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New institute to take human-centered approach to technology
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professor Alice Agogino, among the faculty involved in the
new program, helped introduce the concepts behind the new
Berkeley Institute of Design at last May’s event.
PEG SKORPINSKI PHOTO |
The Berkeley Institute of Design (BID) officially opened as a
new interdisciplinary research center in May with a day of tours,
research overviews, and demonstrations by center faculty. The
program incorporates computer science, education, mechanical engineering,
art practice, and architecture to foster a more human-centered
approach to technology design.
Under the direction of EECS professor John Canny and in affiliation
with the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest
of Society (CITRIS), the BID will unite the efforts of 25 faculty
from diverse departments and programs in an effort to transition
from the "built" to the "interactive" environment
in information technology. The program will be located in close
proximity to CITRIS headquarters in the recently renovated Hearst
Memorial Mining Building.
"The goal is to take a human-centered perspective on information
technology and its impacts," Canny says, "reaching out
to faculty from areas like sociology and education to 'close the
loop' by giving them a direct role in the design of technology."
In the making for three years, the idea for the center grew out
of the Human Centered Computing Group, initiated in 1998, and
quickly gathered momentum. A number of other schools are creating
similar programs, according to Canny. Cornell University combined
its computer science and information sciences program, similar
to Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems
(SIMS), and similar centers are in the works at both Stanford
and UC Irvine.
Key application areas include educational technology and practice,
where making design more learner-centered can increase the effectiveness
of the learning, and new design methods for ubiquitous technologies
like cell phones and PDAs.
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