Within the field of education, computers and micro-controllers like Arduino are increasingly being used to teach students relevant skills, attitude and knowledge around technology. Education around these tools are often set in group contexts and collaboration is often considered an important part of the learning, however much of the currently available software is still designed around a laptop programming paradigm that which in itself tends to restrict collaboration and cementing rather than encouraging shifting of roles and activities among group members. This thesis explores how we could design tools that better invite collaborative interactions in these settings, in particular how mobile software tools could allow for sketching and iterating more fluidly. Based on interviews with experts, observations in the classroom setting, reflection with teachers and a workshop with Arduino Education this thesis sketches a future vision that re-designs the tools to be more collaborative and fluid, so that reflection, action and reaction cycles could be smaller and allow for more exploration and learning.

This thesis project aims to bring together knowledge and methods from embodied interaction design in order to help architects expand their current repertoire of sketching tools and methods. As argued by Bernard Tschumi (1996) and Juhani Pallasmaa (2012), architecture is a sight-dominated design field, and architects are faced with the paradox of having to design embodied, multisensory experiences with visual means and from a disembodied perspective.  Situated in the genre of physical computing, the outcome of this thesis is the prototype of a sensor-based tool for sketching with sound and kinesthesia. The prototype is primarily targeted to architects, but may also be of interest to professionals from other fields who are involved in space-making, such as interaction designers, artists, scenographers, and interior designers, among others. The findings of this thesis intend to contribute to the field of interaction design, and especially the subfield of embodied interaction. This thesis addresses the aforementioned problem domain, which was first identified when I practiced the profession of architecture, and then further understood during this project, namely during literature review and user research. Building upon three main areas of theory, this project finds its grounding in embodied interaction theory, phenomenological concepts, as well as a contemporary view of the soma as a united self of mind and body. Fieldwork was a very important part of the process, and methods such as interviews, surveys, and cultural proves were employed to ground the project in user research. Ideation mainly consisted of sketching with embodied methods. Lastly, the user testing of a Wizard-of-Oz prototype was essential in assessing and evaluating the final design.

No description available.

La musique aujourd’hui est régulièrement accompagnée d’environnements visuels. Depuis les propositions en provenance du vidéoclip jusqu’aux œuvres installatives en passant par l’art web ou le cinéma, l’audiovisuel occupe une place considérable dans notre monde médiatisé et constitue un foyer important du développement des pratiques musicales. L’alliage entre son et image est souvent rattachée à l’histoire du cinéma mais les prémisses entourant l’audiovisuel remontent en réalité à l’Antiquité. Les correspondances entre sons et couleurs ont pris racine en premier chez les Pythagoriciens et cet intérêt se poursuit encore aujourd’hui. L’avènement de différentes technologies est venu reformuler au fil des siècles cette recherche qui retourne du décloisonnement artistique. L’arrivée de l’électricité permet au XIXe siècle le développement d’une lutherie expérimentale avec entre autres l’orgue à couleur d’Alexander Rimington. Ces instruments audiovisuels donnent naissance plus tard au Lumia, un art de la couleur et du mouvement se voulant proche de la musique et qui ne donne pourtant rien à entendre. Parallèlement à ces nouvelles propositions artistiques, il se développe dès les tout début du XXe siècle au sein des avant-gardes cinématographiques un corpus d’œuvres qui sera ensuite appelé musique visuelle. Les possibilités offertes par le support filmique vient offrir de nouvelles possibilités quant à l’organisation de la couleur et du mouvement. La pratique de cet art hybride est ensuite reformulée par les artistes associés à l’art vidéo avant de connaitre une vaste phase de démocratisation avec l’avènement des ordinateurs domestiques depuis les années 1990. Je retrace le parcours historique de ces pratiques audiovisuelles qui s’inscrivent résolument sur le terrain du musical. Un parcours appuyé essentiellement sur des œuvres et des ouvrages théoriques tout en étant parsemé de réflexions personnelles. Je traite des enjeux théoriques associés à ces propositions artistiques en les différenciant d’un autre format audiovisuel majeur soit le cinéma. Cet exposé permet de préparer le terrain afin de présenter et contextualiser mon travail de création. Je traite de deux œuvres, Trombe (2011) et Lungta (2012), des propositions qui héritent à la fois des musiques visuelles, de l’art interactif et de l’art cinétique. / Visual environments nowadays regularly accompany music. From the video clip to installations, web-art and cinema, audiovisual occupies a great part of our world and constitutes an important development pole of musical practices. The mixing of sound and image is often attached to the history of cinema but the premises of audio-vision date back to Antiquity. The connections between sound and colors were first encountered with the Pythagoricians and the research surrounding these relationships is still pursued nowadays. Different technologies have paved the way to new formulations of this artistic decompartmentalization. In XIXth century, electricity enables the development of an experimental musical instrument fabrication research with Alexander Rimington’s color organ amongst others. These audiovisual instruments give birth later to Lumia, an art form willingly close to music and that renders nothing to hear. In parallel to these new artistic propositions, a body of work later called Visual Music is emerging from early cinematographic avant-gardes. The possibilities offered by the filmic support opens to new ways of organizing color and movement. This hybrid art is then reformulated by video art practitioners before going through a vast phase of democratization with the advent of domestic computers in the early 1990. I cover the different historic parts of these resolutely musical audiovisual practices. This summary is mainly made of art and theoretical works dotted with personal reflections. I comment the theoretical aspects attached to these artistic propositions by opposing another major audiovisual format: cinema. All this in order to pave the way for a presentation and contextualization of my creative output. I propose Trombe (2011) and Lungta (2012), two propositions that inherit from visual music, interactive art and kinetic art.

No description available.