Welcome to the Lunchtime Series!
The lunchtime series are informal talks by scientists, artists, designers, and other (awe-)inspiring folks that we host in our group.
Time & Location: HCI Library (Seminarraum 187 - Argentinierstr. 8, 2nd floor) 12:15-13:00
If you would like to join online, email Astrid at astrid.weiss@tuwien.ac.at and she will send you a Zoom link!
Upcoming
Tuesday, 21.01.2025: Lennart Hamm
In der Forschungsgruppe 210-02 Hochbau und Gebäudeerhaltung untersuchen wir einen Bauprozess für die Adaption von Bestandsgebäuden. Dazu haben wir zwei große Themenbereiche: “ReDesign” und “Make”. ReDesign setzt sich mit der Zustandsanalyse und Entwicklung von Strategien für die Zukunft bestehender Gebäude auseinander. Make knüpft daran an und untersucht wie “Computational Design and Fabrication” zur Instandhaltung oder Verbesserung von Bauteilen in der Gebäudehülle beitragen können. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf der Entwicklung eines “Design for Disassembly”-Systems. Digitale Modelle sollen der Optimierung integraler Strukturen dienen. Uns geht es dabei vor allem um den wiederholten, reduzierten Einsatz von Ressourcen . Physisch möchten wir Themen wie Human-Robot-Interaction/Collaboration nutzen, um komplexe Systeme unterschiedlicher funktionaler Elemente zu montieren und zu demontieren. Besonderer Fokus liegt dabei auf feedback loops zwischen Fabrikation und digitalem Modell, beziehungsweise der Interaktion des Menschen innerhalb dieser digitalen Fertigungsprozesse.
In research group 210-02 Building Construction and Building Conservation, we are investigating a construction process for the adaptation of existing buildings. To this end, we have two major subject areas: ‘ReDesign’ and ‘Make’. ReDesign deals with the analysis of the condition of existing buildings and developing strategies for the future of these. Make builds on this and investigates how ‘Computational Design and Fabrication’ can contribute to the maintenance or improvement of components in the building envelope. The focus here is on the development of a ‘design for disassembly’ system. Digital models are to be used to optimise integral structures. We are primarily concerned with the circular, reduced use of resources. Physically, we want to investigate topics such as human-robot interaction/collaboration to assemble and disassemble complex systems of different functional elements. A particular focus here is on feedback loops between fabrication and the digital model, or the interaction of humans within these digital manufacturing processes.
Wed., 29.01.2025: Tamara Lorenz
Postponed (Date TBA) – Nadine Wagener
How should VR be designed to open up new interaction methods for us to take care of our own health and well-being? Should it be designed at all? How can it be used at home to support very specific personal needs?
These and more questions will be explored in this guest talk by Dr. Nadine Wagener. She will introduce some of her work on designing VR for expressing own emotions and reflecting on personal data, and share her thoughts on how real and multisensory a virtual environment should be to provide engaging and effective experiences. Based on her publications, current ongoing projects and ideas for future research that she will present, Nadine hopes to inspire the audience to think beyond typical VR use cases.
Nadine Wagener is passionate about HCI research, in particular about broadening the use cases of Virtual Reality (VR) to encompass wellbeing and mental health support. Nadine has explored the design space of VR for self-care and mental well-being, integrating haptic feedback, wearables, multi-sensory and multi-user approaches in her research.
She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Saarbrücken, Germany, in the Senorimotor Group led by Dr. Paul Strohmeier. She graduated in June 2024 after doing her PhD at University of Bremen, Germany, being supervised by Prof. Yvonne Rogers from UCL London and Prof. Dr. Johannes Schöning from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Looking for more food for thought? Katta Spiel organised an academically acclaimed public lecture series online that we highly recommend: Critical Perspectives – recordings of selected lectures from this series are available on YouTube.
