Paul Coulton

Lancaster University | LU · Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA)

s games are inherently about exploring alternative worlds this paper proposes the utilisation of games as a medium for speculative design through which players can explore scenarios that represent plausible alternative presents and speculative futures The paper reviews futures orientated design practices such as Design Fiction, Speculative Design,...

Design Fiction has garnered considerable attention during recent years yet still remains pre-paradigmatic. Put differently there are concurrent,but incongruent, perspectives on what Design Fiction is and how to use it. Acknowledging this immaturity, we assert that the best way to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based first paradigm,...

In this paper we explore the motivations for, and practicalities of, incorporating "implications for adoption" into HCI research practice. Implications for adoption are speculations which may be used in research projects to scrutinize and explore the implications and requirements associated with a technology's potential adoption in the future. Ther...

This paper responds to contemporary design contexts that frequently contain complex interdependencies of human and non-human actants. To adequately represent these perspectives requires a shift towards More-Than Human Centred Design. The Internet of Things (IoT) is one context that demonstrates this need. The ‘things’ within such networks transcend...

The design of objects requiring human interaction often revolves around methods such as Human Centred Design (HCD). Whilst this is beneficial in many cases, contemporary developments of technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT), which produce assemblages of interactions, lead to the view that human centred approaches can prove problematic lea...

While prosocial behaviour is often described as behaviour intended to help and benefit others, it is primarily considered through an anthropocentric lens in that the others in question are principally humans. In this research, we consider designed systems whereby the prosocial benefits relate primarily to non-human actants, and although people may...

Electronic waste (e-waste) has become the fastest growing waste stream in the world. So called ‘smart’ Internet of Things (IoT) devices, now ubiquitous in our homes, are increasingly contributing to this waste stream, due to their lack of repairability and consumer cycles driven by planned obsolescence. However, other electronic household products,...

Urban planning has been simulated through various city-building games such as The Sumerian Game (1964), SimCity (1989), and Cities: Skylines (2015), amongst many others. Gaming technology has been utilized in 3D GIS, City Information Models (CIMs), and Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) to enhance public participation and engagement in the planning process...

This research explores whether the co-design of provocative prototypes with older adults can scaffold critical thought concerning ethics, trustworthiness, security and privacy of age-oriented Internet of Things (IoT) products and services, and associated data-driven technologies (DDT). By inviting 15 adults defining themselves as ‘experiencing or a...

Discussions of beyond-human worlds have primarily considered post-anthropocentric models in response to climatic breakdown. However, we must also account for an increasingly techno-mediated experience in the landscape of everyday life through emerging pervasive and ubiquitous robotics in the built environment, particularly drones and their wider so...

The Repair Shop 2049 was a pilot research project which explored the limitations of current Right-to-Repair legislation which does not account for the repair of 'smart' Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It is estimated that by 2030, there will be over 30 billion 'smart' Internet of Things devices in active use worldwide. Unfortunately, with their l...

Artificial moral agents – systems that engage in explicit moral reasoning on their own and with users – present a potential new paradigm for behavior and system change for social and environ- mental sustainability. Moral agents could replace current individual- ist, prescriptive, inflexible, and opaque interventions with systems that transparently...

In this paper we present findings of research into Trust, specifically within the context of Autonomous Systems. The research is based upon an exploratory workshop attended by domain experts from academia and industry. The aim of the work is to synthesise interdisciplinary and high-level understandings of pertinent issues into a singular and cohesi...

A more-than-human right-Abstract: Whilst the recent introduction of the Right-to-Repair to European citizens is undoubtedly a step forward in tackling planned obsolescence, and the resultant deluge of electronic product waste-the efficacy of this new legislation is reliant on consumers availing themselves of this right. Given that repairing and mai...

Design materials are defined as a combination of what they are, what they do, and the ways they interact with other materials. In this pictorial, we explore the interactions between machine learning (as a design material) and another design material—the human face—in the form of digital portraiture. Employing an exploratory Research through Design...

A commons refers to a shared resource that is governed by a community of people, in contrast with a resource managed by a private company or public agency. The commons literature offers robust and respected frameworks for understanding how a community manages a commons. However, decolonization critiques in the commons field identify the need to acc...

The increasing availability of large data sets has initiated a resurgence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. Today AI is integrated into a wide variety of so-called smart products to personalize user experiences. Smart Technologies are typically designed for ease of use, with their complex underlying procedures (intentionally) obfuscated, wh...

