Studios

Friday Studios are where students have a chance to work on hands-on assignments, collaborate as a team, and present and receive feedback on their work. The studios are organized by themes. This quarters studios are:

Theme	CA	Time/Place	Description
Behavioral Change Change the way people act.	Jane	5:30-6:50pm Thursday, 160-328	People make decisions and actions based on certain inputs and considerations. Technology can add additional parameters and inputs that may in turn affect the outcome of these decisions, or change people’s values. This may happen on an individual level or with a community. I’m particularly interested in applications for social good.
Health & Wellness Help people live a better life.	Louis	12:30-1:50pm, 160-326	New technologies have radically changed the way we think about Health. While we used to rely exclusively on one to one meetings with doctors, people can now search for answers online, connect with health professionals directly from their smartphone (see for example the startup HealthTap), gather data about their own health (thanks to the use of wearable) and so much more.
Wellness The pursuit of wellbeing -- in mind, body, and soul.	Chris	9:00-10:20am, 250-201	Historically, we’ve often required experts to handle the technology that improves our health. However, the rise of personal technology provides an opportunity for everyday people to directly access the solutions that make our lives better. Perhaps the most concrete examples lie in physical health but the creative may find applications in mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing as well. From the perspective of interface design, we tackle a greater challenge but for an even greater reward.
Crowd Power Empower the crowd to accomplish the impossible.	Erin or Chris	10:30-11:50am, 260-01 (Erin) 10:30-11:50am, 320-107 (Chris) 1:30-2:50pm, 200-202 (Erin)	Technology can help us gather crowds of people online to collaborate towards a common goal. Kickstarter, Wikipedia, Yelp, and Reddit are all examples of achieving ambitious goals using the crowd. Technology can also provide powerful tools to support offline collaborations.
Focus Fight distraction and reclaim lost (or squandered) time.	Helen	10:30-11:50am, 360-361A 2:30-3:50pm, 160-321	Our digital world operates on an attention economy. In this world, the products, apps, and websites that succeed go to great lengths to get us to spend time with them (see: clickbait, infinite scroll, autoplay). This is a world that thrives on distraction. Sadly, humans do not thrive on distraction. How can we reverse this equation, making ourselves focused, productive, and more human? How can we use technology to reclaim the time we’ve lost to it?
Sharing Building the foundations of sharing through technology.	Sarah	9:00-10:20am, Gates 392 10:30-11:50am, EDUC130	Everyone shares - whether it’s motivated by convenience or benevolence, whether it’s a spare bedroom or afternoon tea. The act of sharing operates on varying levels of intimacy in today’s ever-connected world. Regardless, there are some core values at the heart of every exchange: trust, gratification, and communication. In this studio, we will explore different ways to facilitate and even encourage sharing.
Sustainability Transform our relationship with nature with the future in mind.	Lucas	12:30-1:50pm, 160-323 2:30-3:50pm, 160-323	Sustainability often means using natural resources in a manner that ensures their future availability and in a way that won’t irreparably damage the environment. To do so, we can address both production and consumption of these resources. We can create applications that encourage and enable more responsible use of natural resources such as water, food, and energy, or we might further consider how these resources are produced and make it easier to transition to more sustainable alternatives.
Learning / Education Designing next generation learning experiences.	Cathy or Louis	10:30-11:50am, 200-015 (Cathy) 10:30-11:50am, Gilbert 117 (Louis) 1:30-2:50pm, 200-013 (Cathy)	Throughout different stages in life, we learn for many purposes and in many ways. In this studio, we will think about how technology can enable, supplement, or support learning and teaching. How can we use research on memory and motivation to enable knowledge retention? What kinds of logistical issues can we solve with technology to enable teachers to focus on teaching? What kinds of social infrastructure can we put in place to help students succeed? Feel free to look around and beyond your own learning environment and the myriad ed tech products that surround us for inspiration.
Creation Design tools to facilitate user creativity.	Stephany	9:00-10:20am, 160-319 2:30-3:50pm, 100-101K	Creativity can strike anywhere, which means creating on the move requires a streamlined approach. However, mobile versions of Photoshop and iMovie often feel clunky. From an HCI perspective, how might we create user experiences that are conducive to self-expression and easy sharing? The right interface can kick start a new creative genre, like 6-second Vine videos or filtered photos. Creativity thrives within constraints!
Mobility / Travel Designing for journeys.	Leigh	9:00-10:20am, 160-317 10:30-11:50am, 160-329	Life’s about the journey, not the destination. In the same spirit, this section will focus on journeys, travel, and mobility. How can we design for improved travel and the experience of getting from place to place? From commuting to road trips, from getting a workout to getting home safely, running errands or exploring new and exciting places, there are endless contexts and cases of travel to consider, explore, and solve for. This section will seek to thoughtfully design application interfaces and experiences for those in transit or on the move.