Education in Human-Computer Interaction Design (HCI/d) aims to instill a human-centered perspective among its students, encouraging a designerly way of thinking that allows them to develop creative solutions that consider the implications and consequences of people interacting with technology. It has been known that a practicum (Schön, 1987) environment contributes to developing this way of thinking by means of reflection (Schön, 1987). We present in this paper a pedagogical approach based on narratives to be employed in studio-based courses for HCI/d. We discuss how oral and multimedia narratives support in conveying content-independent concepts that affect the learning experience. We propose a set of components to help the elaboration of these stories. Additionally, we introduce a conceptual space called the narrative cloud, which helps us to elaborate on the ideas regarding this approach and closely ties to the concept of distributed cognition (Hutchins, 2000). Therefore, the goal of this paper is establish a base for discussing a further development of this approach, or any framework or methods where narratives constitute a fundamental element that supports reflection in HCI/d education. Sosa Tzec, O., Beck, J. E., Siegel, M. A. (2013) Building the Narrative Cloud: Reflection and Distributed Cognition in a Design Studio Classroom. DRS // CUMULUS 2013. 2nd International Conference for Design Education Researchers. May 14-17. Oslo.

1. Building the Narrative Cloud
Omar Sosa Tzec・Jordan E. Beck・Martin A. Siegel
School of Informatics and Computing
Indiana University
drs // cumulus 2013
2nd International Conference for
Design Education Researchers
Oslo, 14-17 May 2013
Distributed Cognition in a Design Studio Classroom

2. Maya Lin
Source: http://www.naaapconvention.org/

3. Source: http://militaryblog.militaryavenue.com/
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

4. How do we use narratives as teaching tools
in a design studio to cultivate design agency
in non-designers?
Question

5. hci design studio
o
Observer
i
Instructor
s
s
s
s
ss
s
s
s
s
ss
s
s
s
s
ss
s
s
s
s
ss
s
s
s
s
ss
s
s
s
s
ss
Students collaborating
Methodology

6. Sketching and
prototyping
Content-Dependent Concepts
Students sketching and prototyping
Image by Sam Tian

7. Content-Dependent Concepts
Affinity
Diagramming
Affinity diagram made by students
Image by Sam Tian

8. Content-Dependent Concepts
Usability
Testing
Students testing their prototype
Image by Sam Tian

9. Content-Independent Concepts

10. courage
Content-Independent Concepts

11. “You know, I couldn’t help but think
that, she was so young and early in
her career, inexperienced, really. A
student still. And yet she still had
the courage to believe in her design.
I wonder if I could do that.”
graduate student of hci/d studio
Content-Independent Concepts

12. Content-Independent Concepts
The Zen Dog by Edward Mocton - http://www.edwardmonkton.com
Source: http://birchbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/01/zen-dog-made-me-do-it.html

13. Content-Independent Concepts
The Zen Dog by Edward Mocton - http://www.edwardmonkton.com
Source: http://birchbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/01/zen-dog-made-me-do-it.html
perseverance

14. Content-Independent Concepts
International student of the HCI/d program at IU
Image by Sam Tian

15. diversity
Content-Independent Concepts
International student of the HCI/d program at IU
Image by Sam Tian

16. Content-Independent Concepts
Narratives act as catalysts
for cultivating a sense of
design agency
HCI/d students during the lecture stage
Image by Sam Tian

17. instructor students
s s scontent-independent concept
studio
i
reflection-in-narrative
Content-Independent Concepts

18. Content-Independent Concepts
reflection-on-narrative
s s s
studio
i
?

19. The Narrative Cloud
The Narrative Cloud

20. The Narrative Cloud
s si s

21. The Narrative Cloud
s si s

22. The Narrative Cloud
s si s
s si s

23. The Narrative Cloud
s s
s
s si s

24. The Narrative Cloud
sT

25. The Narrative Cloud
sT
s s
s

26. Narratives: typology

27. Narratives: typology
Oral
Narratives

28. Narratives: typology
Oral
Narratives
Video
Narratives

29. Narratives: typology
Musical
Narratives
Oral
Narratives
Video
Narratives

30. Narratives: components
•Characters
•Setting
•Actions
•Time Pins
•Objects
•Emotions
•Intentions
•Values

31. Summary
•Content-Dependent Concepts
•Content-Independent Concepts
•The Narrative Cloud
•Typology and Components for Narratives

32. We introduced an HCI/d
pedagogical approach to be
applied in a studio-based course.
This approach employs narratives
as a means to convey content-
independent concepts. These
stories gather in a conceptual
space we call the narrative cloud,
and they serve to engage
students into self-reflection.
The graduate students of the HCI/d studio in the Rite of Passage
Image by Sam Maverick
Conclusions

33. This self- reflection motivates
achievement of two student
goals:
1.Consciousness
2.Empowerment
The graduate students of the HCI/d working at the studio
Image by Sam Maverick
Conclusions

34. •Student acceptance
•Design principles
•Best fit (curriculum/instructor)
The graduate students of the HCI/d studio in the lecture session
Image by Sam Maverick
Conclusions

35. •How to build a framework
for practical use?
•When to consider the
narrative cloud?
•What are the implications
of use?
The graduate students of the HCI/d studio receiving a lecture of music
Image by Sam Maverick
Future Work

36. They strengthen and
refine their sense of
agency by composing
their own life
narratives. In the
end, the students are
the story.The graduate students of the HCI/d studio after their participation
in the student design contest of the CHI Conference 2013
Image by Tony Pattin

37. Acknowledgements
This work is supported in part by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant
Award no. 1115532. Opinions expressed are
those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the entire research team
or the NSF. Other project team members
include Erik Stolterman, Nathan Bilancio,
Colin Gray, Minqi Luo, David Roedl, and
Mengyao Zhao, all from Indiana University.

38. Questions?
{omarsosa, joebeck, msiegel}@indiana.edu
http://www.soic.indiana.edu/
http://uxdesignpractice.com/