NWL Seminar with Prof Gloria Mark

The first in a series of international seminars on the topic of "Work Practices, Nomadicity and ICT Mediation" and organised by the Nomadic Work Life Project was held yesterday, 14th of September 2011. The speaker was Professor Gloria Mark from the University of Californa Irvine. Gloria spoke about "Managing Work in a global Context: the Role of Infrastructure". Professor Mark is pictured below with the NWL team: (l/r) Dr. Breda Gray (Sociology), Prof Gloria Mark, Dr. Luigina Ciolfi (IDC) and Fabiano Pinatti (IDC)

Congratulations to Dr Marc McLoughlin!

During the conferring ceremony that took place yesterday, 25 August 2011, our colleague Marc McLoughlin was officially awarded his doctorate!

The title of Marc's thesis was:

Designing for Public Interaction: Extending, Applying and Reflecting on the Principles of "Assembly"

Marc is pictured here with his supervisor, Dr Luigina Ciolfi, after the ceremony.

The best of luck to Marc in his future career!

Cristiano Storni presents at Sheffield Hallam University

Thursday the 9th of June - Cristiano Storni presents the 'Reassembling Health research and design agenda' as part of the User Centred Healthcare Design seminar series (UCHD www.uchd.org.uk). Cristiano reports on the FutureComm project research and design activities, describes the TiY design concept and discusses directions for future research in the area of self-care practices and technology in chronic disease.

Luigina Ciolfi speaks at "Museums and Design Disciplines: Society and Participation"

Luigina Ciolfi was one of the invited speakers at Museums and Design Disciplines: Society and Participation, an international seminar organised by the IUAV Doctoral School in Venice (Italy) and the Museology of Design Research Group. The programme also included talks by Duncan Grewcock, Kingston University, London, Kali Tzortzi, University of Athens, and Davide Ponzini, Politecnico di Milano.
A summary of the event (in Italian and English) can be read here

IDC Work at "Boundary Work I" Exhibition

IDC has been invited to participate in Boundary Work I, and exhibition on the theme of technology in practice between art and science. The exhibition, curated by Paul Green on CIT Crawford College of Art, opened last week at Wandesford quay Gallery in Cork and it will run until November 27th. An overview of the work exhibited, including images is available here

Congrats to Softday on "Marbh Chrios"

Congrats to Mikael Fernstrom and Softday on the recent successful performance of "Marbh Chrios", which took place on October 16th at Mooney's Boatyard in Killybegs, Co. Donegal. Congrats to Mikael and Sean on their success!

Success for the third Edition of Tweak Festival

Between September 17th and 24th 2010, Limerick was yet again buzzing thanks to Tweak, the interactive digital art festival featuring an exhibition, workshops, concerts and a cinema day. Tweak is aiming to promote the understanding of the use of technology in our lives and has been curated by IDC Nora O'Murchu in collaboration with (among others) UL IDC, the Limerick School of Art and Design, the arts Council and Creative Limerick

"Reminisce" at Bunratty Folk Park going Live!

“Reminisce” at Bunratty Folk Park
August 25-27 2010

Are you curious about how interactive technology can bring memories of the past to life? Then try out "Reminisce" at Bunratty Folk Park!

Researchers at the Interaction Design Centre have developed a new interactive experience, "Reminisce", which will allow visitors of Bunratty Folk Park in Co. Clare to discover, share and contribute to personal memories linked to buildings, traditions and ways of life of Ireland's past. "Reminisce" will engage visitors in a quest for memories and mementoes to add value to their experience of the cottages and activities on display at the Park.

The IDC is a multidisciplinary research group in the Dept. of Computer Science and Information Systems at the University of Limerick, focused on the design, use and evaluation of information and communications technologies from a human-centred design perspective: our research is focused on enhancing and supporting people's activities and is grounded on the context of the users' experience. The IDC has conducted extensive research on the use of ICTs in museums and exhibitions during the past 10 years, with successful installations at The Hunt Museum, Shannon Airport and Limerick’s Milk Market.

"Reminisce" is part of a research project exploring the utility and potential of technologies such as smart phones, augmented reality and location-based services in outdoor exhibition sites, and it has been supported by Failte Ireland and the University of Limerick Seed Funding initiative.

