Making Tactful Objects for Sensitive Settings

Abstract

This contribution illustrates the Research through Design process of Mr.V the Spaceman, a tactful object meant to support families of children with cancer maintain a healthy domestic life during stressful times. By recounting insights from the field and unfolding changes to the original artifact over a period of two years, the paper illuminates how an understanding of tactfulness has emerged and developed into a key design quality for this work. This complex and entangled process of making is surfaced and illustrated by a rich and scrupulous annotation of the artisanal craft and technological explorations that led from the original Mr.V prototype to what is now Mr.V the Spaceman.

Dramaturgy of Devices: Theatre as Perspective on the Design of Smart Objects

“…Object theatre makers have shown how all kinds of objects can be turned into partners in performance. The skills and aesthetic sensibilities required to animate objects are increasingly recognized as valuable assets in the design of smart objects and social robots (Hoffman & Ju, 2012;Bianchini, Levillain, Menicacci, Quinz & Zibetti, 2016;D'Olivo, Rozendaal & Giaccardi, 2017). Here too, it seems, a lot is to be gained from bringing together dramaturgical expertise and interaction design.…”