Detail

Designing for Fun through Creative Expression and Video Game Play: Interaction Design and Sensor-based Computation – The SoundScapes story

This talk will discus how the SoundScapes research evolved from a simple idea conceived from synthesising experiences with profoundly disabled relatives, an education as an engineer, and a background in performance art.

Preliminary research around 1985 followed the creation of a sensor-based haptic analogue/digital alternative musical instrument. It was conceived to enable new means for creative expression and playful social interactions as a means to augment quality of life for those diagnosed as profound and multiple learning disabled (PMLD). Subsequent experiments with worn Biofeedback systems in the early 1990s led to the creation of an infrared non-invasive gesture control interface that enabled music making, digital painting and video game playing through 3D gesture alone.

The mapping of sourced data to responsive multimedia was adaptable to participant ability. Emergent models and hypotheses have resulted from the ongoing work that is cored around an information rich responsive virtual environment. State of the Art advancement is suggested through the applied research. Video game playing through gesture was initiated around 1998 and used in the TeleAbilitation project. Non-formal rehabilitation is related. It is hoped that this talk may inspire others to explore the potential use of interaction design, sensor-based computation, and video game playing from a human computer confluence perspective within a societal context targeting change and inclusion that can result in benefit for other humans, both those with dysfunction and those who support them.