Will Odom, Ph.D.

Graduate Positions for Fall ’21

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 19:42:13 +0000

Dr. William Odom and the Everyday Design Studio is looking for new graduate students to join our group in Fall 2021. Positions are funded, limited, and highly competitive. The Everyday Design Studio http://eds.siat.sfu.ca is a design research studio at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) in Vancouver, Canada. Our group specializes in the areas of research through design, interaction design, human-computer interaction, digital fabrication, and tangible computing (among others). Our research investigates the changing nature of interaction design in response to the increasing role technology plays in mediating everyday practices like self exploration, social interaction, the making of home life, and so on. In the spirit of design research, we aim to be reflective and generative, uncovering new and emergent practices of design that help shape both design and its relation to technologies. We design new computational things and systems, and study them in the context of people’s everyday lives. We often also develop new methods for better supporting the practice of design research.

We have also recently been awarded a grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to build a new, state-of-the-art lab for making ‘research products’ that combines equipment for digital fabrication, electronics prototyping and small batch production, finishing, and product/demo/field documentation. With this, our studio will receive an additional 1400 square feet of space to house this equipment and support our design research. It is an exciting time to join our studio!

Our studio prides itself on a strong collaborative culture with a friendly, engaging, and highly creative atmosphere. New graduate students will work on projects including topics such as: supporting long-term interaction with digital data and technologies, domestic IoT, digital fabrication/new materials, AI/machine learning and design, slow interaction design, tangible computing, and speculative design. Please contact Dr. William Odom at wodom@sfu.ca to express you interest in a Graduate position in the Everyday Design Studio.

Important Deadlines

January 31 2020 is the SFU School of Interactive Arts + Technology graduate application deadline is . You can find more information here on how to formally apply:
http://www.sfu.ca/siat/grad/admissions.html

Papers and Workshop @ DIS2020

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:31:30 +0000

We had a number of works accepted at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference.

Our group’s Olo Radio field study project was accepted and received a best paper honorable mention award! Along with fantastic colleagues at the University of British Columbia, we also had a paper accepted Data Dashboards (a follow up to our DIS 2019 paper on data deletion).

Odom, W., Yoo, M., Lin, H., Duel, T., Amram, T., Chen, A. (2020). Exploring the Reflective Potentialities of Personal Data with Different Temporal Modalities: A Field Study of Olo Radio. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. Eindhoven, Netherlands. DIS ’20. ACM Press. (Best Paper Honorable Mention Award)

Vitale, F., Chen, J., Odom, W., McGrenere, J. (2020). Data Dashboard: Exploring Centralizing and Customization in Personal Data Curation. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. Eindhoven, Netherlands. DIS ’20. ACM Press.

Two of my fantastic Masters students, Jordan White and Minyoung Yoo, both had Work-in-Progress papers accepted, each of which is a snapshot of their thesis research.

White, J., Odom, W., Brand, N. (2020). Exploring Locations Histories as a Design Material for Reflection with Memory Compass & Memory Tracer. In DIS ’20 Companion Proceedings. Eindhoven, Netherlands. ACM Press.

Yoo, M., Odom, W., Berge, A. (2020). Understanding How Audio Mediates Experiences of Reminiscence for People Living with Blindness. In DIS ’20 Companion Proceedings. Eindhoven, Netherlands. ACM Press.

Along with fantastic colleagues at IT University of Copenhagen, California College of the Arts, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Goldsmiths School of Design University of London, we had a workshop on Research through Design artifacts and outcomes accepted! This is the 4th workshop that we have run on this topic, following up from prior ones at CHI 2016, CHI 2017, and CHI 2019! Consider submitting your project here: http://thingsofdesign.info/

Jenkins, T., Odom, W., Pierce, J., Andersen, K., Boucher, B., Chatting, D., Gaver, W. (2020). Research through Design in Situ: Discussing the Domains and Impact of Design Research. In DIS ’20 Companion Proceedings. Eindhoven, Netherlands. ACM Press.

