Teaching and Workshops.
Mostly about prototyping, design fiction, connected products, and machine learning interfaces.
Trainable & Tangible User interfaces
with Massimo Banzi, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design IPD 2018.
A 3 weeks class focusing on exploring, prototyping and testing new metaphors and concepts that emerge from embedding learning algorithms in everyday devices. What are the interactions and roles of devices that are ‘trained’ and not only ‘used’?
Using a mix of tools, as simple neural networks running on Arduino or Wekinator, we pushed the students to build ‘small intelligences’, limited in some way by the use of ‘simple’ sensors to capture the world around them, but that offer new examples of more human and acceptable declination of 'Intelligence' input lives.
Some of the key highlight projects explored a local and trainable voice button, a knife that learns from famous chefs, and neighbors' noise trained communication device.
Working Intelligence
with Joshua Noble and Bjorn Karmann, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design IDP 2017.
Working Intelligence focused on exploring the nature of artificial intelligence in the workplace in the near future. We asked the students to imagine scenarios and concepts beyond the dystopian or utopian common discussions and look at what new roles and tools will emerge when man and machines will work together. What jobs will be replaced and what will change in nature? What are the new jobs that will emerge and what will the tools and objects that facilitate this work be?
The course was focused on mixing design fiction and prototyping, looking at the past as an inspiration to see how jobs changed and disappeared. Then moving in the near future, imagining a new job in details, its tools, and its routines. Some of the key highlight projects explored smart city maintenance and camera retrainers, an autonomous and distributed vertical farming market, and machine referees for impartial football.
Domesticating Intelligence
Domesticating Intelligence
with James Auger, Joshua Noble and Churu Yun, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design IDP 2016.
Domesticating Intelligence was a class focused on questioning and exploring the concept of 'Smart' beyond smart=automated and intelligence=human. Pushing the students to reflect on what does it actually mean to live with truly 'smart' and 'intelligent' devices and services. Using the lens of Domestication theory, we pushed the students to reflect on how technologies morph and evolve to fit our environments and how some of them (i.e. robots) fail still at that.
With a good mix of real coding experimentation and design fiction, we pushed students (and ourselves) to dig deeper in ‘machines’ and their scary logic interiors to understand what is there to influence, translate and turn into possible controls and interfaces for people. At the same time stepping into parallel presents or near futures, we got free to imagine complete new scenarios and think a bit more critically about implications and not just add smartness and intelligence ‘as a feature’.
Some of the key highlight projects explored an object redesigning itself based on its needs, a subtle AI government system and fearful toys for kids.
Secret Life of Objects
with Joshua Noble, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design IDP 2015.
Secret Lives of Objects was the first class that I started teaching in CIID, trying to mix together design fiction and real prototyping. The class focused around the concept of Behavior of a product as a core material to be designed.
We started with a very bottom-up approach to the class, exploring how to show behaviors through animations on processing and movements with servos to then project the students into real/fictional future where objects have a life of their own in our homes. Some of the key highlight projects explored a plant with its own selfie social media following, a lamp that creates energy and makes money for its owner and a bookshelf that writes its own books.