"Reminisce" is easy to use, doesn't require any specialised equipment and is completely free. It will be available for trials at Bunratty Folk Park from the 25th to the 27th of August 2010.

If you would like to try out "Reminisce", please contact luigina.ciolfi@ul.ie or marc.mcloughlin@ul.ie, or get in touch through our Facebook page or Twitter

Congratulations to Dr Erik and Dr Anders!

This week, Anders Sigfridsson and Erik Lövquist successfully completed their PhD vivas.

Dr. Annette Aboulafia (Erik's supervisor), Erik Lövquist, Prof Liam Bannon (Anders' supervisor) and Anders Sigfridson.

Interaction Design Talks: Fernando Orellana

The Interaction Design Talks series continues this semester with a talk by Fernando Orellana.

Fernando will speak about his recent artwork relating to robotics, anthropomorphism, dreams, generative art, automobiles, and Play-doh.

He was one of the artists featured during the 2nd edition of Tweak in September last year.

Currently an Assistant Professor developing an electronic art program at Union College in Schenectady, NY, Fernando Orellana uses new and traditional media as a way of transmitting concepts that range from generative art to social-political commentary. He has recently exhibited at the Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY, Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, The Mandeville Gallery, Schenectady, NY, Exit Art, New York, New York, LABoral, Gijon, Spain, The Tang Museum of Art, Saratoga Springs, NY, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL, The Ark, Dublin, Ireland, and The Biennial of Electronic Art, Perth, Australia.

The talk will take place this Wednesday, 3 March 2010, 2:30pm in KBG13 (Kemmy Business School), and everybody is welcome!

On Wednesday evening, Fernando Orellana will also give a talk at the IxDA Limerick meetup in the Absolute Hotel. The meetup starts at 7pm as usual. All are welcome!

Interaction Design Talks: Nicholas Polley

Wednesday, 3 February 2010, the Interaction Design Talks series continues with a talk by Nicholas Polley, the founder of the Dublin-based company 3rd Dimension.

The talk, titled Inside 3D Visualisation, is scheduled for 2:30pm in KB119, and everybody is welcome.

3rd Dimension's Visualisation and Animation studios are based in Blackrock in Co Dublin. The company is focused on creating design solutions that include 3D visuals, photomontages, visual impact assessments and 3D walkthroughs meant to support their clients planning and marketing strategies.

Nicholas will speak about his company's past and ongoing projects, referring to the processes and technologies involved. He will also focus on the advances in 3D visualisation technologies over the years and the vital role played by these in many industries (Architecture, Engineering, Design, Games Development).

On Wednesday evening, Nicholas Polley will also give a talk at the IxDA Limerick meetup in the Absolute Hotel. The meetup starts at 7pm as usual. All are welcome!

Reassembling Health: exploring the role of the internet of things

Last Friday, the 4th of December Cristiano Storni led a workshop at LIFT@Home under the event 'Are you ready for the Internet of Things' where the Think tank 'The Council' launched.

Workshop description can be found here;

Workshop report can be found here (draft);

Some of the Workshop material can be found here (presentation), here (concept map), and here (inspirational booklet);

The Council website can be found here;

The LIFT event link can be found here.

'Problematizing Design' Panel with Cristiano Storni and Aphra Kerr

Cristiano Storni has participated to the Workshop 'Ethnography, Creativity and design' as part of the Anthropology seminar series in collaboration with Intel last November the 12th at NUI Maynooth. Cristiano Storni was part of the panel 'Problematizing design' with Lecturer Aphra Kerr. In his presentation (The politics of design inthe Health Care dispositif), Cristiano has shared some of the finds of his research on self-care practices and technology. He argued for the limit of the medical model in self and home care practices and the need to create room for more dialogical collaborations between lay persons and expert practitioners in care. Aphra Kerr has presented her research on the game industry by problematize the relationship between producers and users in the digital game domain. Intel hosted part of the seminar and provide a series of presentations regarding the Independent Living project and the related Tril centre (www.trilcentre.org).

Program available here

Event brochure available here

Interaction Design Talk: Macdara Butler

Wednesday, 18 Nov 2009, at 2:30 pm, Macdara Butler from Tricycle Interactive, will give a talk titled "Designers & Programmers - Crossing the Divide in Interactive Media Development" in room CSG001.

