Paper Reading #8: Interaction Design in the University: Designing Disciplinary Interactions

Comments
Shena Hoffmann
Joe Cabrera

Reference information
Authors: Gale Moore, Danielle Lottridge
Where: CHI 2010, Atlanta, GA

Summary
This paper looked into interaction design (ID), a relatively new field in HCI. ID explores the merits and implications of research between multiple disciplines. The authors discuss the 3rd paradigm, which is described to be the newest wave of HCI research, drawing on the fields of humanities and social sciences. The problem is that it often does not often fit comfortably within traditional university departmental and faculty structures where discipline and department align.

The article describes how research or knowledge production in in universities is categorized. The first category concerns interdisciplinarity, which is the integration and synthesis of ideas and methods, as opposed to two disciplines working together towards a single product. More importantly, interdisciplinarity can lead to additional specialization and even a new discipline. An example is biochemistry forming from biology and chemistry. Multidisciplinarity deals with the collaboration between two disciplines where they both make their own separate contributions. Transdisciplinary, the last category, focuses is the interaction of individuals from different disciplines working together in the context of a specific problem or application.

Diagram showing the different disciplinary integrations. Source: publication

Discussion
This paper was somewhat harder to read than previous ones, because it didn't discuss a particular application or device. Nevertheless, I think research across multiple disciplines is becoming increasingly important in many or all fields, not just HCI. I do see this happening in universities; for example, the civil engineering department and CSE departments at TAMU are working together on an educational application for lower-level engineering students in what seems to be a transdisciplinary environment. I also have noticed research labs in other universities like UMD formed by both the CS and psychology departments.