Sensory Data Dialogues: A Somaesthetic Exploration of Bordeaux through Five Senses
This workshop is part of the ACM Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interactions (TEI) 2025 program.
4th March 2025, 9 am - 5 pm
Start at Victoire Campus (Room TBA) - 3ter Pl. de la Victoire, 33000 Bordeaux, France
About the Studio
Join us in a hands-on studio through a walking tour of Bordeaux, where data merges with creative embodied methods to explore and document sensory experiences. Using sensors to measure bodily and environmental phenomena such as heart rate and air quality, alongside actuators like vibration and light devices, and qualitative somaesthetic methods such as body mapping and written reflections, participants will capture and reflect on sensory data across sight, touch, taste, sound, and smell. Together, we’ll uncover how these experiences shape meaning-making and ecological awareness as we explore the city of Bordeaux and site-specific sensory experiences.
Designed for HCI practitioners, designers, artists, and researchers, this workshop investigates how technology and embodied practices can redefine our understanding of sensory data. We will enjoy the city as we reflect on how environments and methods themselves co-create our experiences. Participants will leave with a personalized Sensory Portfolio, actionable methods, and fresh perspectives to integrate into their work. Discover the transformative potential of open-source electronics, somatic data collection, and design innovation!
Please note: this Studio will take place outside the main conference venue in the city and chosen locations for the activities and will include about 1.5hrs of walking spread over the 8-hour Studio Please see the Studio proposal document for further information and feel free to get in touch with any questions on the logistics.
Call for Participation
Join us in this full-day, hands-on studio in Bordeaux, where sensory data merges with creative embodied design methods to explore and document sensory experiences.
Who is this studio for?
We welcome participants from our interdisciplinary TEI community with an interest in sensory perception, multisensory interactions, sensors as design material, soma design, intimate data, first-person methods, documentation of felt experiences, and/or more-than-human entanglements. Everyone is welcome to attend the Studio, and no prior experience with soma design or sensors is necessary.
How to apply?
We do not require participants to submit position statements. Participants are asked to register their interest through the short questionnaire below. The studio has space for a maximum of 20 participants, and spaces will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Applications due by 18th February 2025.
Please note: All Studio participants must be registered for the TEI 2025 conference and pay the Studio registration fee. After you have registered your interest, we will get in touch with details of how to register for the Studio via the TEI 2025 registration system. Please do not register for the conference until you have heard from us!
Organizers
Karen Anne Cochrane (she/her)
Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. Her research focuses on designing customized, inclusive, and wearable computing devices to enhance accessibility and well-being. She explores tools that empower individuals—with and without disabilities—to create their own wearable and tangible devices. Currently, her work examines the potential of generative AI as a supportive tool in these projects.
Questions
Any questions, please feel free to email karen.cochrane@uwaterloo.ca!
Fiona Bell (she/her)
Postdoctoral researcher in Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, working at the intersection of HCI, biodesign, and material science. She develops and studies biomaterials that integrate with digital technologies to create sustainable and responsive bio-digital interfaces.
Alice Haynes (she/her)
Digital Futures Research Fellow at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Her work has focused on creating haptic and shape-changing interfaces for well-being and interpersonal communication, which has included engaging with biodata such as breathing. She is currently working with soma design methods to create tangible devices for body-based interactions.
Marion Koelle (she/her)
Heads the Personal Pervasive Computing Group at OFFIS - Institute for Information Technology in Oldenburg, Germany. She has published works on technology in public spaces, social acceptability and fabrication of body-worn sensors and multimodal interaction. Her recent work makes use of a FeministHCI methodology to better understand how people understand, manage and share personal health data.
Courtney Reed (she/her)
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Institute for Digital Technologies at Loughborough University London. Her work focuses on the design of music technology, particularly for vocalists, and how perceptions of bodies and biodata become entangled with musicians' lived experiences, broader cultural assumptions, and music pedagogy in digital musical instrument (DMI) design practices. Visit Courtney's website!
Alexandra (Allie) Teixeira Riggs (they/she)
PhD candidate in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, working at the intersection of Queer HCI, queer theory, critical archives, and tangible embodied interaction. Their current work focuses on queering technology design through attention to historicism and affective, embodied experiences. Visit Alexandra's website!
Laia Turmo Vidal (she/her)
Interaction designer working as Digital Futures Research Fellow at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Her research combines sensorial and critical approaches to design on-body technologies for health and wellbeing. Her research interests span embodied design methods, documentation of felt experiences, feminist design approaches, and bio-responsive technologies.
Vineetha Rallabandi (she/her)
Intern and Masters student at Sensorimotor Interaction Group, Max Planck Institute for Informatics. Her work through Masters focused on understanding the gestural interaction with eTextiles from a textile point of view and understanding material-led designing in textile sensors. Her current work focuses on designing and fabricating, evaluating textile sensors.