On the 10th of May from 18:00-19:00 (EEST) the STARTS.EE residents are welcoming you to their premiere of the “Gazing for Meaning” project. e⁻lektron and TLU HCI lab have been co-hosting a STARTS.EE art-science residency is a form of collaboration where a designer and a researcher work together on some phenomena, led by curiosity and inspired by the exchanges that transcend the two domains' boundaries. During the event, you are invited to witness the premiere of an experimental interactive system in use. After the premiere, you will have a chance to ask your questions to residents, Mati Mõttus and Nesli Hazal Akbulut.

During their residency Mati and Nesli created an experiment to explore how emotions are produced and perceived in virtual settings. Their experiment is embodied in the form of an online interactive system that consists of two parties: a performer and six spectators. The performer stimulates the spectators’ mental mood through music. And spectators listen to the music being played while watching the same interface from different locations. The interface of the interactive system gives a feeling of video conferencing set-up but with a twist. Instead of seeing yourself and others on the screen, you see visualisations that change color according to your tracked facial expressions. You do not know which visualisation represents you.

Mati Mõttus is a lecturer and researcher of human-computer interaction (HCI) in School of Digital Technologies of Tallinn University. He defended his PhD on Aesthetics in Interaction Design in 2018. His current research interest is in hedonic aspects of HCI. Mati believes that, similar to people who feel pleasant in communication, the technology that is pleasurable to interact with, becomes successful in life.

Nesli Hazal Akbulut is a visiting lecturer of interaction design and a PhD student of the Arts & Design faculty at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her interest is in tackling the impossibility of empathy in videotelephony for digital natives. Her work can be found in https://neslihazal.com/.

The residency is organized in collaboration with Tallinn University School of Digital Technologies and STARTS.EU
https://elektron.live

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Projekti "tähendus pilgu kaudu" raames loodi eksperimentaalne prototüüp, mis võimaldab uurida emotsioonide edastamist ja taju virtuaalses keskkonnas. Prototüüp kujutab endast interaktiivset süsteemi, mis ühendab interneti kaudu kahte osapoolt: esinejat ja kuuest vaatajast-kuulajast koosnevat publikut. Esineja stimuleerib publiku meeleolu muusika kaudu, samas kui igal kuulajal on muusikat nautides võimalik näha kõigi kuue kaaskuulaja visualisatsioone. Ekraanile kuvatud visualisatsioonid meenutavad mõneti videokoosoleku pisipilte, aga osalejate nägude asemel esitatakse vastavate osalejate näoilmetest tuvastatud emotsioone värvitoonide kaudu. Erinevalt näokujutistest on värvilised visualisatsioonid anonüümsed: püüa ära arvata, milline neist kuulub sulle?

Mati Mõttus on Tallinna Ülikooli Digitehnoloogiate instituudi õppejõud ja teadur inimese-arvuti interaktsiooni alal. Ta kaitses oma doktorikraadi teemal "interaktsioonidisaini esteetika" aastal 2018. Mati praegune teadushuvi puudutab inimese-arvuti interaktsiooni naudungulisi aspekte. Ta usub, et sarnaselt inimestele, kellega on nauditav suhelda, saadab edu ka kasutusnaudingut pakkuvaid tooteid.

Nesli Hazal Akbulut on interaktsioonidisaini külalisõppejõud ja doktorant Eesti Kunstiakadeemias. Tema teadushuviks on lahendada vähesest empaatiast tulenev probleem digitaalse põlvkonna videosuhtluses. Tema tööd leiate aadressilt https://neslihazal.com/