Making New Worlds - Transformative Becomings with Soma Design

Title of the Paper

Making New Worlds – Transformative Becomings with Soma Design

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: Interaction Design and User Experience, focusing on bodily and sensory interaction experiences
• Keywords: Soma design, interaction technology, body awareness, sensory experience, long-term evaluation, new materialism, entanglement theory, Breathing Light, Soma Mat

Research Background and Problem

• Problem or Challenge: Current interaction design often emphasizes cognition and functionality, neglecting the potential for fully engaging the human body, emotions, and sensory experiences. Most existing studies are short-term experiments, unable to verify the long-term potential and transformative impact of Soma design.
• Significance: Soma design promises to create more meaningful interactions with the world by enhancing human body awareness and sensory appreciation. This potential could lead to personal lifestyle changes and improved quality of life.
• Research Motivation: The authors question whether Soma design can bring about sensory transformation through long-term use and alter individuals' ways of being in the world. Additionally, they explore whether long-term interaction with such technologies can serve as a pathway to "better living."

Solution

• Method: This study conducted a three-month, in-situ, long-term deployment of Soma Mat (a thermo-reactive mat) and Breathing Light in four households. The research combined narrative storytelling with qualitative analysis based on new materialism and entanglement theory.
• Innovations:
  • Proposed the design principles of "bounded openness" and "evocative balance," which integrate moderate guidance into open-ended interaction experiences.
  • Adopted a holistic bodily design perspective (including physical, psychological, emotional, and subjective values), emphasizing first-person bodily experiences in interaction with the design.
• Implementation Steps:
  1. Deploy prototype devices in participants' homes and provide operational guidance.
  2. Conduct three rounds of interviews to document participants' reflections on their usage experiences.
  3. Analyze data using the "narrative storytelling" method, focusing on each participant's individual experiences and long-term interactions with the devices.

Research Findings

• Specific Outcomes:
  • Long-term use of Soma design significantly enhanced participants' body awareness and facilitated emotional and behavioral transformations.
  • Demonstrated that Soma design can serve as a "world-building" approach, helping users explore new lifestyles.
• Advantages and Comparisons:
  • Long-term deployment offered richer insights compared to existing short-term experiments, validating the profound and lasting impact of Soma design.
  • By employing first-person perspectives and narrative methods, the study avoided the oversimplification of personal experiences often seen in traditional thematic analysis.
• Experimental and Evaluation Results:
  • Each participant exhibited unique experiential transformations, such as increased confidence (e.g., learning to say no to unwanted tasks), deeper relaxation experiences, and altered understandings of their bodily and worldly interactions.
  • Some participants continued to feel the influence of the devices even after they were removed, indicating that the devices functioned not merely as temporary tools but as catalysts for long-term transformation.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  1. The current design of Soma devices relies on specific household environments and user conditions, potentially reflecting a "middle-class" privilege.
  2. Future designs should consider inclusivity more broadly, enabling users from diverse backgrounds and conditions to experience their value.
  3. Incorporating participant feedback on narrative storytelling could further enrich data analysis.

Through this study, the authors provide the first empirical evidence of the long-term effectiveness of Soma design, exploring how interaction design can transform individual body awareness and lifestyles. The research also introduces new materialism and narrative methods to the field of interaction design, showcasing the deep entanglement of technology and the body, as well as potential ethical challenges.