Do Cyborgs Dream of Electric Limbs?

CHI 2021 Workshop

Experiential Factors in Human-Computer Integration Design and Evaluation

While many systems have successfully demonstrated functional integration of humans and technology, little attention has been paid to how technologies might experientially integrate to feel as part of humans. Having a strong sense of self has been shown to increase body-protective behavior, intuitive functioning and body co-ordination – while a diminished sense of self has been linked to various disorders of consciousness like schizophrenia, somatoparaphrenia and depersonalization. Experiential integration would thus not just allow artificial modifications to be felt like a natural part of the body but also provide positive functional and psychological benefits. 

Our aim is to shed light on the importance of experiential integration and provide researchers with a scientifically driven foundation for future designs and investigations. The workshop will consist of hands-on experiments with novel body-illusions, discussions on experiential integration, and instructor-guided sessions on psychological concepts related to the design and evaluation of experiential integration.

The workshop focuses on the prospective of Human-Computer Integration, and discuss the matters of human factors, cognitive science, and ethical considerations around the topic. Cognitive and psychology research reveals different levels of body awareness and how these can be induced or designed upon. We focus on how to realize and evaluate experiential integration with technology.

The workshop discusses the idea of experiential integration, align it with evidence from cognitive science, and discuss its implications for Human-Computer Integration design and evaluation. The workshop activities consist of hands-on experiments with novel body-illusions, discussions on an experiential integration cookbook, and instructor-guided sessions on how to design and evaluate experiential integration for each participant’s research topics.

Call for Participation

If you are interested in the workshop, please submit your application to the URL below.

The submission deadline is February 7th, 2021. We will notify the accepted participants by the end of February 2021 and with a maximum of 30 participants. The list of participants will be posted on the workshop website.

More information: http://cyborgdreams.media.mit.edu/

Organizers:
Valdemar Danry, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Pat Pataranutaporn, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Adam Haar Horowitz, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Paul Strohmeier, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Josh Andres, IBM Research Australia, Melbourne, Australia & Exertion Games Lab , Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Rakesh Patibanda, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Zhuying Li, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Takuto Nakamura, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Jun Nishida, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Pedro Lopes, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Felipe León, Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Andrea Stevenson, Won Virtual Embodiment Lab, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
Dag Svanæs, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Sang-won Leigh, School of Industrial Design, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States