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LINA LEE
Ph.D/ Assistant Professor, Department of Design, Loyola University New Orleans
Technology and culture directly influence each other; as cultures change, so does the technology they innovate. Modern technologies are redefining and reshaping every aspect of our lives. The benefits provided by new technological approaches have a huge impact on social and cultural practices, education, economics, infrastructures, etc. Understanding the implications of modern technologies to design for social and cultural change has become a fast-growing and highly important research area. My research interest focuses on the significant impact of technology on cultural issues and cognition in three aspects: The significance of technology for aging populations, the cognitive effects of embodied interaction, and research methodologies and analytic models.
The significance of technology for an aging population
Doctoral Dissertation
Date: Dec, 2020
We used four technological interventions (Move and Paint, Savi, uDraw, and GrandPad) that are new to older adults to stimulate and increase their initial engagement with technology use. We employed a mixed-method approach involving focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, observations, and diary study to understand the technology-related perceptions and behaviors of older adults and identify factors affecting their initial engagement with interactive technology. This study points out the lack of research on initial engagement among older adults and highlights the importance of the same in the use of new interactive technology. Our thesis statement is that initial engagement, which affects long-term engagement, is more important than need and usability and poses different challenges among older adults based on their behaviors toward interactive technology. The contributions of this study are 1) a new model for older adults’ engagement with interactive technology, 2) an active-passive spectrum of older adults’ behaviors toward interactive technology, and 3) the identification of key factors that influence the initial engagement of older adults. We present new expectations of initial engagement in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and suggest new research directions in the use of interactive technology by older adults.
Project 01. Move and Paint
Date: Spring 2016-Spring 2017, Team Project
This is an exploratory case study on a system we developed called Move and Paint to understand whether the metaphor of a mirror (visualizing the body on the interaction screen) changes the level of exploration, engagement, self-awareness and long-term motivation senior residents exhibit when using the system as well as how they feel about the experience. Move and Paint consists of a Kinect motion detector, a vertically mounted 55" Microsoft Perceptive Pixel display, and a Mac Mini computer. We collected data on the use of Move and Paint in two separate locations: an elderly retirement community and a university library. Our analysis of the data allows us to explore the difference in engagement in the two communities. I designed user interface and developed high fidelity prototype. I conducted user studies, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and thematic analysis.
Project 02. Savi
Date: Fall 2016-Fall 2018, Team Project
We designed a suite of apps suitable for older adults called Savi. Savi is specially designed for seniors to stay connected to friends and family. The design goal of Savi apps is to address the needs of an aging population by providing positive emotions and user experience with mobile apps. We explore design ideas that could make the elderly happy, conducting user study with the younger family members who have older adults. We identify barriers and obstacles faced by older adults; identify features to trigger an emotional response of the elderly and gain emotional design ideas for future development. I designed user interface and developed high fidelity prototype using Indigo Studio (Prototyping tool). I conducted user studies, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and thematic analysis.
Link to the digital prototype:
https://indigodesigned.com/share/awemp31zaynq
Project | 03 Smart Walker
Date: Spring 2016, Team Project
The Smart Walker is a device that is intended to encourage the residents of the Sharon Towers Retirement Community to be more active. It does this by keeping track of the user’s distance walked automatically. It also integrates with and adds to the Walk Across America program that is already in place there by letting the residents individually explore the cities their group reaches as they progress around the country. In order to keep track of the distance that a user has traveled, the smart walker counts the number of times that one of its back wheels has rotated. It does this by using a reed switch mounted to the frame that opens and closes as a magnet mounted on one of the rear wheels turns. As the magnet goes by a signal is sent up to the Arduino, which is mounted underneath the seat of the walker. The Arduino keeps count of how many rotations the wheel makes. The tablet displays step counts and links into the Walk Across America program that is actively going on at Sharon Towers. This linking is done by showing users of the Smart Walker images of landmarks of cities along the Walk Across America route. A progress bar shows how much further until a new landmark is reached. I was actively involved in the process of needfinding, interface design, user studies, and evaluation.
The cognitive effects of embodied interaction
Project 04. Tangible Interaction
Date: Spring 2015, Team Project
DInKs, Digital Interactive Keys, which re-conceptualizes the traditional QWERTY keyboard style interaction as input and output using tangible digital devices along with a larger display device. DInKs are a creativity support tool that is made familiar by providing keyboard-like input. However, the user experience is changed to include interactive content on the keys and composition as physical movement of the keys. Since the Keys of DInKs are programmable, the possible applications for creative composition are unlimited, for example, DInKs can be programmed for the creative composition of elements that include letters, words, images, shapes, and sounds.
Project 05. Willful Marionette
Date: Spring 2014, Team Project
An intelligent marionette, called ‘Little Bill’, is an interactive art installation that embodies a kind of computational creativity. The goal of this project is to explore the emotional response elicited through gestural communications between people. In this case, that gestural communication is between a person and a 3D replica of a human body. I was assigned to the user evaluation study to define the design principles and the gesture sets for a dialogue that provokes an emotional response. This experience allowed me explores evaluation principles and discover a new set of system design principles that were not tied directly to a screen interface.
