Embodied Interaction is an established sub field in Interaction Design addressing physical computing, wearables, haptics and tangible and performative interactions. This course integrates theory and practice and asks critical questions around bodies, society, data and agency in conjunction with materials experimentation including, but not limited to, electronic prototyping. Performative, collaborative and multidisciplinary methodologies are emphasized.

This course identifies Embodied Interaction as an important subfield of Interaction Design.

Building on the starting point of embodied interaction as an umbrella for physical computing, wearables, haptics and tangible interactions, this course:

1. redefines embodiment in terms of materiality and asks for an awareness of whose bodies and what bodies are designed;

2. opens critical engagement with contemporary politics and economics;

3. fosters awareness and experimentation of methodologies, including experimental prototyping, performative and critical approaches to design in heterogeneous design situations.

4. supports the production of a collaborative design prototype

5. develops skills of scholarly reading, writing, thinking and discussion.

After completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Build a repertoire of important design elements, materials and theories in embodied interaction.

2. Demonstrate knowledge of relevant multidisciplinary approaches to embodied interaction.

3. Implement relevant design methodologies and use an appropriate range of materials.

4. Demonstrate a progression from developing a design concept to experimenting with design prototypes

5.Reveal the iterative relation between theory and practice

6. Engage academic literature and produce an individually written academic paper.

7. Reflect upon and critique theoretical and cultural perspectives in relation to embodied approaches to interaction design.

Four educational processes integrated into this Embodied Interaction course:

1. Practical prototyping using Arduino (or other relevant platforms/materials);

2. Theoretical and critical engagement based on readings and seminar discussions;

3. A collaborative project producing a design prototype.

4. Writing an academic paper (with guidance and feedback).

There are 2 basis of assessment for this course, each with equal weighting.

Dourish, Paul. Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.

Dourish, Paul. “Epilogue: Where the action was, wasn't, should have been, and might yet be”. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 20, 1, Article 2 (April 2013), 1-4.

Höök, Kristina. Designing with the Body: Somaesthetic Interaction Design. MIT Press, 2018.

Homewood, Sarah, Marika Hedemyr, Maja Fagerberg-Ranten and Susan Kozel, 2021, "Tracing Conceptions of the Body in HCI: From User to More-than-Human" CHI Proceedings, 2021.

Light, Ann. “HCI as heterodoxy: Technologies of identity and the queering of interaction with computers”. Interacting with Computers Vol.23, Issue 5, 2011, 430-438.

McFadden, Syreeta. “Teaching the Camera To See My Skin: Navigating photography’s inherited bias against dark skin.” Buzzfeed, 2014.

Plus additional texts selected on a yearly basis to support the course work.

Students may be expected to purchase a basic electronics kit and/or other materials. Details to be provided at the start of the academic year.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.