Abstract: Visual Communication and the Aesthetics of Use: A Visual Phenomenological Methodology

I'm coming to a point where my transfer from MPhil to the full PhD is imminent. I have been drafting my transfer document for what feels like aeons in between writing and presenting papers, teaching and assessing. The last step is here and below is the newly written abstract for the transfer document. Once the transfer has happened I'll archive the document on this blog.

Visual Communication and the Aesthetics of Use:
A Visual Phenomenological Methodology

MPhil Transfer Document

Abstract
As a part-time ECA postgraduate student I am proposing my transfer to complete a practice-based PhD in Visual communication. My researched thesis is an inquiry into a new practical Visual Phenomenological Methodology to aid interaction designers to design better interactions. This is proposed by using visual hermeneutic interpretation of collected “sensory data” to reveal to a designer the phenomenological structure of a studied experience. The development of a hermeneutic phenomenological framework to generate visually interpreted “inspirational data” will enable interaction designers to design from a fresh perspective of proximity to their users. By understanding the experiences a user actually has within an interaction, the designers can inform their future design decisions based on users' aesthetic perception of what they (want to) experience.

In synthesising Visual Communication methods with phenomenological research methods, Visual Communication can demonstrate its worth in the development of the ‘aesthetics of use’ beyond the ‘aesthetics of surface’. The creation of such a design methodology would cultivate a closer alignment between HCI and Visual Communication, repositioning it as a fresh influence over Interaction Design much earlier in the idea-generation and modelling phases. This paper will present my thesis in a context that argues for a successful transfer from MPhil to PhD in order to complete the doctorate. In this paper I succinctly introduce the framework and area of study before explaining my research plan. This plan includes research questions, methodology, timeframe and proposed PhD chapter titles. It will end with a discussion of work completed to date including peer reviewed papers and practical project work. The appendices include more detail on aspects of the practical work beyond the scope of the main paper.

MPhil project proposal done

Amongst other things, over the last seven days I have been finalising the proposal for my project. I am quite excited by it, as it is a new framework. Here is my abstract that gives its gist…

"This particular research aims to establish the creation of a Visual Communication Phenomenological Methodology to explore the aesthetics of use from a Visual Communication perspective. This framework develops the desire for this discipline’s repositioning as an influence on Interaction Design, a sister design discipline. It also offers a qualitative methodology to support Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers to legitimise their work within the 3rd HCI paradigm using a Phenomenological Matrix. In this proposal I introduce this area of research, and set parameters of my research rationale. The research project will last four months, and will be the basis of my MPhil transfer document to continue onto the PhD. I identify a hole within the literature that my proposal will answer. I then go on to to explain the methods I will use, and the results I expect. Finally I discuss the potential impact of my proposed research, plus its limitations and initial weaknesses. This is in order to convince the reader that this research is both relevant, and it contributes new knowledge to an established area of research into the Aesthetics of Interaction."

Volunteer Recruitment

I've been on my MPhil/PhD at Edinburgh College of Art part-time since September 2008, but only moved permanently to Edinburgh in 2009. In order to expand my social circle in a new city (and country) I was eventually introduced to Meetup in January 2010. Meetup is a US real-time social networking website where people in different cities advertise local group meetings. The groups are a mix between professional networking opportunities and specific-interest groups. In February I joined a cinema group and comedy group amongst others, and quickly found myself becoming an assistant organiser for both; organising cinema and comedy club visits for each group.

Over the Spring I not only had opportunities to socialise and unwind from work (lecturing and research), but I also had the inkling of an opportunity that could benefit me. I was bitten by the Meetup concept and I had become an organiser of my own Meetup group - The Edinburgh High Brow/Low Brow Culture Group. By subscribing to Meetup as a full-blown organiser I found I could run 3 different groups under 1 subscription. In becoming an organiser I had the resource to contact hundreds of people in Edinburgh, with some free time on their hands, and who were actively looking for interesting activities. I would be needing people with free time, a curious nature, who would be willing to sign up to be observed engaged in an activity.

Aesthetic Volunteers was born.

The Meetup group would transparently be a call for volunteers to help in all of my proposed research projects as part of my MPhil/PhD. Through the website's tools I could use specific social networking to ask for help, capturing the interest and curiousity of a huge cross-section of people, who want to be part of something fun.

In the first two weeks of the group I have 26 members 13 of which have signed up for two briefing events 2 months away. These numbers won't translate directly into volunteers but I am amazed how quickly I have achieved such interest. It just shows that even when I am employing effort to avoid doing PhD work, I have inadvertently been doing the ground work for my PhD!