1st Practical PhD Project… thoughts

On my project blog PhD Project 01 I am still documenting research upon the cognitive psychology of users' mental models which will take me into April as I need to source a couple of key texts I couldn't get from ECA's or University of Edinburgh's libraries. That said one key text yesterday, firmly situated within cognitive science literature, has suggested a structure for my practical research project. I will expand upon this again over the coming months in more detail.

The idea so far in its embryonic state is this…

Phase

1. Qualitative Experiment on up to 36 subjects to undergo an initial online survey to identify a capacity to describe and communicate a cognitive model (subject to be defined). The subjects who can clearly communicate their 'mental model' will be graded into study groups for the next phase.
   
2. This study group will then be asked to explain how they understand how they perform an interactive task.
   
3. These 'mental models' will be visually documented.
   
4. From this documentation visual interactive prototypes will be produced as iterative tests of a 'designer's model'.
   

I do realise that this is very woolly right now and lacks definition. It's root is in an experiment performed by Dedre Gentner and Donald R. Gentner disseminated in their 1983 paper "Flowing Waters or Teeming Crowds: Mental Models of Electricity". My outcome will be demonstrably different to theirs, but their method is certainly a foundation to develop on. I will continue to work on this planning over April.

To summarize though what my intended outcome will focus upon: it will be creating a range of interaction prototypes that are define and designed using 'designer models' interpreting users' 'mental models' of the interaction. The outcome will be focused on visually communicating the experimentations of matching an interface design to how a user thinks it works rather than how it works.

I know I can communicate this better, so please bear with me as I begin to form my methodology and outcomes. Any comments would be greatly received, but please add them to this post by clicking 'Comments' rather than emailing them. Once I have the project more defined I will utilise the Interaction Design community www.ixda.org to inform me of any similar experiments, to ensure I am doing and experiment that will open new ground.

The final thing I need to emphasize is that this project will focus on the visual communication of the interactive process.

Reference:

Gentner, D. & Gentner D.R. (1983) Flowing Waters or Teeming Crowds: Mental Models of Electricity. In D. GENTNER, and A.L. STEVENS, eds. Mental Models. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. pp99-129

1st PhD Practical Project

After a rewarding tutorial with Simon Biggs last week at ECA I am reinvigorated and refocused. A result of this meeting Simon suggested it is time I started planning my first practical project to test the theory I am reading against. This practical project would become my MPhil project and the transition into the PhD. It will span 2009 and 2010 and will focus upon my most recent area of interaction design research - mental models. I will start to unpack this idea at my next whiteboard tutorial with Chris Speed and Mark Wright next week. Simon and I agreed that my annual review should be in June and that I should prepare my project proposal for that review.

To be able to focus upon that project I have set up my first PhD Project Blog. This is a sub-blog to this main research blog and I will cross-post between the two. I will use that blog to explore the research literature into user mental models and represented (designer's) models, as well as using it to post my visual concepts, tests and evaluation.

The new blog can be found at http://phdproject01.wordpress.com/.

Update

I have woefully neglected this blog in favour of another. Since my last post I have been leading a multi-disciplinary team of students and graduates on a Liverpool Biennial 2008 project.

This has been a massively ambitious project comprising of a live action/cg video, a project blog (currently private), a website, a DVD, a book and an academic paper. This project launches on 29th October with a private screening for invited guests. The video will then be exhibited in the The Blackie in Liverpool until the 20th November as part of Liverpool Biennial 2008. The video is De La Salle High School's entry to the Future, Fiction and Fantasy exhibition. Until the launch the video is confidential, afterwards I will include a link.

In the meantime I will tease you with this production image from the project…




On top of this I have also began my MPhil/PhD at Edinburgh College of Art. Within this capacity this blog will disseminate my research ideas.

New sub-blog has been launched

As I have developed this blog to focus upon my interactive design research interests I have felt a tension between using it as a reflective dialogue and an annotated bibliography for my PhD contextual review.

So as my PhD application is gradually moving along (I'm in discussion with academics at my first choice institution whether they can support and supervise it) I have decided to start a sub-blog dedicated to an annotated bibliography. This separation of content will hopefully end the tension, making it easier for me to post to this blog on a more regular basis.

The new sub-blog is called annotatedBib. Visit it if you feel studious.

Back to Work…

As I mentioned in my little diatribe I had had 2 interviews in September for a Senior Lectureship in New Media and Digital Media respectively. For diplomatic reasons I wont mention at which HEIs they where held but I will say that both opened my eyes to the reality of the Interactive Design industry and it's spectrum of interpretations as to what a job title entails. I really enjoyed both interviews and gained a great deal from the experience but although both wanted a lecturer who could deliver interactive design modules they hugely differed in what they were looking for, so much so it was challenging to select the relevant parts of my experience to support my application.

What was really helpful was that both institutions were enthusiastic about my desire to start a PhD and it was useful to discuss my areas of interest. But the matter still stands that I keep losing sight of what it really is that I can sustain 5 years of research in. Since then I have fortunately had a couple of breaks that I want to pursue with a PhD in mind. Firstly I attended a conference on collaborations at the University of Huddersfield on Wednesday as a guest speaker. I had been asked to present a case study on my own experience and good practice in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEE). Before my group's slot (which was a triple-hander between myself, my colleague who is an ex-student and employee of SCEE, and the HR manager of SCEE) I heard a presentation by the MD of 'Brahm based in Leeds about their collaborative work practice across disciplines. I really enjoyed it and was impressed with their ethos so much so that we are arranging a visit so I can tour their facilities and to discuss possible future collaborations. I am hoping to get some insight there to ideas that will sustain 5 years of a practice-based PhD.

Also at work today I discovered my new pigeon hole stuffed full of mail that had been waiting for me for weeks. In there was a prospectus from the RCA. I was about to file it in the bin after a quick flick through but discovered their Design Interactions PhDs. I know there is kudos associated with studying at the RCA but I am a Scouser which means I'm a Northern mongrel, essentially from a Scots-Irish background with a healthy disregard for anywhere below the M62. Whilst I wouldn't rule out the RCA I personally favour the ECA.

What caught my eye was their current/recent areas of research. This at least helps me focus on the possible design-led areas of interactive design. There are 6 areas of research they detail covering:
• Design Futures
• Design for Debate
• Design Fiction
• Extreme Design
• Complicated Pleasures
• Designing Design
Out of these the Extreme Design area is interesting. According to the blurb it covers "exploring new approaches to interaction design in relation to extreme needs, desires and situations (emotional, intellectual and physical)." This concise summary of the area of research is really helpful as I really want to begin my literature review part of my contextual review.

Give me some time and I will try to finally resolve the parameters of my research interest.