At the end of the 20th century, the Internet of Things term was first introduced. Since then, the phenomenon behind this technological development is still fast-growing with estimates of more than 75 billion IoT devices readily connected to the Internet by 2025. During use, each of these devices generates valuable data for the end-user whilst negot...

The smart tractor is just one of thousands of machines and devices that have come to feature an additional layer of software on top of their traditional functions. By maintaining control over that software, manufacturers are afforded power over our devices long after the moment we purchase them. Hacking tractor software is the latest example of th...

This chapter discusses Lancaster City Council's AI for Lancaster Programme. The programme has been a collaboration between the City Council, the International Organization for Artificial Intelligence Legibility, PETRAS and Imagination Lancaster. The chapter describes the design concepts implemented in the city in order to communicate the use of art...

The most common way to consume art is through observation and acknowledgement of its existence. From the viewpoint of preserving art and cultural heritage, such passive consumption seems adequate. However, throughout history art has always been the subject of endless reinterpretations and its reframing has a possibility to shed new perspectives on...

With the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) as a new source of ʻbigʼ data and value creation, businesses encounter novel opportunities as well as challenges in IoT design. Although recent research argues that digital technology can enable new kinds of development processes that are distinctive from their counterparts in the 20th century, minimal...

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) speculates on humanities technological ascension through the exploration of space and the ultimate transcendence of humanity galvanised by the invention of AI. Every detail of this portrayal was an exercise in World Building, with careful considerations of then state-of-the-art technology and informed predictio...

Amalgamating sensors, actuators, and cloud computing with non-digital products and services is regarded as critical opportunities to lead innovation, transforming the conventional way of business activities, such as value creation, new product development (NPD), and design practices. However, a paucity of empirical studies examines IoT design chall...

This paper considers a More-than Human-Centered design approach that presents Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data as materials for design by utilizing the non-anthropocentric philosophy of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and the related thesis of Alien Phenomenology. This paper also explores methods of making AI operations, functions and impacts l...

Sunrise doesn't last all morning A cloudburst doesn’t last all day… All things must pass All things must pass away George Harrison’s 1970 song ‘All Things Must Pass’ could easily be seen to be his sonic lament to the passing of The Beatles. Heavily indebted to Timothy Leary’s 1966 transcendental poem All Things Pass – itself adapted from the pa...

Whilst the notion of a creating a 'cloudless sky' by moving control and processing to the edge of the network, i.e. mobile devices, provides greater agency to users over the handling of their data, it still exists within a privately controlled networked infrastructure. Infrastructure can thus be considered the elephant in the room or in this case c...

Vaunted as the next frontier within the scope of the Internet of Things (IoT), Edge Computing (EC) is seen as a means to improve efficiency and privacy across IoT infrastructures. This is because it enables data to be processed where it originates, that is, at the so-called 'edge' of the network, this being within, or close to, individual Internet-...

With the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) as a new source of 'big data', businesses face new opportunities as well as emergent challenges. However, although academics and practitioners often critically debate the IoT, little attention has been focused on the design and development of IoT. Re-framing of New Product Development (NPD) for IoT is...

This is a commissioned report for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK). It documents the current state of University-based Design Research which is concerned with the themes of AI and Data and makes recommendations around how the Design Research landscape may grow in the coming years.

In this paper we recount several research projects conducted at ImaginationLancaster ( http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk) a Design-led research laboratory, all of which consider Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO). The role OOO plays in these projects is varied: as a generative mechanism contributing to ideation; as a framework for analysis; and as a const...

With the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) as a new source of ‘big’ data, businesses face new opportunities as well as emergent challenges. Recent research claims digital technology can enable new kinds of development processes that are distinctive from their counterparts in 20th century. However, although academics and practitioners often crit...

We describe how Embosonic Sketching, a novel approach to qualitative data sonification, was employed in the design of a sound art installation. The method was conceived to minimise designer bias in the creation of sound artworks which seek to faithfully represent the lived experience of a sample group. The 'Her[sonifications]' project was driven by...

A spime describes a device that could generate data about itself throughout its entire life-cycle and this 'metahistory' would be saved and remain searchable and mineable. Given growing Internet of Things (IoT) device e-waste and material scarcity issues, the concept of spimes provides a useful approach to addressing the current lack of considerati...

