Affective interaction in care

‘Affective Interaction’ refers to relational interactions with artefacts, technologies and systems that are underlined by various expressions of feeling, such as emotional responses.

Affect is part of human capacity for reflection and meaning-making. The way affective interaction motivates, forms and informs our behaviours and responses to the world around us becomes ever so important in the context of care, where digitisation is rapidly shaping the delivery and experience of care.

On the one hand, healthcare is adopting new technological interventions like virtual reality. On the other hand, we must adapt to new expectations of care experience as many people turn to personal devices and wellness practices at home. How do we create meaningful experiences as emerging technologies revolutionise the future of care?

The notion of affective interaction extends our understanding of care experiences in design and human-computer interaction (HCI). In this talk, Dr Naseem Ahmadpour will review a number of case studies to situate affective interaction in HCI research.

Relying on the knowledge that affect, and emotions are situated in place, body and culture, this talk will propose a paradigm shift to centre meaning making and affective interaction in care technology. Drawing examples from research and practice, Dr Ahmadpour will demonstrate how narratives of affect illustrate new opportunities for developing and deploying emerging technologies for care.

Speakers