Dance Magazine: Designer and choreographer Lauren Bedal has one of the most futuristic dance jobs out there. An Ohio State-trained dancer and dance-maker, she is a human-computer interaction designer. Bedal uses her dancerly expertise to help companies like Google think through how people move their bodies, and designs the choreography that we use to navigate our phones, computers, and other, still-emerging technologies.
9 comments:
Interaction Design! So very cool and interesting. I love when I get to read about arts collaborating with more corporate organizations. I appreciate this author's ability to parallel the work of an interaction designer and that of a choreographer. I feel like this article is about teaching technology people about viewpoints. Her example explorations of dimensions of the kinesophere and her ability to help interaction designers think more spatially and be able to generate empathy for users is vital. I find it really exciting to read about these newer explorations into more accessible methods of digitally capturing movement through technological products. I am definitely going to be looking out for other people who are beginning to and have been involved in the interaction design space. I love to read and learn about cutting edge technology. It is so educational and also expands the ways which I can create art as a collaborator.
I love seeing the intersection of science and art. This study is the perfect example of that. I found it very intriguing learning about how movements that come now so naturally to us were made. In fact, that they were made for them to feel naturally to us as the users. I also enjoyed learning about more careers creative people can partake on. It is so often the argument that there are no jobs for people with art degrees and that is not always the case. There is plenty to be done, I mean dancing for computers what a concept! It leaves me to wonder where the imagination of the company workers and the choreography team could lead them in the future as they keep exploring the medium and techniques to take their work forward.
I think that the use of dance with AI is a pretty surreal idea. From the way this article is worded, it sounds like they are trying to make their way toward having AI create dance routines and eventually become a choreographer. It seems like if this is possible, it could mean a lot of saved money on staff for productions, but a heavy decrease in jobs for choreographers. It may be helpful for a choreographer to have an AI helper that could help visualize dances or show how people of different sizes and shapes might look doing their choreographed dances but it doesn’t quite feel right that an AI can suggest artistic ideas to professional artists. Although it may be a good thing for people who are not professionals, the idea that you could have an assistant that could suggest what you might do next artistically is quite scary. AI is a great tool but I worry about its long-lasting impacts in our society.
This is incredible! It had somehow never occurred to me that someone specifically designed the movements that I use to interact with technology. It just goes to show that good design is often invisible; I failed to notice it because the pinching to zoom, for example, feels so natural. As I am writing, however, I am realizing that the beginning of this learning curve happened somewhere between ten and fifteen years ago. It is possible that the beginning was not as smooth, and now my interactions with computers are habituated to the point where they feel intrinsic. Using someone else’s device does not always work as smoothly. Most of the time, there are customization options that allow for control with different physical expressions, which in itself feels like a thoughtful recognition of the different ways in which people move through the world. I also think of “computer illiterate” folks who cannot interact with computers in any meaningful way; I wonder if there are researchers who are working on finding ways to create communication/interaction pathways for that particular sector.
Wow, an artistic mind morphing its way into the technical world. Who would have thought? All fun and jokes aside, it warms my heart to see Bedal using her artistic gifts in ways such as these. So often artists are put into a box of being just artists- expressive beings and deep thinkers, inspired by the world and creating things, but not really having much use in the technical, "more stricter," world. Yet, here goes this dancer's artistry playing a major role in large companies like Google. Not only that, but to also hear how dance helps with interactive design and digital experiences emphasizes how multifaceted artists can be, and how valuable they can be when their talents are recognized and appreciated.
Art and tech belong together! I've believed this my whole life, and continue to explain this to anyone who will listen. As a dancer and electrical/computer engineer, everything written in this article feels like exactly what I imagine the intersection of the two to be. Human-computer interaction is an important and fast-developing field, and while I have many very computer science-focused friends minoring in this exact area, I find that you can't go far until you understand the intricacies of human thought and movement - for which an actor or dancer is the perfect fit. I would love to see more work like this, artists and scientists working together to enhance the human experience with all of the technology that surrounds us. The work that Lauren Bedal is completing by working with Google to make a new toolkit of terminology and conceptual frameworks is integral to allowing this. Who knows, maybe I'll bring my art and tech sides together to continue down the same path.
I think these kind of innovations and developments are invaluable not only because they are exciting to people who are already interested in these fields, but also because they can be appealing to people who are not necessarily interested in art or theatrical performances. Friends around me who have no interest in art tend to think that creating art is difficult, but I think if the new interactions continue to develop, it could introduce art more easily to commoners. This whole article actually reminded me of Isadora, which is a graphic program which we can manipulate with real components (such as our voice or hand movement). I have once tried using it and spent the whole day interacting with it. The way how it works is so simple when you learn it, but its effect can be more prominent because using one’s own moment can be one of the most effective way of making people engaged in the form of art.
I found this article super fascinating and interesting. I had never really heard of this career path and how the arts can influence computer interaction design. Carnegie Mellon has a PHD in Human Computer Interaction which combines courses in the heinz college and the entertainment technology center. I had bever really thought about intertwining choreography into how we perceive a digital interface. I am happy to hear that large companies such as google are appreciating the important factors that art lays in our everyday life. Most people would think that the arts and technology are totally separated, but really they can impact each other greatly. Both disciplines can learn from each other. The article makes me think about the future of technology and how we would not really have to press buttons to get things done, almost like in the movies where they are just swiping air but stuff happens on the computer. I think inviting someone with dance experience is helpful for these developments because they have experience ein how the body moves and then can make this a part of the interfaces.
Choreography is something that I've always had a pretty hard time with and I would definitely be very interested to see how this works for me. I used to spend hours and hours trying to choreograph solos for myself both for performance and just for fun and I would always get stuck at the first three moves wanting them to be perfect. I had a teacher who created a system for creating movements that just had to do with numbers instead of actually trying to decide on the correct movements. It's important to be creative but if wanting everything to be perfect is blocking your creative flow I understand how the number system would help and I think that AI could definitely help with doing the same thing. choreographing has never been my strong suit but I really do enjoy taking choreography from other dancers and interpreting it as my own and I think AI could definitely be an interesting tool to help dancers do that
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