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Book chapters by Henrika Pihlajaniemi

The shift towards interactivity in the design of spaces and places has persuaded both architects ... more The shift towards interactivity in the design of spaces and places has persuaded both architects and HCI practitioners to acknowledge that there is a need to work together. However, there is little knowledge of how we actually experience dynamic adaptation, informational services and interactivity in the built environment. As such, there is a pressing need to empirically study actual implementations of media architecture, urban interaction design and urban computing from an emic perspective. Consequently, this article examines participant experiences of an interactive urban lighting pilot, Urban Echoes (UE), which took place in a northern urban park. Collected as video and audio recorded material in walking interviews and semi-structured interviews, we examine the emplaced experiences of two differing participant groups, young adults (20–29 years old) and seniors (over 65 years old). Furthermore, we argue that the concept of emplacement, which highlights the importance of place and the embodied mind, can be a useful tool both as an analytical lens and as an effective way to conceptualize and communicate some essential aspects of architectural thinking in the interdisciplinary arena of media architecture and urban interaction design. Finally, building on the work of Paul Dourish on embodied interaction design, we argue for emplaced interaction design.

Papers by Henrika Pihlajaniemi

This proposed paper presents the results of a real world demo of adaptive urban lighting in a ped... more This proposed paper presents the results of a real world demo of adaptive urban lighting in a pedestrian oriented street in the core centre of a northern city of 65°01' latitude, Oulu, Finland. The case project -LightStories (Valotarina) -explores the methods to enable city dwellers to participate in the design of public urban lighting, as well as interaction and communication through urban lighting. It applies a web-based design tool which offers city dwellers the possibility to design one hour long light animations to be displayed along a pedestrian oriented street. In addition to describing the design and development process of the lighting system and the participatory design tools used in this case, the paper presents general discussion about the process and tools, and also about the role of algorithm aided methods in enabling the user participation in lighting design with the tool.

Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference, Nov 19, 2014

This position paper introduces three real world lighting demos, which research interaction with u... more This position paper introduces three real world lighting demos, which research interaction with urban lighting in different contexts and through different thematic approaches. The first case project – LightStories – employed existing street lighting to create interactions through participatory design and communication. In the second case – Urban Echoes installation – interaction between the lighting and the park users is achieved both with instrumental and non-instrumental means. On the one hand, a mobile service provides the visitor with urban information visualized by park lighting, and on the other, the lighting responds to visitors' movements. Finally, in SnowLight case, the lighting scheme of a wintertime event interacts with music and with people playing with snow, and the participants' roles shift from choreographer's to performer's and to observer's role.

This position paper presents a lighting pilot of intelligent retail lighting. In the pilot, light... more This position paper presents a lighting pilot of intelligent retail lighting. In the pilot, lighting was controlled in an implicit way according to the tracked movements of space users, following three lighting modes in dynamic and complex patterns. The demo was evaluated using a probe-inspired method, which revealed a large spectrum of different aspects of users' experiences. The paper discusses the preliminary findings of experiences concerning implicit interaction.

This article presents the phrasing of the research questions and the content of the “Adaptive Urb... more This article presents the phrasing of the research questions and the content of the “Adaptive Urban Lighting – Algorithm Aided Lighting Design” (AUL) research project. The project is carried out during 2011-2013 at the University of Oulu, Department of Architecture, and it is mainly funded by the Academy of Finland. The aim of the project is to research and develop algorithm aided design methods and tools for designing adaptive urban lighting. Parallel interests with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research due to their turn of interest to real world urban settings has provided a basis for multidisciplinary research co-operation. Lighting is approached as an experiential element of public urban spaces in northern conditions. Adaptive lighting is seen in this project as an intelligent system, which reacts to user actions, trace data and changes in environmental conditions. The benefits of adaptive urban lighting have been associated with, e.g., energy savings, traffic safety and ped...

Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference on World Cities - MAB '14, 2014

Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '15, 2015

We introduce evaluation probes for conducting emic, experiential evaluation of urban technologies... more We introduce evaluation probes for conducting emic, experiential evaluation of urban technologies "in the wild" without direct researcher presence. We commence with a thorough discussion and analysis of the original cultural probes, used by Gaver, Dunne and Pacenti to gain design inspiration, and their subsequent variations. We develop the concept of evaluation probes through careful reconceptualization and application of the cultural probes in three successive studies conducted in the wild. We recount and reflect on our use of evaluation probes and discuss their merits and limitations in experiential emic evaluation.

Proceedings of the 4th Media Architecture Biennale Conference on Participation - MAB '12, 2012

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a real-world adaptive urban lighting demo conducted i... more ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a real-world adaptive urban lighting demo conducted in a pedestrian street in the centre of a city in Northern Finland. The main objectives were to explore methods of enabling the inhabitants of the city to participate in the design of public urban lighting, as well as interaction and communication through urban lighting. This article discusses the participants' experiences of participation and their attitudes towards adaptive and interactive lighting. The case project -- LightStories (Valotarina) -- applied a web-based design tool which offered our participants the possibility to devise one-hour long lighting designs, displayed along a pedestrian oriented street. Additionally, users could write a narrative or a message associated with their lighting design, published on the website and the public UBI touch screens. This article describes both our participants' experiences of participation and how LightStories (LS) was used as an ambient media in urban space.

Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction Fun, Fast, Foundational - NordiCHI '14, 2014

The shift towards interactivity in the design of spaces and places has persuaded both architects ... more The shift towards interactivity in the design of spaces and places has persuaded both architects and HCI practitioners to acknowledge that there is a need to work together. However, there is little knowledge of how we actually experience dynamic adaptation, informational services and interactivity in the built environment. As such, there is a pressing need to empirically study actual implementations of media architecture, urban interaction design and urban computing from an emic perspective. Consequently, this article examines participant experiences of an interactive urban lighting pilot, Urban Echoes (UE), which took place in a northern urban park. Collected as video and audio recorded material in walking interviews and semi-structured interviews, we examine the emplaced experiences of two differing participant groups, young adults (20–29 years old) and seniors (over 65 years old). Furthermore, we argue that the concept of emplacement, which highlights the importance of place and the embodied mind, can be a useful tool both as an analytical lens and as an effective way to conceptualize and communicate some essential aspects of architectural thinking in the interdisciplinary arena of media architecture and urban interaction design. Finally, building on the work of Paul Dourish on embodied interaction design, we argue for emplaced interaction design.

This proposed paper presents the results of a real world demo of adaptive urban lighting in a ped... more This proposed paper presents the results of a real world demo of adaptive urban lighting in a pedestrian oriented street in the core centre of a northern city of 65°01' latitude, Oulu, Finland. The case project -LightStories (Valotarina) -explores the methods to enable city dwellers to participate in the design of public urban lighting, as well as interaction and communication through urban lighting. It applies a web-based design tool which offers city dwellers the possibility to design one hour long light animations to be displayed along a pedestrian oriented street. In addition to describing the design and development process of the lighting system and the participatory design tools used in this case, the paper presents general discussion about the process and tools, and also about the role of algorithm aided methods in enabling the user participation in lighting design with the tool.

Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference, Nov 19, 2014

This position paper introduces three real world lighting demos, which research interaction with u... more This position paper introduces three real world lighting demos, which research interaction with urban lighting in different contexts and through different thematic approaches. The first case project – LightStories – employed existing street lighting to create interactions through participatory design and communication. In the second case – Urban Echoes installation – interaction between the lighting and the park users is achieved both with instrumental and non-instrumental means. On the one hand, a mobile service provides the visitor with urban information visualized by park lighting, and on the other, the lighting responds to visitors' movements. Finally, in SnowLight case, the lighting scheme of a wintertime event interacts with music and with people playing with snow, and the participants' roles shift from choreographer's to performer's and to observer's role.

This position paper presents a lighting pilot of intelligent retail lighting. In the pilot, light... more This position paper presents a lighting pilot of intelligent retail lighting. In the pilot, lighting was controlled in an implicit way according to the tracked movements of space users, following three lighting modes in dynamic and complex patterns. The demo was evaluated using a probe-inspired method, which revealed a large spectrum of different aspects of users' experiences. The paper discusses the preliminary findings of experiences concerning implicit interaction.

This article presents the phrasing of the research questions and the content of the “Adaptive Urb... more This article presents the phrasing of the research questions and the content of the “Adaptive Urban Lighting – Algorithm Aided Lighting Design” (AUL) research project. The project is carried out during 2011-2013 at the University of Oulu, Department of Architecture, and it is mainly funded by the Academy of Finland. The aim of the project is to research and develop algorithm aided design methods and tools for designing adaptive urban lighting. Parallel interests with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research due to their turn of interest to real world urban settings has provided a basis for multidisciplinary research co-operation. Lighting is approached as an experiential element of public urban spaces in northern conditions. Adaptive lighting is seen in this project as an intelligent system, which reacts to user actions, trace data and changes in environmental conditions. The benefits of adaptive urban lighting have been associated with, e.g., energy savings, traffic safety and ped...

Proceedings of the 2nd Media Architecture Biennale Conference on World Cities - MAB '14, 2014

Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '15, 2015

We introduce evaluation probes for conducting emic, experiential evaluation of urban technologies... more We introduce evaluation probes for conducting emic, experiential evaluation of urban technologies "in the wild" without direct researcher presence. We commence with a thorough discussion and analysis of the original cultural probes, used by Gaver, Dunne and Pacenti to gain design inspiration, and their subsequent variations. We develop the concept of evaluation probes through careful reconceptualization and application of the cultural probes in three successive studies conducted in the wild. We recount and reflect on our use of evaluation probes and discuss their merits and limitations in experiential emic evaluation.

Proceedings of the 4th Media Architecture Biennale Conference on Participation - MAB '12, 2012

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a real-world adaptive urban lighting demo conducted i... more ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a real-world adaptive urban lighting demo conducted in a pedestrian street in the centre of a city in Northern Finland. The main objectives were to explore methods of enabling the inhabitants of the city to participate in the design of public urban lighting, as well as interaction and communication through urban lighting. This article discusses the participants' experiences of participation and their attitudes towards adaptive and interactive lighting. The case project -- LightStories (Valotarina) -- applied a web-based design tool which offered our participants the possibility to devise one-hour long lighting designs, displayed along a pedestrian oriented street. Additionally, users could write a narrative or a message associated with their lighting design, published on the website and the public UBI touch screens. This article describes both our participants' experiences of participation and how LightStories (LS) was used as an ambient media in urban space.

Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction Fun, Fast, Foundational - NordiCHI '14, 2014