Aesthetics, Social Acceptability, and Social Context

Welcome to our Mensch und Computer workshop on Interaction in the Public: Aesthetics, Social Acceptability, and Social Context. We want to bring together HCI researchers and UX practitioners to discuss the role of “the social” in current design approaches, and to develop new directions for the future. In addition, we are happy to announce that Dr. Julie R Williamson from University of Glasgow will join us as our invited guest speaker. She has published several impactful papers on technology interactions in public spaces and we are looking forward to her talk at our workshop!

Interaction in the Public

The topics we would like to discuss include:

  • How does interaction design shape social experiences?
  • More generally, how do social contexts shape user experiences?
  • What potentials for positive experiences can we find in the social world?
  • How can we include social context in design processes to create better things?

We have already received several interesting contributions that cover an wide range of social contexts. Although the contributor slots are full, you can still join us as a regular participant and take part in our interactive session. Both experts and novices are welcome to join us and learn together (see the call for participation and the workshop proposal).

The Covid situation is still quite unpredictable in Germany. We have considered several options for the workshop, but finally we decided to run this workshop completely online. This allows everyone to participate at minimal health risks. It also allows us to continue planning and to set a date for the workshop:

Date of the Workshop: 05.09.2021, 11:00-15:00 CEST

If in doubt, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

We are looking forward to your exciting contributions,

Alarith Uhde, Stefan Tretter, Pia von Terzi, Marion Koelle, Sarah Diefenbach, and Marc Hassenzahl

This workshop is partially funded through the project “Aesthetics of Performative Interaction for Pervasive Computing Environments in Public Spaces”, by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – (Grant No. 425827565) which is part of Priority Program SPP2199 Scalable Interaction Paradigms for Pervasive Computing Environments.