literature in some of these categories, namely:
      • Computation and sensor technologies (Strength: xxx. Weakness: Lack of a nuanced understanding of the phenomenological/experiential properties of motion)
      • HCI and the design of new technologies (Strengths: Increasing interest in designing movement. You can reduce cognitive load by doing movement (djadjadinigrat). Cons: Lack of a nuanced understanding of the phenomenological/experiential properties of motion. Focused mostly on ergonomics, range of motion, measurable physiological properties, etc.) ..
      • Artificial intelligence and machine learning! I will state how a vast majority of movement-based interaction design relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence. I will give the example of how a large proportion of papers presented at SBM explored various heuristics in recognizing pen strokes.
        
      • Movement practices and movement analysis; movement as a tool (input devices, therapy, parkinson’s, well-being). (but movement analysis has not been folded into technology design, in spite of the fact that movement is a ‘technology’ in its own right in that movement is an extension of the self.its ability to research the experience of movement within technology design)
    • Taken together, I state that the references illustrate current research movement sensing, movement interaction, machine learning for movement recognition. Already, in each of the three threads, we see gaps in the analysis. I summarize my commentary of the gaps in the categories stating that they represent gaps in methodological approaches, and that only a partnered, radically interdisciplinary approach can fill these gaps. Morever such an approach has to date not be clearly done. I will do this by looking at related initiatives such as laboratories (the movement lab at stanford), projects (sychronous objects). We are at an important time in the development of new technologies that exercise in greater capability and greater intelligence in not only sensing but also deriving meaning. What  is lacking is the deep, experience-based knowledge of movement experts who have access to systems of knowledge that define/name/analyze/synthesize kinesthetically and verbally.
    • I will match these categories with our partners, their research areas and their strengths, and their approach to the research. I do that in part by matching their publication record.
  • Next I have to argue for the potential for long term viability and sustainability of this project (and the fundamental approaches it takes to to research): I will make a claim that this interest in and applications of this research, as well as the kinds of methods that we are applaying will only continue to grow.
    • The interest in and development of technology will only increase. Mobile and ubiquitous technologies and natural interfaces will only grow. So will interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning (cite the 58K course that was recently offered). We can only expect a future where people will move through the world with digital technology in our pockets or embedded in environment around us.
    • Movement is a fundamental part of how we acquire knowledge, make sense of the world, etc. Movement will never cease to exist. Our ability to read, respond to culturally and socially situated phenomena depends on our ability to perceive, interpret, and act on human movement. I will give the example that Thecla provides about the general who made his platoon kneel. Movement is as important in peace and wartime.
    • The interest and need in exploratory research approaches in technology design is only growing (I will try to cite some empirical data taken from scholarly databases here). There is also an increasing interest  (that shows no sign of abating) of cocreation of knowledge through interdisciplinary (art, science, socal sciences) (cite CERN as an example). In particular, there is increasing interest in movement-centered design and evaluation of technology. At the School of Interactive Arts and Technology alone,  graduate students are studying human movementfrom its application in mixed reality environments,

Eventually, these sections will change as content generated by our proposed partners of the project get folded in. In the meantime, I’m drafting the initial content. So. Here we go!

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