A profound shift is underway in how we experience circadian time, the rhythmic alternation of activity and rest over the course of the twenty-four-hour day. At the center of it is pervasive computing.

Increasingly, the rhythms of human activity are shaped less by environmental cues like the presence or absence of daylight and more by rhythms in the data streams that occupy an ever greater share of our attention. Partly as a result, circadian rhythms research is flourishing.

In this talk we’ll explore circadian selfhood in its cognitive, cultural, and environmental dimensions. We’ll examine the historical context for the dramatic rise of computing power and for the scientific categories by which we understand biological rhythms. We’ll look at how social scientists can make sense of these phenomena using an ensemble of methods linking the history and philosophy of science, cultural, linguistic and cognitive anthropology, and the philosophy of embodied cognition. We’ll discuss emerging practices that exemplify circadian selfhood, among them chronotherapeutics (bright-light therapy, clinically managed sleep deprivation) and polyphasic sleep. And we’ll consider case studies from two emerging consumer product categories: personal photosimulation (http://valkee.com) and personal actigraphy (e.g., http://lark.com/products/larklife/experience).

As the buzz surrounding Lark, Zeo, FitBit, SleepTracker, and their competitors demonstrates, interaction designers cannot afford to ignore the design challenges of mitigating the novel physiological stresses of pervasive computing. We’re talking about users’ body temperatures, corticosteroid levels, and slow-wave sleep patterns. Design does not get more personal than this. Is there a way to respond to these challenges without becoming complicit in the “medicalization of sleep” and the ever-more-intrusive presence of commercial life in our bodies?

About the Speaker

Josh Berson is an anthropologist of interfaces and material flows: between body and world, animal and human, machine and living thing, subject and institution. He holds a PhD in the history and anthropology of science, technology, and medicine and linguistic anthropology. He has taught computer science at Harvard (1996–8) and the anthropology of international development at the University of Pennsylvania (2004–9). From 2010 to 2012, Josh was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin. In 2012–13 Josh is a fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich.

When: Monday, February 11th at 7pm. Import IxDA Munich Calendar
Where: YOU IS NOW (the Scout24-Group incubator): Dingolfinger Str. 1-15, D-81673 München.
Want to join? RSVP here on Xing.

Co-organizer

Sponsor

In the last IxDA Munich meeting of the year we are going to show a 40 minutes video recorded at Adaptive Path’s UX Week by Jaron Lanier. The video will be followed up by an open debate and discussion.

Jaron Lanier

A Renaissance Man for the 21st century, Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author who writes on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technology, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism.

Jaron’s book

Informed by Lanier’s experience and expertise as a computer scientist, You Are Not a Gadget discusses the technical and cultural problems that have unwittingly risen from programming choices—such as the nature of user identity—that were “locked-in” at the birth of digital media and considers what a future based on current design philosophies will bring. With the proliferation of social networks, cloud-based data storage systems, and Web 2.0 designs that elevate the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and wisdom of individuals, his message has never been more urgent.

When and Where?

When? Monday, December 10th, 2012. 19:00. Import IxDA Munich Calendar
Where? Department of Design, Hochschule München, Infanteriestraße 14, 80797 München, Room M202a (2nd. Floor). Map
Registration: on XING (registration not needed but appreciated)

Sponsor

Special thanks to Hochschule München for hosting this event and for providing drinks.

What is the impact of each product features on the holistic user experience? Which product features are worthwhile to invest? What are the minimum requirements for individual features that must be met and from when on do qualities become so good that they serve to inspire the users?
To find reliable answers to these typical and crucial questions of every user-centered product development process, designaffairs has developed their own research tool: HUX (Holistic User Experience).
The difference of HUX against other established measurement methods lies within it’s non-linear results and it’s high level of assertiveness with which specific strategic instructions for successful product development can be generated.

The presentation will cover all major aspects of the tool and it’s applicability in several use cases. Join us for an evening of entertaining and surprising results from the USA, India and Germany.

About the Speaker
Head mediator between Man and Machine. Claude Toussaint, born 1969, Engineer and Designer, owner and Managing Director of designaffairs GmbH since 2007. Head of Interface team of designers and ergonomists, joined designaffairs in 1999

When and Where?

When? Monday, November 12th, 2012. 19:00. Import IxDA Munich Calendar
Where? Designaffairs, Balanstraße 73 | Haus 32, 81541 München, Deutschland. Map
Registration: on XING (registration not needed but appreciated)

Sponsor

Special thanks to Designaffairs for hosting this event and for providing snacks and drinks.

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About the Speaker