Past Talks
Friday, 13.12.2024 (12:15-13:00): Carolin Stellmacher
Augmenting Virtual Object Perception Through the Design of Haptic Technology
Carolin Stellmacher has focused her PhD on advancing haptic technology to enhance multisensory experiences in immersive environments. By combining hardware-based approaches, such as the development of haptic prototypes, with software-based pseudo-haptic illusions, her work leverages the perceptual benefits of both physical and virtual interactions. In this talk, Carolin will present her projects on delivering sensory stimulation to enable VR users to feel the weight of virtual objects during the interaction. More recently, she has started to explore the use of mobile devices as always-available alternatives to specialised controllers, identifying user-derived insights into smartphones’ potential for delivering a variety of haptic sensations and enabling novel interaction methods in mixed reality (MR). Looking ahead, Carolin aims to translate these findings into innovative prototypes of haptic smartphones that demonstrate how ubiquitous devices can redefine haptic interactions in MR experiences.
Tuesday, 10.12.2024 (12:15-13:00): Kaisa Väänänen
Human-Centered Design for Urban AI Interactions and Literacy Applications of Artificial Intelligence are becoming prevalent in all areas of society, including urban environments. While research and development of AI technologies have taken major leaps, understanding the human perspective of AI in people’s everyday lives is still in its early stages. In my talk I will focus on how AI’s design qualities, such as proactivity, capability to learn, and embodiment, can be used to advance citizens’ experiences and inclusion. I will present two cases of design research for urban AI interactions: Intelligent agents for residential community interactions in Nordic Superblocks, and advancing AI transparency and literacy in public urban spaces. Kaisa Väänänen is a full professor of Human-Technology Interaction in Tampere University, Finland. Kaisa has over 25 years of experience of interdisciplinary research both in industry and academia. Kaisa is passionate about understanding how human needs and experiences can be supported by novel technologies. Currently, she focuses on Human-Centered AI design research and how AI-powered solutions can advance sustainability. Kaisa was the general co-chair of ACM CHI’23 conference, and in 2025, she is co-organising Intelligent User Interfaces, IUI’25. In 2022, Kaisa was selected as an ACM Distinguished Member for her long-standing contribution to the field of computing. https://research.tuni.fi/kaisa-vaananen/
Tuesday, 26.11.2024: Franziska Babel
Designing for the Unknown and the Unexpected: Hidden Interactions in Public Service Robot Deployments The public deployment of service robots such as cleaning and delivery robots, as well as autonomous vehicles like cars and shuttle buses, represents a unique case for human-centered design: we face unknown interactors and unexpected interactions. How to design for the unknown and the unexpected? This talk delves into the overlooked human factors in public service robot deployment, highlighting real-world challenges and lessons-learned: cyclists forced to compete with autonomous minibuses for space, unsupervised children touching cleaning robots and why we do not think of the recipient of a delivery robot during conflicts. Franziska Babel is a postdoctoral researcher at the Information and Computer Science Department in Linköping, Sweden. She has a background in Engineering Psychology, Human Factors and user-centred design with a touch of cognitive science and social psychology. Her research interests cover techno-psychological processes such as acceptance, trust and compliance during social decision-making with autonomous artificial agents such as service robots and vehicles. This includes power dynamics, persuasion and conflicts in human-agent interactions.
Wednesday, 20.11.2024: Sebastian Feger
Smart Home Privacy: On Tangibility and Beyond for Inclusive Privacy Privacy is a core concern in increasingly connected smart homes that relates to devices owners, passenger users, and guests. In this talk, I provide an overview of my research around tangibility and additional future-facing concepts for creating inclusive smart home privacy solutions.
