First post - Before I start. What I think I might be studying. :)

Hello!!

I have decided to start this blog to let my family and friends know what I am am up to, and hopefully generate some dialogue about architecture and HCI.

I am starting a PhD program at the university of Calgary in Computational Media Design.

For the last ten years I have been working in architecture and have enjoyed aspects of community engagement, vision building and the design process. In my research I have come across the term "Human Centered Design" which is more often called "HCI - or "Human-Computer Interaction". I like that this process puts the end users of a "product" (or building) at the center of the design process. I like the concept that the process facilitates humility and requires designers to be objective, curious and empathetic.

HCI has been used in the computer industry for a long time and it has established methodologies and procedures that engage users, test products, prototype and iterate design concepts. The fact that the methods are so established, and have been in use for a long time provides a fair bit of experience that can benefit the architectural community engagement design process.

Of course my research will develop and will have various implications and challenges. Buildings are not Computer applications, but this does not mean there are not useful aspects of HCI that can help how architects engage users. The objective is that my research will be usable, practacle and responsible. Business practices, action-research and the dynamics of architectural industry will be important to my studies.

Thanks for watching and I am looking forward to hearing from you. I realize the awkwardness of posting videos about a topic I know nothing about, and of publicly revealing my limited knowledge of a subject, but I do so in the name of conversation and the need for research to be real, informed and engaged in the world. I am a child of my generation - I can't make any bold claims without having discussed it with you first!! I so appreciate your input!

Classes start next week, and I'll be taking my first Computer Science classes EVER! Yikes!

Be well!

Angie.

Some links I have been looking at lately

The biggest HCI conference: https://chi2016.acm.org/wp/

Where I first heard of "Human Centered Design : https://www.luma-institute.com/

Some great HCI based design companies: www.ideo.com, www.frogdesign.com, www.maya.com,

My program: http://www.ucalgary.ca/cmd/

Stanford design lab - design based in HCI concepts : http://dschool.stanford.edu/