This year we've got two papers accepted into CHI, both authored by Edward Melcer. They are:

Bridging the Physical Divide: A Design Framework for Embodied Learning Games and Simulations

Existing embodied learning games and simulations utilize a large breadth of design approaches that often result in the creation of seemingly unrelated systems. This becomes problematic when trying to critically evaluate the usage and effectiveness of embodiment within embodied learning designs. In this paper, we present our work on combining differing conceptual and design approaches for embodied learning systems into a unified design framework. We describe the creation process for the framework, explain its dimensions, and provide two examples of its use. Our embodied learning games and simulations framework will benefit HCI researchers by providing a unifying foundation for the description, categorization, and evaluation of embodied learning systems and designs.

 

Motion, Emotion, and Form: Exploring Affective Dimensions of Shape

In this paper, we present a study examining how individuals embody emotion within form. Our findings provide a general taxonomy of affective dimensions of shape consistent with and extending previous literature. We also show that ordinary people can reasonably construct embodied shapes using affective dimensions, and illustrate that emotion is conveyed through both visual dimensions and tactile manipulations of shape. Participants used three distinct strategies for embodiment of emotion through shape: the look of a shape (visual representation), creation of a shape symbolizing the experience of an intended emotion (metaphor), and by evoking the intended emotion in the creator through affective movements and manipulations during construction (motion). This work ties together and extends understanding around emotion and form in HCI subdomains such as tangible embodied inter