Paying attention to rhythm in HCI: Some thoughts on methods
Brigid Costello
Abstract
To focus on rhythms within the lived relations between humans and technology is to focus on unfolding processes, dynamic temporality, and patterns of change and continuity. Rhythms infuse the political, the social, the personal and the technological. Through anticipation and expectation rhythms also point towards the future and its tendencies. Drawing inspiration from Rhythmanalysis, Somaesthetic Design and Entanglement HCI this paper explores methods for analysing rhythm within HCI and discusses the challenges of recording the ephemeral, articulating experience and understanding the non-human. Like rhythm, the methods outlined involve process, temporality and difference. There are the embodied practices of developing sensitivity, paying attention and thinking by doing. Then there are the representational practices of revealing through sound, working with moving images, shifting temporal scales and expressing dynamics graphically. These methods are presented as suggestions and tentative principles for ways of thinking with and through rhythm and aim to inspire further exploration.