Shape-changing interfaces use physical change in shape as input and/or output. As the field matures, it will move from technology-driven design toward more formal processes. However, this is challenging: end-users are not aware of the capabilities of shape-change, devices are difficult to demonstrate, and presenting single systems can ‘trap’ user-t...

The manifesto focuses on strategies for incorporating sustainability into the design of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. We hope it helps to galvanise product designers, interaction designers, creative technologists and makers into action - the people who have the skills and know how to use materials and technologies to design future sustainable...

Digital-augmentation of print-media can provide contextually relevant audio, visual, or haptic content to supplement the static text and images. The design of such augmentation--its medium, quantity, frequency, content, and access technique--can have a significant impact on the reading experience. In the worst case, such as where children are learn...

The rhetoric that surrounds the Internet of Things (IoT) contends it will bring about utopian transformative change throughout society, particularly in regards to sustainability. Little discourse however, recognises the intrinsically unsustainable nature of IoT devices themselves. Under a façade of innovation, the IoT is a breeding ground for super...

Through the design, development and implementation of the Living Room of the Future (LRoTF), we build upon existing work to progress two strands of research. The first explores how media broadcasters may utilize Object-Based Media (OBM) to provide more immersive experiences. Created in conjunction with the BBC R&D the LRofTF utilises OBM to dynamic...

This research presents the design of a board game that explores issues related to privacy , ethics, trust, risk, acceptability, and security within the Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, it aims to assist players in developing mental models of the increasing hybrid digital/physical spaces they inhabit in which notions of public and private ar...

There are numerous loud and powerful voices promoting the Internet of Things (IoT) as a catalyst for changing many aspects of our lives for the better. Think healthcare, energy, transport, finance, entertainment and in the home – billions of everyday objects across all sorts of sectors are being connected to the Internet to generate data so that we...

In this paper we highlight design challenges that the Internet of Things (IoT) poses in relation to two of the guiding design paradigms of our time; Privacy by Design (PbD) and Human Centered Design (HCD). The terms IoT, PbD, and HCD are both suitcase terms, meaning that they have a variety of meanings packed within them. Depending on how the pract...

IoT initiatives look promising and straightforward, but they are far more complicated to enact as it stands today. Although developing digitised artefacts offers a rich new set of value creation and growth opportunities to organisations, to grab these opportunities encompass a wide variety of strategic risks. In this context, in academia, little at...

The paper is the story of building a design research group from scratch. As there has been some recent interest in design research as a team-based activity, this article illustrates how we built the Imagination research team and how it continues to develop. This article gives us the chance to reflect on how far we have come in the last decade. Onc...

This paper addresses the complexity of designing interactions in hybrid digital/physical spaces, in which notions of public and private are becoming increasingly blurred, by using a philosophical lens to characterise such spaces. In particular it references the ideas presented by Michel Foucault in his essay “Of Other Spaces”. It proposes the prese...

Fiction has long been important to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research and practice. Through familiar tools such as personas, scenarios and role-play, fictions can support the exploration and communication of complex psychological, social and technical requirements between diverse collections of designers, developers and end-users. More recen...

With ever increasing demands on healthcare around the world, ensuring adequate provision for patients is becoming more and more challenging. In this paper, we focus on future healthcare provision, specifically looking at how Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Medical Devices might become widely adopted. Our motivation is to move beyond current debates, which ten...

Almost all research output includes tables, diagrams, photographs and even sketches, and papers within HCI typically take advantage of including these figures in their files. However the space given to non diagrammatical or tabular figures is often small, even in papers that primarily concern themselves with visual output. The reason for this might...

In digital age in which a myriad of products is becoming connected through the Internet of Things (IoT), new business opportunities and challenges arise for organisations regardless of size and product/service offerings. The traits of digital technology and digital economy results in not only profound changes in the ways organisations create value...

The most common way to consume art is through observation and acknowledgement of its existence. From the viewpoint of preserving art and cultural heritage, such passive consumption seems adequate. From the viewpoint of preserving art and cultural heritage, such passive consumption seems adequate. Yet, passive consumptions hinders users’ potential f...

This little book is about the future and the Internet of Things (IoT). We explain why it’s important to understand how the IoT will shape our lives in the future and how you can use Design Fiction to explore these futures. Based on our research conducted for the Acceptability and Adoption theme of the PETRAS Cybersecurity of the Internet of Things...