The Inclusive Interaction Lab Presents

Dr. Antti Oulasvirta

Professor

School of Electrical Engineering

Aalto University, Finland

Friday, October 13, 2023 at 12:00 PM in COB-265

HCI's Second Icarus Moment

Abstract

Icarus flew too close to the sun, and his wings melted in the heat. The field of HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) did the same by investing in a type of computational science that failed in the heat of the sun (design). In the Greek story, Icarus' father, Daedalus, wept for his son, and the story ends. Fortunately, in HCI, we now have another chance. The remarkable advancements in machine learning have made it possible to revisit the most foundational question of the field: What is interaction, and how can we form knowledge that can inform design? Will we once again fly too close to the sun?

Short Bio

Antti Oulasvirta is a computational cognitive scientist who leads the Computational Behavior Lab at Aalto University (cbl.aalto.fi). Antti is visiting UC Berkeley for his sabbatical in 2023 - 2024. Last fifteen years, he has been developing and applying models of human behavior to improve computing systems for human use. Prior to joining Aalto, he was a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. In his free-time, he enjoys fast road bikes and hard sci-fi.