Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT

Nick Taylor; Jon Rogers; Loraine Clarke; Martin Skelly; Jayne Wallace; Pete Thomas; Babitha George; Romit Raj; Michael Shorter; Michelle Thorne

doi:10.1145/3461778.3462037

Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT

Nick Taylor^*, Jon Rogers, Loraine Clarke, Martin Skelly, Jayne Wallace, Pete Thomas, Babitha George, Romit Raj, Michael Shorter, Michelle Thorne

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

252 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Prototypes and other ‘things’ have had many uses in HCI research—to help understand a problem, as a stepping stone towards a solution, or as a finished product in their own right. However, within the messy context of a research through design project, many of these roles do not form part of the final research narratives, restricting the ability of other researchers to learn from this practice.
In this paper we revisit prototypes used in three different design research projects, conducted over a period when the Internet of Things emerged into everyday life, exploring complex hidden relationships between the internet, people and physical objects. We aim to explore the unreported roles that prototypes played in these projects, including brokering relationships with participants and deconstructing opaque technologies. We reflect on how these roles align with existing understandings of prototypes in HCI, with particular
attention to how these roles can contribute to design around IoT.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021
Subtitle of host publication	“Nowhere and Everywhere”
Editors	Wendy Ju, Lora Oehlberg, Sean Follmer, Sarah Fox, Stacey Kuznetsov
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	ACM
Pages	1807-1816
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450384766
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462037
Publication status	Published - 28 Jun 2021
Event	2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere, DIS 2021: “Nowhere and Everywhere” - Virtual, Online, United States Duration: 28 Jun 2021 → 2 Jul 2021 https://dis.acm.org/2021/

Conference

Conference	2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere, DIS 2021
Abbreviated title	DIS2021
Country/Territory	United States
City	Virtual, Online
Period	28/06/21 → 2/07/21
Internet address	https://dis.acm.org/2021/

Keywords

Internet of Things.
Prototypes
design
research objects
research through design
things

Access to Document

10.1145/3461778.3462037

Prototyping_ThingsAccepted author manuscript, 1.14 MB

Cite this

Taylor, N., Rogers, J., Clarke, L., Skelly, M., Wallace, J., Thomas, P., George, B., Raj, R., Shorter, M., & Thorne, M. (2021). Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT. In W. Ju, L. Oehlberg, S. Follmer, S. Fox, & S. Kuznetsov (Eds.), Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021: “Nowhere and Everywhere” (pp. 1807-1816). Article 43 ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462037

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title = "Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT",

abstract = "Prototypes and other {\textquoteleft}things{\textquoteright} have had many uses in HCI research—to help understand a problem, as a stepping stone towards a solution, or as a finished product in their own right. However, within the messy context of a research through design project, many of these roles do not form part of the final research narratives, restricting the ability of other researchers to learn from this practice. In this paper we revisit prototypes used in three different design research projects, conducted over a period when the Internet of Things emerged into everyday life, exploring complex hidden relationships between the internet, people and physical objects. We aim to explore the unreported roles that prototypes played in these projects, including brokering relationships with participants and deconstructing opaque technologies. We reflect on how these roles align with existing understandings of prototypes in HCI, with particular attention to how these roles can contribute to design around IoT.",

keywords = "Internet of Things., Prototypes, design, research objects, research through design, things",

author = "Nick Taylor and Jon Rogers and Loraine Clarke and Martin Skelly and Jayne Wallace and Pete Thomas and Babitha George and Romit Raj and Michael Shorter and Michelle Thorne",

note = "Funding information: The projects in this paper were funded by the EPSRC Connected High Streets project (EP/L02358X/1), the GCRF/SFC Decentralising India{\textquoteright}s Digital Futures project and by grants from the Mozilla Foundation.; 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere, DIS 2021 : “Nowhere and Everywhere”, DIS2021 ; Conference date: 28-06-2021 Through 02-07-2021",

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doi = "10.1145/3461778.3462037",

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booktitle = "Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS {\textquoteright}21), June 28–July 2, 2021",

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Taylor, N, Rogers, J, Clarke, L, Skelly, M, Wallace, J, Thomas, P, George, B, Raj, R, Shorter, M & Thorne, M 2021, Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT. in W Ju, L Oehlberg, S Follmer, S Fox & S Kuznetsov (eds), Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021: “Nowhere and Everywhere”., 43, ACM, New York, pp. 1807-1816, 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere, DIS 2021, Virtual, Online, United States, 28/06/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462037

Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT. / Taylor, Nick; Rogers, Jon; Clarke, Loraine et al.
Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021: “Nowhere and Everywhere”. ed. / Wendy Ju; Lora Oehlberg; Sean Follmer; Sarah Fox; Stacey Kuznetsov. New York: ACM, 2021. p. 1807-1816 43.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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T2 - 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere, DIS 2021

AU - Taylor, Nick

AU - Rogers, Jon

AU - Clarke, Loraine

AU - Skelly, Martin

AU - Wallace, Jayne

AU - Thomas, Pete

AU - George, Babitha

AU - Raj, Romit

AU - Shorter, Michael

AU - Thorne, Michelle

N1 - Funding information: The projects in this paper were funded by the EPSRC Connected High Streets project (EP/L02358X/1), the GCRF/SFC Decentralising India’s Digital Futures project and by grants from the Mozilla Foundation.

PY - 2021/6/28

Y1 - 2021/6/28

N2 - Prototypes and other ‘things’ have had many uses in HCI research—to help understand a problem, as a stepping stone towards a solution, or as a finished product in their own right. However, within the messy context of a research through design project, many of these roles do not form part of the final research narratives, restricting the ability of other researchers to learn from this practice. In this paper we revisit prototypes used in three different design research projects, conducted over a period when the Internet of Things emerged into everyday life, exploring complex hidden relationships between the internet, people and physical objects. We aim to explore the unreported roles that prototypes played in these projects, including brokering relationships with participants and deconstructing opaque technologies. We reflect on how these roles align with existing understandings of prototypes in HCI, with particular attention to how these roles can contribute to design around IoT.

AB - Prototypes and other ‘things’ have had many uses in HCI research—to help understand a problem, as a stepping stone towards a solution, or as a finished product in their own right. However, within the messy context of a research through design project, many of these roles do not form part of the final research narratives, restricting the ability of other researchers to learn from this practice. In this paper we revisit prototypes used in three different design research projects, conducted over a period when the Internet of Things emerged into everyday life, exploring complex hidden relationships between the internet, people and physical objects. We aim to explore the unreported roles that prototypes played in these projects, including brokering relationships with participants and deconstructing opaque technologies. We reflect on how these roles align with existing understandings of prototypes in HCI, with particular attention to how these roles can contribute to design around IoT.

KW - Internet of Things.

KW - Prototypes

KW - design

KW - research objects

KW - research through design

KW - things

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DO - 10.1145/3461778.3462037

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EP - 1816

BT - Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021

A2 - Ju, Wendy

A2 - Oehlberg, Lora

A2 - Follmer, Sean

A2 - Fox, Sarah

A2 - Kuznetsov, Stacey

PB - ACM

CY - New York

Y2 - 28 June 2021 through 2 July 2021

ER -

Taylor N, Rogers J, Clarke L, Skelly M, Wallace J, Thomas P et al. Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT. In Ju W, Oehlberg L, Follmer S, Fox S, Kuznetsov S, editors, Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21), June 28–July 2, 2021: “Nowhere and Everywhere”. New York: ACM. 2021. p. 1807-1816. 43 doi: 10.1145/3461778.3462037

Prototyping Things: Reflecting on Unreported Objects of Design Research for IoT

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