International Forum on New Frontiers in Design Research

Keynote Speech 2: "Beyond Pixels: Inventing Tangible Media for Human Expression, Communication and Design"
Speaker: Hiroshi Ishii 

This presentation will introduce the evolution of our vision-driven design research from Tangible Bits to Radical Atoms, illustrated by a series of interaction design projects that have been shown and exhibited in media arts, design, and science communities. This series emphasizes that the design of tangible interactions that engage and inspire people requires the rigor of both scientific and artistic scrutiny, encapsulated by my motto: "Be Artistic and Analytic. Be Poetic and Pragmatic."

Mainstream Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research today primarily addresses functional concerns – the needs of users, practical applications, and usability evaluation. Tangible Bits and Radical Atoms are driven by a vision at the intersection of the arts and computer science to make the digital tangible.

Tangible Bits and Radical Atoms seek to realize seamless interfaces between humans, digital information, and the physical environment by giving dynamic physical form to digital information and computation. They make bits directly manipulatable and perceptible in the foreground and background of our consciousness (peripheral awareness). Tangible Media takes advantage of the richness of our human senses, the skills we develop throughout our lifetime of interacting with the physical world, and the computational reflection enabled by real-time sensing and digital feedback.