Interactive Tables in Homes – Trend Stage Presentation at the Digital Interzum 2021

We will give insights into the current status of our project PraktikApp as part of the event Trend Stage during the interzum @home on May 7th, 2021. The 15-minute presentation "Interactive Tables in Homes – If there Is a Future of Domestic Interactive Tables, it Is Social" by Prof. Dr. Marc Hassenzahl starts at 1 pm and will be held in English.

Application Concept of the Interactive PraktikApp Table System

The current pandemic forces many of us into using technology to stay close to each other. While video conferencing, messaging, and various team platforms solve problems of remote work, they often do little to explicitly address feelings of being connected and together over the distance. They fail to do so despite the fact that we all know: togetherness is about more than just having a conversation. As a consequence, we more or less remain glued to our smartphone screens, becoming more isolated rather than more connected. To overcome this, we need communication technologies, which takes a subtle experiential and emotional approach, rather than an overly pragmatic one. Digitally augmented, interactive tables could address some of these issues, since dining or kitchen tables traditionally are the social hub of any home. They are central to crucial social practices, such as family dinners, games, or conversations, each suggesting different possibilities of technological support. However, while interactive tables have been developed for over 20 years now, their use never became especially widespread. If used, interactive tables remain work-related or public – domestic interactive tables do not exist. In our research project PraktikApp, we explore ways to successfully integrate interactive tables into homes by developing a furniture-device-hybrid with a specific focus on the support of social practices.

During the presentation, we show possible ways in which interactive tables can be rethought for the use in homes and designed differently than those known from industry and research. Viewers with a background in the areas of Product, Industrial, Interface, User Experience Design or related disciplines are also invited to use the presentation to find out more about the follow-up workshop in June 2021, in which the design perspectives of interactive tables will be examined and developed in greater detail.

A ticket to interzum @home is required to access our presentation. If you are interested in access codes, please contact us by email: praktikapp@uni-siegen.de

Further information about the event on the interzum website

Further information about PraktikApp and the planned workshop on our project website

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