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Visit the online boutique of our first spin-off company...

Lost Values

Open Studio 005

Social TechStyles

Wednesday 10 June 2009 / 12 noon - 5 pm
Horizon Scotland / Forres, Scotland
Free of charge

Optional follow-up activities on Thursday 11 June - see below for more information

Interested in what's going on at Distance Lab? At our "Open Studio" events we show you how we're pushing the limits of technology and design to redefine and overcome distance. We also expose you to some of the most innovative research ideas and personalities from other parts of the world.

This event will focus on the themes of social computing and smart textiles. In particular we will explore the intersection of these domains and ways that technology is becoming "softer", enabling a new class of interactions over a distance.

Distance Lab researchers Elena Corchero, Tomoko Hayashi, Hannah Perner-Wilson, Mika Satomi, and Hilary Grant will describe our ongoing endeavors in the realm of soft technology, smart textiles, supporting long-distance relationships, and keepsakes of the future. They will also examine how technology can be combined with traditional textile and craft techniques to create appealing new products.

Special guest speaker:

Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Visualising Voice

Karrie Karahalios is an assistant professor in computer science at the University of Illinois where she heads the Social Spaces Group. Her work focuses on the interaction between people and the social cues they perceive in networked electronic spaces. Of particular interest are interfaces for public online and physical gathering spaces such as chatrooms, cafes, parks, etc. The goal is to create interfaces that enable users to perceive conversational patterns that are present, but not obvious, in traditional communication interfaces.

In her talk, Karrie will survey the work of her group, which involves integrating social catalysts into the design of interfaces for connecting spaces over a distance using audio and video. She will take a step back and look at the medium of voice from a simpler perspective, showing examples of conversational dynamics, retrieval through the use of a real time voice visualisation on a tabletop, and examples of new interactions by using this interface as a social mirror.

  

  

A light lunch and presentations will be followed by open studio time during which you can visit our lab space, talk to our researchers, and see our latest project demonstrations.

Outline agenda:

12:00 - Registration opens and light lunch available
13:00 - Presentations begin promptly
15:00 - Research demonstrations and discussion in our studio space
17:00 - End

Optional follow-up activities

We invite all attendees to join us at a local seafood pub for more interaction and networking after the conclusion of the event - details to be announced on the day. Drinks and food can be purchased at your own expense.

For those able to stay overnight in the area, we invite you to contribute to a half-day of informal presentations given by attendees for other attendees (and our staff), starting at 10 am on Thursday 11 June at our studios. This follow-up day has proven extremely popular as a forum of informal exchange between unlikely domains and uses a format that emphasizes interaction and discussion. Please consider giving a short (max 10 min) presentation about your work. We will have appropriate presentation equipment on hand.

Those wishing to stay longer in the area may wish to attend the Rock Ness music festival on the weekend following the event or explore the other offerings of this part of the world.

Presentation videos

Photos from the event