Enlighten(ed)

Years: 2017-2021 Location: Uppsala University, Sweden

In collaboration with: Hui Zhu (Personal Trainer), Chris Boyer Yoga and Movement therapy, Alessandra Semeraro, Elena Márquez Segura, Annika Waern (PhD supervisor)

Physical activity (PA) is a key area within health tech research. A core strategy to promote PA is to support people in engaging in, and learning, existing PA practices. Enlighten(ed) comprises design experiments conducted during my PhD that aimed to enhance movement education and embodied learning by integrating interaction design and movement pedagogy.

Through these experiments, I explored how interactive visual technologies could meaningfully augment qualities of our body (for example, movements, alignment, breathing, and so forth), making us become aware of them beyond our usual sensory capabilities. The experiments foregrounded the role of community and collective knowledge in PA research, inviting practitioners and experts from diverse somatic practices (e.g. yoga, strength training, home exercises, and fast-paced fitness activities) as co-designers. Further, I focused on the design of technologies that respected and did justice to the plurality of bodies in the PA practices at focus.

Enlighten(ed) produced as design outcomes both various design artifacts (including visual feedback wearables, or instructional videos augmented through visual cues) and their integration into (re)designed embodied education activities. It also helped articulate the strong concept Intercorporeal Biofeedback. These designs significantly improved PA education in manifold ways: by enriching aesthetic perceptions of bodies in motion, improving communication between teachers and students, and enhancing students’ performance and understanding of their own PA practices.

PUBLICATIONS:

Laia Turmo Vidal and Jared Duval. 2024. Ambiguity as a Resource to Design for a Plurality of Bodies. In Halfway to the Future Symposium, 2024.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, and Annika Waern. 2023. Intercorporeal Biofeedback for Movement Learning. In TOCHI, 2023.

Alessandra Semeraro and Laia Turmo Vidal. 2022. Visualizing Instructions for Physical Training: Exploring Visual Cues to Support Movement Learning from Instructional Videos. In Proc. ACM CHI, 2022.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Hui Zhu, Annika Waern, and Elena Márquez Segura. 2021. The Design Space of Wearables for Sports and Fitness Practices. In Proc. ACM CHI, 2021.

Hui Zhu and Laia Turmo Vidal. 2021. TwinkleBands: Wearable Technology Supporting Movement Imitation and Coordination in Fast-Paced Fitness Training. In EA. ACM CHI, 2021.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Hui Zhu, and Abraham Riego-Delgado. 2020. BodyLights: Open-Ended Augmented Feedback to Support Training Towards a Correct Exercise Execution. In Proc. ACM CHI, 2020.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, Luis Parrilla Bel, and Annika Waern. 2020. Training Technology Probes Across Fitness Practices: Yoga, Circus and Weightlifting. In EA. ACM CHI, 2020.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, Christopher Boyer, and Annika Waern. 2019. Enlightened Yoga: Designing an Augmented Class with Wearable Lights to Support Instruction. In Proc. ACM DIS, 2019.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, Luis Parrilla Bel, and Annika Waern. 2019. BalBoa: A Balancing Board for Handstand Training. In EA. ACM CHI, 2019.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, and Annika Waern. 2018. Movement Correction in Instructed Fitness Training: Design Recommendations and Opportunities. In Proc. ACM DIS, 2018.

Laia Turmo Vidal, Elena Márquez Segura, Luis Parrilla Bel, and Annika Waern. 2018. Exteriorizing Body Alignment in Collocated Physical Training. In EA. ACM CHI, 2018.