InterArt: Learning human-computer interaction through the making of interactive art

Abstract

Technological advances are substantially changing what we understand as a computer. For Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) educators, it is a challenge to stay updated and prepare students to cope with the state of the art technology, interaction possibilities, and ever-growing sociotechnical challenges. We advocate that, besides traditional HCI topics, students should be encouraged to creatively engage and tinker with novel tools and technologies and design for open-ended scenarios. In this paper, we report on results of the InterArt project: HCI students explored tools and technologies from the maker culture to design and implement an interactive artwork. We detail our teaching methodology and the conducted activities; the products of these activities and feedback from students compose our results. Our approach made possible for students to creatively express themselves, be a part of a participatory design and collective sensemaking process, discover and practice socially aware design, and ultimately expand what they understand as HCI.