Abstract: In this talk I will cover some recent work that looks at the messy spaces between humans and technology. In particular, I'll look at how design approaches that seem on the surface to be wild and playful can help us understand important things about humans and the relations with and through technology. The talk will start with the idea of 'relational prototyping', a way to look at prototyping practice as applied to human technology relations, towards designing preferable futures. It will then cover a small range of projects that relate to this approach, using experiential design methods to investigate  problems, questions and possibilities around emerging technologies. These practices sit in a range of more or less real-world situations: product design, work futures, criminal justice. I'll conclude with some reflections about how design practice helps us to navigate complex socio-technical challenges.

Bio: Dave Murray-Rust is Associate Professor in Human-Algorithm Interaction Design at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in TU Delft. He explores the messy terrain between people, data, algorithms and things through a combination of making and thinking to build better futures for humans and AI. He also holds an Honorary Fellowship with the University of Edinburgh.
His work centres on systems that use data as a medium for design while exploring social and technical issues and the agencies between humans and machines. It is multidisciplinary, touching on computer science, design theories, design ethnography and digital sociology. This involves questions such as how to design the interactions that let machine learning algorithms develop amicable co-dependencies with humans, how artificial intelligence can make sense of human behaviour to support design insights, and how designerly approaches can improve the understanding and creation of data driven systems and improve the societal functioning of AI as a discipline.