Project 06. Explore UNCC
Date: Spring 2014 -Spring 2015, Team Project
We designed a set of gesture commands as a model for a gesture-based interactive information system with large screen displays in public locations that provide information about an institution. This walk-up-and-use information display was developed in the context of a university department and serves as a framework for an interactive display that engages passersby to easily explore various entities and relations about courses and faculty on a public display. The walk-up-and-use information display utilizes gesture recognition via Microsoft Kinect, and is designed so that multiple users may interact with the information system in a public location. The design goals are to design a discoverable interaction system for mid-air gestures, to design an engaging and enjoyable experience on a public display, and to enhance gesture recognition in a university setting. In order to determine which gestures are the most easily discovered for interaction design, a think aloud gesture-elicitation study was conducted to come up with common intuitive gestures defined by the users.
Project 07. Co-creative story
Date: Spring 2017, Team Project
The problem of story generation involves multiple participants collaborating in order to create a story. We present a co-creative system such that an AI agent is capable of generating a visual story while collaborating with the user. In our proposed system, a user starts providing a storyline and the agent responds by providing an image to create a scene. The goal of the system is to respond with a creative visual story by introducing a surprising sense to the user. I designed user interface and developed high fidelity prototype. We designed a pilot user study in Wizard of Oz condition to examine the impact of the co-creative agent on the user in making up a story and the process in which the user develops the story.
Project 08. Envision Charlotte
Date: Fall 2013, Individual Project
The ‘Envision Charlotte’ project aims to reduce energy use in Uptown Charlotte by 20% in five years. Envision Charlotte is designed to facilitate feedback loops that allow users to understand how their behavior affects energy usage and modify their actions accordingly. I proposed the details for the development of a conceptual model that focused on the systems information aesthetics. These aesthetics were used to help users understand their electricity usage in real time for the purpose of curtailment of energy usage. The system was deployed it in UNC Charlotte Center City Building. This system shows how data can be represented in insightful and appealing ways
Project 09. Interactive Eco Feedback
Date: Fall 2015, Individual Project
I designed an eco-feedback interaction system. This system provides an engaging and enjoyable experience to hold user’s attention longer in public space Real time energy consumption data is visualized to raise public participation and produce significant changes in energy consumption behavior. I used Arduino with PRI motion sensor inside trash can and detect waste consumption behavior. The mini beam is used to display waste information in real time to collect data and analyze behavior patterns.
Project 10. Breathing Surface
Date: Fall 2014, Individual Project
This studio project is to use the theory of restorative environment as a base for how we can rethink our environment’s using the idea that restorative environments can “improve concentration, impulse control, delay gratification, as well as medical benefits such as improved recovery rates form surgery”. I designed a Breathing Wall using Arduino and Galvanic Skin Response Sensor (GSR). Breathing techniques were incorporated in the Breathing Wall for my project. In specific, the focuses of the Breathing Wall is placed on indoor atmosphere and navigate you how to breathe properly. People can exercise efficiently and take high-quality rests by mimicking the wall’s movement. Breathing wall provides environments that can do 'healing' on bodies and minds of the modern people exhausted by stresses.
Research methodologies and analytic models
Project 11. Designer Cognition
Date: Fall 2018, Research Project
This study investigates the differences between what designers and design managers say about designing and what designers do. Five datasets are analysed, labelled Samsung, Philips, Design Centre Pharmaceutical, Design Seminar, (interviews with designers and managers when they talk about designing) and DTRS7 (design session about designers designing). Differences between describing designing and designing are identified using a combined method of protocol analysis, word frequency count and sentiment analysis. There is significantly more Function (F) and less Structure (S) issues mentioned during describing designing than when designing. Sentiment is more positive when describing designing than when designing. Results also show that protocol analysis methods and the FBS ontology-based coding scheme can be applied to design management and descriptions of the design process as well as to designing. In this project, I conducted protocol analysis using a coding scheme based on the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) ontology and word frequency analysis.
Project 12. ERW
Date: Fall 2019-Current, Research Project
University of North Carolina at Charlotte was eager to create a community where STEM students felt safe, included, and ready to learn. We designed the ERW as a unique approach that uses role-playing and rehearsal to help students identify and respond to moments of social exclusion. We also created eight different scenarios of unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on race, gender, religious beliefs, language, sexual orientation, etc. We designed in-class activities to examine students’ abilities to develop responses to scenarios of discrimination/exclusion. A total of 875 students participated in the workshops, and 396 students answered the class activities throughout three semesters. With these datasets, I conducted both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated on the quantitative data when appropriate (e.g., Are there statistical differences across demographic groups?). Content analysis was conducted on the qualitative data to reveal overarching themes related to exclusion/discrimination and to inform the quantitative data analysis.
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