Publications & Awards
Designing Parents-adolescents Relationship in Future Mobility in China
Wang, Xiaoge; Lu, Xinyi; Tan, Xiaoyang; Zhu, Yujie; Zhu, Taiping; Luo, Yijian; Wang, Stephen Jia
*Full paper in [Social] design section
Abstract: Following the rapid growth of private vehicles in China, in-car parents-adolescents communication has become a prominent issue in recent years. Due to the physical also mental challenges of the adolescent period, the existing in-car environment has demonstrated evidenced limitations to support parents-adolescents communications during car rides. Existing solutions are mostly games and virtual agents designed for young children, which focus on entertainment. However, no related study was found in the Chinese context. Thus, how to design novel experiences supporting in-car communications between parents with adolescents in China is still one of the main challenges in the field. Building upon a fundamental understanding of the current parents-adolescents communication situation in China, this study aims to explore how the vehicle's interior space could help promote positive interactions and improve communication challenges. We conducted the survey studies in semi-structured interviews and a cultural probing study with five Chinese families, as well as a storytelling workshop with college students. Based on the discussion of design implications learned from user research and concept development, the design proposal in this study intends to support both parents and adolescents to be able to express positive and empathetic intentions through embedded in-car interactivity and suggest future research directions.
Keywords: In-car communication; Parents-adolescents relationship; Implicit communication; interactivity
Scenario Video
Nature Jar: Design for Facilitating Nature Connectedness and Restoration in Home Scenario
Wang, Xiaoge
*Student Design Competition
Abstract: Over recent decades, rapid urbanization has made people further detached from nature. Researchers from a wide range of disciplines have demonstrated that the growing separateness from nature has adverse impacts on public health and environmental sustainability. Therefore, promoting nature connectedness has been viewed as a prominent and necessary aspiration. Since more and more people live in cities and spend most of their time indoors, urban landscapes and citizens' living environments play an increasingly important role in reconnecting to nature. Under these circumstances, the project aims to use design and technology to gently intervene in people's perceptive and behavioral transformations by encouraging them to notice, value, and have more contact with the nearby nature, as well as deliver nature's restorative effects. A prototype was developed after a cultural probes study, connecting the natural environment with the home space, the digital device with the tangible interaction, the real-life behaviors with the virtual effects.
Keywords: Nature connectedness, Human-nature relationship, Interaction design, Tangible interaction, Probing study