Tuesday, 22.10.2024: Clara-Maria Kutsch
„Das ist problematisch. Die Wiener Kritische Diskursanalyse.“
Im Zuge der Aufdeckung Kurt Waldheims nationalsozialistischer Vergangenheit formierte sich am Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Wien die interdisziplinär geprägte Wiener Kritische Diskursanalyse. Als Forschungsprogramm, das gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse in Hinblick auf die Relation von Sprache – Macht – Ideologie hinterfragt, strebt sie mit ihrer kritischen Grundhaltung einen gesellschaftlichen Wandel und langfristig eine Verbesserung von Kommunikationsverhältnissen an. Denn – und hier liegt die Relevanz der Methode – Sprache ist und bleibt ein zentrales Medium von Diskriminierung, das nicht selten den Weg zu problematischen Handlungen ebnet. Doch was genau ist sie, diese Wiener Kritische Diskursanalyse, wo liegen die Grenzen eines Diskurses und wie untersucht man sie?
„That’s problematic. Viennese Critical Discourse Analysis“
While uncovering Kurt Waldheim’s national-socialist past, the Institute for Linguistics of the University of Vienna conceptualized the interdisciplinary approach of Viennese Critical Discourse Analysis. As a research program questioning societal conditions regarding the relations of language – power – ideology and aligned with a critical attitude, the approach aims at societal change and long-term improvement of communicative relationships. The relevance of the method lies in showing how language remains a central medium for discrimination that more often than not opens the doors to problematic actions. But what exactly is it, this Viennese Critical Discourse Analysis, where lie the boundaries of a discourse and how do you research them?
Tuesday, 18.06.2024: Verena Fuchsberger - Material Manifestations of Remote Relationships
Being together over distance can be challenging, despite the variety of digital tools being available that allow contact over distance. Focusing on the case of remote relationships of grandparents and grandchildren, I will discuss characteristics of such relationships, the role that tangibility plays in interactions over distance, and what design possibilities there are for materializing remote relationships that address enjoyable, but also wistful aspects.
Tuesday, 11.06.2024: Martin Warnke - Media Cultures of Machine Translation: A Perspective between Cultural Studies and Technology
The shift from linguistics to Big Data offers the promise of accessibility to the vast knowledge of the world without linguistic barriers and continues to leave its mark. Beginning from the radical differences between intellectual (i.e., human), meaning-centered translation and machine-based translation freed from the constraints of semantics, Benjamin’s notion of »pure language« and the computerized large language models are now being thought alongside one another – and in light of current debates within cultural studies, these differences are being reassessed.
Tuesday, 21.05.2024: Doris Allhutter - What is critical about critical design?
As users of digital technologies, we often find ourselves in a paradox: we struggle with how they endanger our privacy, restrict our agency, and materialize discriminatory worldviews – at the same time, we might love engaging with tech that inspires new ways of sociality, co-creation, and collectivity.
Monday, 13.05.2024: Ruadhán James Flynn - Whose Standpoint Matters? Imagining Disability Justice
Disability Justice is an “intersectional, multisystemic” way of thinking about disability and accessibility (Lazard, 2019). In this talk, I will give a brief outline of standpoint theory, and use it to argue that disability justice can only be imagined and achieved when disabled people’s individual and collective knowledge dominates in accessibility design and implementation.
16.04.2024: Julie A. Adams - Towards Adaptive Human-Robot Teams: Workload Estimation
The ability for robots to adapt to humans requires algorithms that allow robots to detect human performance in real time. The multi-dimensional workload algorithm incorporates physiological metrics to estimate overall workload and its components.
09.04.2024: Renate Baumgartner - The role of participatory design in developing inclusive AI in healthcare
Participatory design is one possibility among many to develop inclusive digital health technologies by involving different, also marginalized, stakeholders.
05.03.2024: Mattia Thibault - Semiotic inquiries and design speculations: two mindsets in dialogue
Design is a forward-looking activity, prefigurating future contexts and interactions. Semiotics looks backwards: meaning is often assigned a posteriori.
16.01.2024: Alejandra Gomez Ortega - Data Donation in Practice: Challenges and Lessons Learned
Alejandra’s research investigates data donation as an alternative way for designers and researchers to collaborate with people through their data.