Prototyping with Uncertainties: Data, Algorithms, and Research through DesignSeen both as a resource and an obstacle to clarity, uncertainty is a concept that permeates many areas of design. As the concept gains prominence in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), this special issue specifically explores the interplay between uncertainty and prototyping in Research through Design (RtD). We first outline three histories of uncertainty in design, in relation to its philosophical significance, its role in statistical and algorithmic processes, and its importance in prototyping. The convergence of these aspects is crucial as design evolves toward more agentive and entangled systems, introducing challenges such as Design as a Probabilistic Outcome. We then investigate the design spaces for engaging with “being uncertain” that emerge from the papers: from nuancing the relationship between designers and quantitative data to blurring the line between humans, fungi, and algorithms. Finally, we illuminate some preliminary threads for how RtD can navigate and engage with these shifting technological and design landscapes thoughtfully.2025EGElisa Giaccardi et al.Prototyping & User TestingComputational Methods in HCIDIS
Searching for the Words that "Feel Right": Resonating with our Bodies and Felt Senses Through Haiku and LLMsThe role of our bodies in our meaning-making has been mostly absent in discussions concerning interactions with LLMs. Acknowledging this gap, this paper explores the use of ChatGPT as a tool for somatic introspection towards finding the words that "feel right" to our bodies and emotions. We document our three-month, first-person collaborative process using haiku-making and ChatGPT framed around Gendlin's concept of "felt sense" —a type of ineffable bodily awareness that precedes representational meaning. In uncovering the potential of LLMs to support somatic introspection and self-reflection, we contribute two design qualities, which invite designers to consider (1) Ongoing temporalities -that is, interactions in and beyond the screen and (2) Idiolectic resonance, which considers the complexity of our idiosyncratic language expression. In navigating uncertainty, designing for somatic introspection redirects trust towards our bodies, opening for less data-centric ways of designing for reflection.2025CNClaudia Núñez-Pacheco et al.Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) & NeurofeedbackGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Human-LLM CollaborationDIS
Autosomatographical Narratives: Towards the Articulation of Felt Accounts of Pain for Somaesthetic DesignChronic pain can be debilitating, taking over our senses and potentially destroying our means of describing our experiences. In this pictorial, we contribute three concepts based on the analysis of autosomatographies, a first-person narrative approach from illness and disability studies to communicate experiences of pain. These concepts suggest designers consider pain as (a) self-agentic, (b) a tool for empowerment, and (c) a means of creative expression. We illustrate the generation of these concepts through the first author's autosomatographical journals, highlighting how visual research greatly contributes to articulating expressive felt qualities of pain for design use. To exemplify the translation of these concepts into tangible prototypes, we retrospectively analysed two soma design case studies created to appreciate our bodies and learn from pain. We discuss the importance of acknowledging the persistence of chronic pain and the ethics of engaging in this type of design work.2024ADArife Dila Demir et al.Interactive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingDIS
Seeding a Repository of Methods-To-Be for Nature-Entangled Design ResearchWe share an emergent repository of nature-entangled methods-to-be shared, experimented with, and discussed during a conference workshop. We present them in-use, as they are in formation. We do not seek to theorise or even fully articulate these methods-to-be. Rather, to make them approachable and actionable for others by showing them not fully polished. By doing this, we advocate for increased transparency in the difficulties of creating new methods, techniques, tools, and approaches. Our contribution is threefold: we provide 1) an annotated portfolio of methods-to-be; 2) illustrative examples of how cross-pollination of these methods can enrich their situated use; and 3) a discussion of ways to further articulate the methods and deepen reflection on their roles in nature-entangled design processes.2024OTOscar Tomico et al.Participatory DesignHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)DIS
Articulating Felt Senses for More-Than-Human Design: A Viewpoint for Noticing To rigorously approach the more-than-human world in design research, we need to become more receptive and better equipped to describe the complexities of relationality. In response, this paper advocates for the articulation of the felt sense -or tacit knowledge residing in our bodies- as a viewpoint for noticing. Assisted by micro-phenomenological interviews, we carefully described our felt senses from our experiences with a telepresence robot and smartphone photography. We illustrate how this viewpoint allowed us to access our pre-judgemental dimension, the vivid liveliness in our experiences with technologies, and the porosity of our sense of self. We contribute the felt sense as a viewpoint for noticing to design researchers interested in integrating their somatic sensibilities into their work with the more-than-human, allowing them to attune to, describe and share with other researchers the normally unattended dimension of our experiences, including aspects concerning the felt dimension of ethics.2024CNClaudia Núñez-Pacheco et al.Technology Ethics & Critical HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)DIS
More-than-human Perspective on the Robomorphism ParadigmThis paper proposes a posthuman perspective of the robomorphism theory. We propose to define robomorphism as the attribution of robotlike traits to non-robotic entities. Such a definition embraces the centrality of robots in two aspects. First, by assuming the target of robomorphism is not necessarily a human. Second, by considering the notion of robomorphic traits as inherently crucial to establish the robomorphism paradigm. Embracing robots as relevant non-humans in the robomorphism paradigm constitutes the more-than-human perspective of the proposed approach. The contributions of this paper are threefold. First, we propose the robomorphism paradigm by defining it and its inherent concepts, such as robomorphisation and robomorphic. Second, we discuss the broader implications of the robomorphism theory to the research community of Human-Robot Interaction, raising important new challenges. Third, we created a preliminary inventory of robomorphic traits, which were collected from a speculative workshop activity in order to start answering one of the proposed open challenges.2024FCFilipa Correia et al.Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC)Technology Ethics & Critical HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)HRI
Sensing Care Through Design - A Speculative Role-play Approach to “Living With” Sensor-Supported Care NetworksSensor networks are increasingly commonplace in visions of smart cities and future healthcare systems, promising greater efficiency and increased wellbeing. However, the design of these technologies remains focused on specific users and fragmented by context, overlooking the diversity of needs, wants and values present when technologies, people, and lived realities interact within instrumented spaces. In this paper we present a workshop method – Sensing Care – that can help researchers, interdisciplinary design and development teams, and potentially affected users, to explore what it takes to design for living with sensor technologies that intersect and interact across private and public spaces, through speculative scenarios and role play. Drawing from three deployments of the workshop, we discuss how this approach supports the design of future care-oriented sensor networks, and helps designers understand what it means to live with complex technologies as people traverse diverse contexts.2023SRSonja Rattay et al.Participatory DesignField StudiesSustainable HCIDIS