Paper and Workshop @ CHI2020

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:22:25 +0000

Along with a fantastic set of colleagues that span Simon Fraser University we had 1 archival paper accepted for publication at the CHI 2020 conference and it received a best paper honourable mention award!

Heshmat, Y., Neustaedter, C., McCaffery, K., Odom, W., Wakkary, R., Yang, Z. (2020). FamilyStories: Asynchronous Audio Storytelling for Family Members Across Time Zones. Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, CHI ’20. ACM Press. Paper 359. 14 pages. (Best Paper Honorable Mention Award)

Along with wonderful collaborators at Northumbria University, Newcastle University, Lancaster University, among others, we also had one workshop accepted:

Wallace, J., Sas, C., Odom, W., Morrissey, K., Montague, K., Olivier, P., Koulidou, N. (2020). HCI at End of Life & Beyond. Workshop at CHI 2020. In CHI ’20 Extended Abstracts of Human Factors in Computing Systems. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. ACM Press.

Due to the pandemic, we revised our workshop plan and recreated it into a 2-day international, non-stop design workshop that started with participants in the UK and Europe, then was handed off to participants in North America, and then handed off to participants in Australia and Japan; and, then did the cycle all over again on the second day.

Graduate Positions for Fall ’20

admin — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 22:35:44 +0000

Dr. William Odom and the Everyday Design Studio is looking for new graduate students to join our group in Fall 2020. Positions are funded, limited, and highly competitive. The Everyday Design Studio http://eds.siat.sfu.ca is a design research studio at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) in Vancouver, Canada. Our group specializes in the areas of research through design, interaction design, human-computer interaction, digital fabrication, and tangible computing (among others). Our research investigates the changing nature of interaction design in response to the increasing role technology plays in mediating everyday practices like self exploration, social interaction, the making of home life, and so on. In the spirit of design research, we aim to be reflective and generative, uncovering new and emergent practices of design that help shape both design and its relation to technologies. We design new computational things and systems, and study them in the context of people’s everyday lives. We often also develop new methods for better supporting the practice of design research.

Important Deadlines

January 15 2020 is the SFU School of Interactive Arts + Technology graduate application deadline is . You can find more information here on how to formally apply:
http://www.sfu.ca/siat/grad/admissions.html

Keynote at Aarhus University

admin — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 19:04:52 +0000

August 16 2019 I gave a keynote address at the 2019 Summer Participatory Information Technology Symposium at Aarhus University in Denmark. The day’s programme focused on exploring the role(s) of creative, artistic, and/or design-oriented practice-based research in Human-Computer Interaction Design research. I was excited to share some of my ongoing research on developing a theory and practice of slow interaction for design. Many thanks to Miriam Sturdee for the fantastic live sketched-notes on my talk!

“Coolest Course” at SFU

admin — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 20:57:51 +0000

My recent re-design and offering of the IAT 333 Interaction Design Methods course at SFU was recently highlighted by Maclean’s magazine as one of the “coolest courses” at Simon Fraser University. The magazine only featured two courses total (the second is also from my department). My offering of Interaction Design Methods was also recently covered by SFU Press as well as SFU’s Teaching and Learning Centre.

See the Maclean’s article: https://www.macleans.ca/schools/simon-fraser-university/?fbclid=IwAR2SvPuqZZc3i3Ik0Mb00weIitz4KYEjz5ardWHaK491hVc8fgPZTo37u0Q

Also, see SFU New’s coverage of my course: http://www.sfu.ca/siat/stories/undergraduate/experiential-learning-embraces-experts-and-engagement.html

Slow Interaction at ATÖLYE Design Studio

admin — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 18:05:50 +0000

Excited to share recent slow interaction design projects at ATÖLYE Design Studio as a part of their invited design lecture series in Istanbul, Turkey on 19 June. This talk is co-sponsored by the Koç University Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

4 Papers + Best Paper Honorable Mention Award @ DIS 2019

admin — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 22:27:33 +0000

Along with a fantastic set of colleagues that span Simon Fraser University (Canada), University of British Columbia (Canada), and the University of Oslo (Norway), I have had four archival papers accepted for publication — 3 papers and 1 pictorial (i.e., a visual paper) — at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems 2019 Conference in San Diego. One paper, in collaboration with Francesco Vitale and Joanna McGrenere received a best paper honorable mention award!

