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Abstract

Designing Human Centered Computing applications that explore collaboration, creativity, sharing and learning, requires the ability to coalesce research and development methods across multiple disciplines and institutional structures. A reflexive process is put into place where desired research results, such as effective communication, creativity, diversity of thought, problem solving through negotiation and knowledge acquisition, are integral to successful interdisciplinary research processes used to attain those very goals. Constructed Narratives is a digital media research project based on the premise that to construct is to creatively invent one’s world by engaging in creative decision-making, problem solving and negotiation. It is a construction kit of tangible pentomino shaped blocks that form a dynamic mesh network. The “Constructed Narratives” game is a research experiment in the design of tangible social interfaces (TSI). Based on design principles of tangible user interfaces (TUI), the tangible social interface focuses on the development of tangibles for shared discourse and information in public spaces. An interdisciplinary team of undergraduate and graduate students from ten engineering and fine arts programs at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh assisted in the development of the first prototype. That work led to a NSF Creative IT grant that enabled continued prototype development and re-design with creative professionals. In this talk I will discuss the methods used with the interdisciplinary student research team and the transition to refined prototype development with creative professionals including insights into institutional processes that support and hinder the development of interdisciplinary ecologies for innovation

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