In connection with the submission of his PhD dissertation
Affective Experience as a Theoretical Foundation for Interaction Design
to the Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University for the award of a PhD degree in Information and Media Studies, MA Jonas Fritsch will publicly defend his research in open forum
13-16 on Wednesday May 4, 2011 in ”Det lille Auditorium” Incuba Science Park, Åbogade 15, 8200 Aarhus N
The dissertation Affective Experience as a Theoretical Foundation for Interaction Design explores how the philosophy of Brian Massumi on affective experience can be used as a new theoretical foundation for interaction design. It is outlined how there is a need for interaction design to inquire into new philosophical accounts of how people experience interactive products and environments rather than what constitutes an experience.
Affective experience is developed to describe a non-cognitive, pre-reflective, pre-conscious or what is termed a preindividual dimension of experience that modulates the potential for our actions in the world. Building on this, the dissertation describes how interactive technologies and digital architecture must always be understood in terms of what experiential conditions they offer on an affective level.
The dissertations offers three general research contributions to the field of interaction design. The first contribution is a comprehensive overview of current research on the work on affect in HCI and interaction design. The second contribution consists of presenting an affective vocabulary based on Massumi’s philosophy to be used as a new theoretical foundation for interaction design. Finally, the third and last contribution is a range of affective design concerns based on findings from four design experiments.
Examining committee
Professor Brian Massumi, Dép. de Communication, Université de Montréal, Canada.
Professor Ellen Christiansen, Dep. of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Associate Professor Søren Pold, Dep. of Information and Media Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark (chairman).
After the PhD degree there will be a reception in room 026, Wiener Building, Helsingforsgade 14, 8200 Århus N.