We’ll also have a demo at DIS 2019 and present a workshop paper. See below for more details.

Odom, W., Anand, S., Oogjes, D., Shin, J. (2019). Diversifying the Domestic: A Design Inquiry into Collective and Mobile Living. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. San Diego, USA. DIS ’19. ACM Press.

Chen, A., Odom, W., Zhong, C., Lin, H., Amram, T. (2019). Chronoscope: A Near-eye Tangible Device for Interacting with Photos In and Across Time. Demo Paper In Extended Abstracts of Designing Interactive Systems. San Diego, USA. DIS ’19. ACM Press.

Odom, W., Amram, T., Chen, A., Lin, H., White, J., Yoo, M. (2019). Reflective Knowledge Production through the Designer-Researcher Approach. Workshop Paper at A Sample of One: First-person Research Methods in HCI workshop held at ACM Designing Interactive Systems. DIS ‘ 19. San Diego, USA.

Chen, A., Odom, W., Zhong, C., Lin, H., Amram, T. (2019). Chronoscope: A Design Inquiry into Supporting Longer-Term Interaction with Personal Digital Photo Collections. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. San Diego, USA. DIS ’19. ACM Press.

Vitale, F., Odom, W., McGrenere, J. (2019). Keeping and Discarding Personal Data: Exploring a Design Space. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. San Diego, USA. DIS ’19. ACM Press. (Best Paper Honorable Mention Award)

Børsting, J., Culén, A., Odom, W. (2019). Mediating Relatedness for Adolescents with ME: Reducing Isolation through Minimal Interactions with a Robot Avatar. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems. San Diego, USA. DIS ’19. ACM Press.

CHI 2019 Best Paper Award

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 18:14:44 +0000

Very happy to announce that our paper on the long-term field study of Olly received a Best Paper Award at CHI 2019. This is the result of a great collaboration among designer-researchers at Simon Fraser University and Eindhoven University of Technology. We’re excited to share our next chapter of slow technology design research with the HCI community.

William Odom, Ron Wakkary, Jeroen Hol, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg, Tal Amram, Amy Yo Sue Chen. (2019). Investigating Slowness as a Frame to Design Longer-Term Experiences with Personal Data: A Field Study of Olly. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19. ACM Press.

4 Papers Accepted @ CHI 2019

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:43:10 +0000

Along with a fantastic set of colleagues that span Simon Fraser University (Canada), Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Chemnitz University of Technology (Germany), Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany), Università della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), and Fuji Xerox (Japan), I have had 4 archival papers conditionally accepted for publication at the CHI 2019 Conference in Glasgow, UK:

Odom, W., Wakkary, R., Hol, J., Naus, B., Verburg, P., Amram, T., Chen, A. (2019). Investigating Slowness as a Frame to Design Longer-Term Experiences with Personal Data: A Field Study of Olly. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19. ACM Press.

Shin, J., Aceves-Sepúlveda, G., Odom, W. (2019). “Collective Wisdom”: Inquiring Into Collective Homes as a Site for HCI Design. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19. ACM Press.

Berger, A., Odom, W., Storz, M., Bischof, A., Kurze, A., Eibl, M., Hornecker, E. (2019). The Inflatable Cat: Idiosyncratic Ideation of Smart Objects for the Home. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19. ACM Press.

Fedosov, A., Kitazaki, M., Odom, W., Langheinrich, M. (2019). Sharing Economy Design Cards. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19. ACM Press.

We also had one workshop accepted:
Pierce, J., Andersen, K., Boucher, A., Chatting, D., Desjardins, A., Devendorf, L., Gaver, W., Jenkins, T., Odom, W., Vallgarda, A. (2019). Doing Things with Research through Design: With What, with Whom, and Towards What Ends?, Workshop Organized at SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Glasgow, UK. CHI ’19.

Consider submitting something here:
http://thingsofdesign.info/