"Arseing around was Fun!" – Humor as a Resource in Design and Making

Abstract

Humor is an inevitable part of human life. Most of us are capable of experiencing and appreciating humor. From this perspective, surprisingly little HCI research can be found scrutinizing the existence, role, and potential of humor in our design practice. The gap remains also related to children and teenagers; there is a lack of studies appreciating the emergence and existence of humor in the design process without intentionally evoking it. Thus, this study examines humor as a naturally occurring phenomenon in the design process. The study was conducted in collaboration with a class of teenagers and their teachers. The study identifies various forms and functions of humor in the design process and reveals its situated, emergent nature as a resource in interaction within design. The study proposes a practical tool for designers for anticipating and potentially facilitating the emergence, forms and usages of humor as an interactional resource in design.

A Making project at school as a nexus of practice

“…In all, the ndings reveal the complexity of aspects related to this type of project, ranging from longer term infrastructuring (see also Iivari 2019) to in situ interactions in the classroom (see also Iivari et al 2020). Therefore, as argued above, it would be important to understand and appreciate the classroom as a complex microcosmos, as "a multifaceted constellation of people, objects, tools, relationships, discourses, as a stage with particular performances" (Iivari et al 2020).…”

“…However, paying special attention to the evolving interaction from a situated perspective had started to foreground how all the participants were multimodally advancing the design process (e.g., Goodwin 2000). Humour and laughter were, in fact, used as resources when negotiating competence, division of labour, legitimating design ideas as well as balancing between the o cial project task and other orientations (see Iivari et al 2020). The observations and the research materials suggest that the pupils indeed valued the chance to participate in the project.…”

“…Schools were a natural environment for the research group to enter with projects where these aspects would meet and allow examination using nexus analysis as a shared research strategy. After carrying out projects of di erent kinds over years, the research group turned its focus on Making in education at school, especially design projects drawing on digital fabrication in a Fab Lab (Halverson & Sheridan 2014;Iivari et al 2020). Therefore, planning, organising, and putting into practice one such project with a Finnish school was chosen for closer scrutiny in this study.…”

Re-defining Characteristics of a Design Protagonist – Elements of Children’s Design Capital

“…Interaction order and historical body. Nexus analysis (Scollon and Scollon 2004) was utilized in two studies (Iivari et al 2020;Kuure et al 2010) indicating that social action can be influenced through an intersection of children's interaction order, historical body, and discourses in place. Interaction order (Goffman 1983) resembles Bourdieu's social capital and indicates participants' networks, their social interactions, and how those are shaped.…”

Girls in IT: intentionally self-excluded or products of high school as a site of exclusion?

“…men and mathematics) associated with IT. High school should be viewed as a "complex microcosmos: as a multifaceted constellation of people, objects, tools, relationships, discourses, as a stage with particular performances" (Iivari et al, 2020) that requires careful study before considering any interventions. We emphasise a participatory approach for the study and interventions in such a microcosmos.…”