Sketching Sonic Interaction Design - workshop Nov 16 2009 - Call for posters & demos

[Michal Rinott <michalrin@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sketching Sonic Interaction Design

Workshop at HIT, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel
as part of the "Sonic Interaction Design" EU Research Group

November 16, 2009

*** Deadline for posters and demos: August 15, 2009 ***

Introduction

Sonic Interaction Design (SID) is the discipline that investigates the use of sound in interactive experiences. As technologies become more miniaturized and embedded, and their users more mobile, interactive sound becomes increasingly important. The experiences offered by sonic interactions need to be effectively and beautifully designed.

Sketching is a fundamental part of the design process. Designers sketch ideas for objects, spaces, interactions, experiences. Bill Buxton's recent book, “Sketching User Experiences”, has laid out a palette of methods for sketching interactive experiences, that involve different forms of “visual storytelling”.

But how do we sketch when designing sonic interactions? This is the question at the core of this workshop. What is the equivalent for paper and pen when we come to design interactions that use sound as a main output?

A central topic in this workshop will be the use of the voice – vocal sketching – as one means of sketching sonic interactions. Can the voice for sound designers play a similar role as that played by the hand for the graphic designer? how can, and how do, people use their voice in the initial stages of designing sonic interactions?

Workshop Structure

The workshop will be composed of experiential sessions (voice warm-up session, a vocal sketching session in groups), invited talks to set the backdrop (on the topics of sketching, and on the human voice), and a poster and demo session (with a special interest in interactive experiences that involve the voice). The workshop will end with a discussion focused on Vocal Sketching as a tool for SID.

Call for posters and demos

We invite submissions of demos and posters dealing with sketching in Sonic Interaction Design. Of particular interest are:

• Sketching techniques for SID – theory, experiences from the field
  
  
• Interaction techniques that are tailored to make use of our vocal capabilities
  
  
• Interactive experiences that involve the voice (in non-speech contexts)
  
  
• Tools and techniques for extracting useful information from vocal sketches

Posters are for discussing new work and work-in-progress. Demos are for presenting interactive work and allowing workshop participants to experience it firsthand. Submissions should be up to 2 pages long. For demos a video documenting the experience is encouraged.

Important dates

Posters and demos deadline: August 15
Notifications of acceptance: Sept 15
Submit your posters and demos to sketchingSID@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Questions?
sketchingSID@xxxxxxxxxxxx