I’m Treffyn, an Interaction Design research student bringing humans back to the centre of ubiquitous technologies.
From trekking through Nepal to launching a successful startup and studying MBA subjects in a walled city in India, I’ve had some wide experiences. These experiences have made me better at approaching problems from different perspectives, and have been focused through the human-centred design skills I’ve learnt in my research masters. The unifying factor underlying everything I do is a passion for human-centred principles. And yes, that is solder under my nails.
A future where the very objects and spaces around us are capable of communicating opens up a whole new world of interactions. As designers, we need to very carefully think about the role of people in these new interactions. By placing people at the centre, we can endeavour to understand at which points and in what ways people are involved in this increasingly worldwide and complex conversation. Treffyn's design perspective
I’ve been a bit of a stowaway through my education. My undergraduate was a communications (majoring in film) degree, and throughout it I kept building and showing people these physical machines. Now, in the IT faculty, I find myself talking about people and communication. This shows the middle ground of people and technology, communication and building, that I think is so important.
Currently I am working with a group of 55-70 year old Australian’s to explore how interconnected and ubiquitous computing could play a role in maintaining their agency, independence and quality of life into old age. This has involved Interviews, workshops, probe packs, prototypes and other ethnographically inspired research.
I have blogged about some of the preliminary findings, Read more
If great design co-creates with the people who will be using the product - how do you design ‘Internet of Things’ products with people who have never heard of it? A core part is the process of mutual learning which takes place between myself as a designer, and elderly people who are obviously the domain specialists through a series of participatory design workshops, interviews and evaluations.
Read moreIn 2013, during the first year of my research degree, I published two papers at the OzCHI Computer Human Interaction Conference, which have been included into the ACM digital library. One presents a framework for designing IoT objects from a human-centred perspective, the other is a summative overview of current IoT efforts, both commercial and academic.
Treffyn has received numerous scholarships, including the University Mobility Asia-Pacific (UMAP) scholarship for study in the United States, the UTS Study Abroad Scholarship, two Beyond Leadership Development (BUiLD) scholarships to study in India, and is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.
A future where the very objects and spaces around us are capable of communicating opens up a whole new world of interactions. We need to very carefully think about the role of people in these new interactions. By placing people at the centre, we can endeavour to understand at which points and in what ways people are involved in this increasingly worldwide and complex conversation.
Place people at the centre:
Start with why, think of the implications.
Build with, not just for people:
We’re understanding the world together.
The value is in the network:
Machines, like people, are social.
Make beautiful seams:
You’re only one interaction among many.
Followthrough:
Iteration doesn’t stop once it ships.
Diversity:
Diverse teams help build for diverse people.
The internet of things, broadly speaking, is the potential for people, objects and things of all kinds to communicate and share with one another via the Internet. This shift is creating an increasingly complex world, where the ‘experience’ a person has is becoming increasingly hard to limit to any one product, place or time.
There are already more connected devices than people in the world, and that number is increasing everyday - exponentially. This creates both the amazing opportunity for new services using data never before feasible, but it also creates the potential for an increased cognitive overload. In a society where things are built because they can be, placing the people who will use them at the centre is a more radical thought than some people realise.
As a person who has always been drawn towards creating these new devices, I feel a social responsibility and ultimately believe it is the more successful path to start with people. To truly place ourselves as people at the centre of this revolution.
Public perception of the IoT is missing a crucial middle ground – solutions that can offer things we’ve never been able to do before.
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When you talk about the IoT, it helps to have some history. Knowing where the IoT sits in relation to other developments, and how this buzz-word is different to the last can help define the idea.
The amount of work for UX designers will increase dramatically in India over the coming years. Increasing western influences, a growing economy, and a lower cost arbitrage are converging to make a perfect storm for UX designers looking for a challenge.
Dictation on computers gained momentum a few years back, and today you see people walking down the street taling into their phones to capture ideas. So as someone who writes as part of their job, where has it come to sit in my workflow?
Internet of Things- a review of literature and products
Approaching a human-centred Internet of Things
My short paper ‘Approaching a human-centred Internet of Things’, presented the first framework for designing IoT objects from a human-centred perspective. To create this I mapped current human-centred IoT approaches to the most commonly used technical IoT model, by Atzori et al. This paper also covered examples of how I have found this tool useful in my own projects when building IoT prototypes for ageing citizens.
The Little Mover and Shaker
A joyously repurposeable tie to the internet. It is beautifully crafted to give a real value and weight to online actions, and stimulate the imagination of how we may interact with information.
Workshop design
A series of workshops and interviews to design future internet products with 55-70 year olds.
The Little Printer with Touch
Disarmingly friendly connectivity - an interactive little printer. Inspired by BERG’s ‘Little Printer’, this wall mountable print stream can be interacted with via touch.
Interconnection cards
Promoting conversation around the Internet of Things. A set of cards designed to prompt people to consider the relationships between objects and the role of technology.
Window Pointing
Using gesture control and eye tracking to let window shoppers interact with window items and receive followup information.
IoTGen.com
Promoting conversation around the Internet of Things!
This site combines two lists of objects and actions at random to create a unique sentence in the form of “What if your ____ could ____?”