Macdara Butler, the MD of Tricycle Interactive Ltd., has graduated from UL in 2003 with a Business degree in Economics, Finance & French. He worked in the financial sector for 2 years before returning to UL for the Interactive Media Masters. In October 2006, he set up Tricycle Interactive, together with 2 fellow graduates. Tricycle Interactive provides web applications, mobile software and interface design services.

Designers & Programmers - Crossing the Divide in Interactive Media Development

It is essential that design-oriented people increase their technical skills and knowledge in order to meet the demands of industry. Equally, programmers need to embrace the principles of User Centred Design and engage whole-heartedly with the designers to achieve successful outcomes.

When designers and programmers are able to communicate effectively, work closely together, and understand each other's domains, the team will achieve great results.

Update (19 Nov 2009): Photos from Macdara's talk

IDC Team delivers "Get Connected" on behalf of the Irish Museums Association

On Friday, 13th of November, Gabriela Avram, Luigina Ciolfi, Eamonn Finn, Olivia Kennedy an Marc McLoughlin from IDC delivered a training day on behalf of the Irish Museums Association: "Get Connected. Your Museum and Web 2.0". Participants representing museums and other exhibition spaces and cultural institutions from all over Ireland were briefed on the benefits of using Web 2.0 tools to promote and support current activities at their institution. The workshop was hosted by The Hunt Museum

Interaction Design Talks: Nicola Quinn

Wednesday, 28 October 2009, at 2pm, the Interaction Design Centre is hosting an invited talk titled UX IA IXD - where to start? by Nicola Quinn, former member of the IDC.
The talk will take place in CSG001 and everybody is welcome!


Nicola Quinn is the Customer Experience Manager for RBS's flagship insurance brands - Churchill Insurance, Direct Line and Privilege. Her current role champions the interest of customers across the business, having a major impact on usability, and customer interaction. Previously she has worked as an Information Architect, User Experience Designer, Interaction Designer and Usability Consultant. Past clients have included Nokia, Lynx, Cornetto, Cancer Research UK, BBC, and Logitech. She has also spent time as a researcher at the Interaction Design Centre, Limerick. She recently co-authored a chapter for The Handbook of Computational Arts and Creative Informatics. She is a professional member of the Usability Professional Association, London Information Architects, and ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Graphics.

In her talk, Nicola will refer to how she got her UX/IA roles, where to begin, what to expect, types of roles, and in general to her experience of looking for and finding an interesting job in London.

(Photo: Nicola presenting the Phantom to visitors at the IDC Open Day back in June 2005)

Liam Bannon to deliver keynote at INTERACT 2009

The Director of the IDC, Prof. Liam Bannon will be one of the invited keynote speakers at INTERACT 2009, the IFIP conference on Human-Computer Interaction, to be held in Uppsala (Sweden) at the end of August. Liam will deliver the conference's closing keynote presentation on August 28th.

New IDC Website is launched

The new IDC website is finally live! After over a year of design, development and implementation, the IDC has a new showcase for current research, teaching and publication activities! Thanks to Nora, Anders, Conor, Colm, Gabriela, Paul and everyone else who has helped with the many tasks surrounding the creation of the website.

Liam Bannon at Frontiers of Interaction 2009

Successful NWL Seminar

The Nomadic Work/Life Project (jointly run by IDC and the Dept. of Sociology and supported by ISKS - The Institute for the Study of Knowledge in Society at UL) hosted a successful international Seminar this week on the topic of "Mobility and Nomadicity:
Methodological Challenges and Innovations". Mobility is a key feature of globalization, interrelated with emerging technologies, socialities and labour forms. Although a wealth of studies have been addressing this reality, little has been said about the methodological dimension of mobilities research. By bringing together an international group of scholars, the goal of this seminar was to identify some of the main methodological innovations and challenges in the field of mobilities research. The seminar proceedings will be published as a special journal issue. Invited speakers were: Justin Spinney (Uinversity of Surrey), Elaine Moriarty (Trinity College Dublin), Michaela Benson (Keele University), Jo Vergunst (University of Aberdeen) and Misha Myers (University College Falmouth).