Creative Probes, Proxy Feelers, and Speculations on Interactive Skin

Abstract

This paper critically discusses the combination of creative and social research methods to generate a novel approach to explore the multimodal technoscape. This paper draws on an interdisciplinary exploratory case study on interactive skin—an emergent technology that augments and/or interacts with the skin. This paper shows how concepts from skin studies and the HCI literature can be used to draw on creative methods to think about and with the body. We describe the use of an online probe pack, a speculative research workshop and sensory research interviews using ‘proxy feelers’ to agitate the design space of interactive skin futures. We show how combining these methods provoked and expanded the scope of interactive skin from the technological to the sensory and the social. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of the research dialogues that this approach facilitated, make the case for creative methodological improvisation and exploration of emergent technologies and show how creative and social research methods can be combined to explore the interconnection between technology, society and design.

Editorial

“…The search for new methods to engage with the complexity of touch has intensified multimodal interest in mobilizing both sensory and artistic research methods (Jewitt et al, 2021; Jewitt et al, 2022). Exploiting methodological synergies across these frontiers can, we argue, open multimodality up to different perspectives, generate imaginative research questions and make available a wider range of methodological tools for creative use.…”

Shifting Design Perspectives: Touch, Co-Location, and Sharing Objects during the Pandemic

“…Our goal in this study was to elicit stories from the participants regarding their personal experiences and attitudes towards human-to-human touch, co-location, and sharing physical objects during a pandemic. We intentionally avoided any workshop exercises using physical materials (c.f., [28,29]), so our participants' oral stories focused on their felt experiences. Therefore, we did not engage in any activities involving brainstorming future imaginary scenarios with new materials.…”

“…You know, like she was just like ready to get back to a sense of normality and like ready for it to feel back to normal." (P15, age [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Here, the concern for safety and connecting with a parent are in tension, which results in a confrontation. The participant, who did not feel that things were "normal" wanted to keep safe by wearing a mask.…”

“…I tend toward like phone calls, because it's just like, less of the reminder that we're not in the same place." (P4, age [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Although video chats can display faces, subtle cues are more challenging to gauge over video chat than face-to-face physical interactions. Depending on the activity, mainly gathering with loved ones, this inability to engage in eye contact can serve as a reminder of the distance between them and, in turn, may prompt people to forgo video chats.…”

“…Like, I could not pass the salt to my mom." (P18, age [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Here, the inability to be within arm's reach of his parents at the table yet watching them eat over Zoom further reinforced the presence and limitations of technology, and additionally served as a reminder that the respondent could not participate in even mundane activities with his loved ones.…”