Incorporating haptics into the theatre of multimodal experience design;
and the ecosystem this requires
Karon MacLean
Professor, Computer Science
Director, UBC Designing for People Research Cluster
University of British Columbia, Canada
Abstract: When novice - and sometimes expert - hapticians need to ideate about how to implement haptic media in given applications, they often struggle to get beyond variations of vibrotactile notification or directional guidance, even given examples — of alternative framings of how tactile and force sensations could be utilized, of how such sensations can be delivered and what they can feel like. Why is our imagination of haptic technology so limited, when touch in the “real” world is bogglingly rich and essential? What stands in the way of innovation in how we use haptics in multimodal design, as the technology itself becomes more mature and diverse? How can we expand our vision of the roles it could take in the multimodal theatre of a designed experience?
I trace these questions to four major gaps: in (I) Inspiration - the lack of interesting examples available to most of us; (II) Theory - of diverse ways to conceptualize the role of haptics in UX design; (III) Process - the many challenges of working with the technology itself and integrating it into multimodal workflows; and (IV) Value - the difficulty of making a hard-edged business case for an element which often enriches rather than enables. To discuss both these gaps and approaches to surmounting them, I will draw on decades of design experience in my group as well as work with expert and novice hapticians and industry leaders, framed in the rich use cases of learning technology and mental health applications.
Bio: Karon MacLean is Professor in Computer Science at UBC, with degrees in Biology and Mechanical Engineering (BSc, Stanford; M.Sc. / Ph.D, MIT) and time spent as a professional robotics engineer (Center for Engineering Design, University of Utah) and haptics / interaction researcher (Interval Research, Palo Alto). At UBC since 2000, MacLean's research is at the intersection of robotics, human-computer and human-robot interaction (HCI and HRI), psychology and social practices. She is most known for her work in communicating functional and affective/emotional information through our sense of touch (haptics), and in supporting haptic and multimodal design. She has contributed design practices, inventions, and findings in cognition, affective modelling and complex sociotechnical systems, and acted as a bridge between dispersed haptic communities from robotics and human-computer interaction. With her group, MacLean has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications, many of them garnering awards. She has received distinctions such as the Charles A McDowell Award (UBC’s highest research award), was named an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer (2019) and placed in the “Top 30 Women in Robotics” in 2020. As a leader in her respective fields, MacLean co-founded the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 2008), reinvented top conferences as their general chair (IEEE HAPTICS, 2012; ACM Virtual UIST, 2020), advises on numerous international academic and industry boards, and has led award juries for all major conferences in her area. She is currently Special Advisor, Innovation and Knowledge Mobilization to UBC’s Faculty of Science. MacLean founded and directs UBC’s multi-disciplinary Designing for People (DFP) Research Cluster and NSERC CREATE training program (25 researchers spanning 11 departments and 5 faculties - dfp.ubc.ca), which has transformed UBC’s HCI presence worldwide, and the practice of researchers across campus.
Theory Driven Approaches to the Design of Multimodal Assessments of Learning, Emotion, and Self-Regulation in
Medicine
Susanne P. Lajoie, FRSC
Professor of Educational and
Counselling Psychology
Canadian Research Chair Tier 1, Advanced Technologies for Learning Authentic Settings
McGill University
Abstract: Professor Lajoie is a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic
Settings in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and a member of the Institute for Health
Sciences Education at McGill University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American
Psychological Association as well as the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She received the
ACFAS Thérèse Gouin-Décarie Prize for Social Sciences along with the AERA-TICL Outstanding International
Research Collaboration Award. Dr. Lajoie directs the Learning Environments Across Disciplines partnership grant
funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel in Canada. Dr. Lajoie explores how theories of
learning and affect can be used to guide the design of advanced technology rich learning environments to promote
learning in medicine.
Bio: Professor Lajoie is a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic
Settings in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and a member of the Institute for Health
Sciences Education at McGill University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American
Psychological Association as well as the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She received the
ACFAS Thérèse Gouin-Décarie Prize for Social Sciences along with the AERA-TICL Outstanding International
Research Collaboration Award. Dr. Lajoie directs the Learning Environments Across Disciplines partnership grant
funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel in Canada. Dr. Lajoie explores how theories of
learning and affect can be used to guide the design of advanced technology rich learning environments to promote
learning in medicine.
