Melina Petsolari

Melina is an Interaction Designer and PhD candidate in Computer Science at King’s College London. Her practice is situated in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, focusing on the development of novel applications and systems with the goal to enrich and empower humans in the digital realm.

My research interests are in the areas of ubiquitous computing, interaction design and technology-enabled interventions that lie at the crossroad of multiple domains including mental wellbeing, multimodal interaction, affective computing and human-robot interaction.

Stressful Data is a project that applies Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to cultural probes. My graduate project entails the creation of a data collection tool with the premise of identifying new prospects for technology-enabled interventions in the family setting. The working proof-of-concept IoT enabled anti-stress ball measures the user’s stress levels through haptic interaction while transferring the data to the cloud and enabling real-time observation. Cultural probes are an approach of user-centred design for understanding human phenomena and exploring design opportunities. In addition, I have developed design research activities that have been deployed during a month-long study with a diverse set of participants in order to better understand the instances parents seek for help, their coping mechanisms and to identify parenting challenges that could be addressed by digital technologies. The collected material from the study is sensitive and personal, and as such I won’t be sharing the information gathered at this juncture.

Cultural probes as research tools produce data that prevail qualitative aspects over quantity. The development of a device that gathers (stressful) data specifically for sensitive contexts such as within family settings can provide multi-layered insights which traditional methods of data collection do not stipulate. IoT devices enable the creation of a new generation of cultural probes. The tools don’t have to return to the researchers any longer to be analysed, as the data gathered can be accessed remotely and in real time thus, shifting their function into a permanent research state. Information which includes chronographic and geographic displays as well as duration, pulse and temperature measurements can enable researchers to add a complementary layer of information to the hypothesis the qualitative data issued (cultural probes).

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