For the past few months I’ve been focusing most of my research on the intersection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) therapy and Affective Computing/Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). I want to know how I can apply HCI and Affective Computing to develop behaviour modification and communication therapies for patients with ASD.
Welp, that’s a mouthful.
My original intention wasn’t to try to merge the two topics, at first I was just interested in learning more about autism as a disorder of higher brain function and thought about tackling some form of therapy for ASD patients as part of my 4th year thesis. But in September of last year, I was lucky enough to take a core class on interaction design, which opened up the door to AI, affective computing, and learning new ways to apply HCI to my projects. Strangely enough, the topic has made its way through my generally-muddled ADD brain, and I’m finding myself interested in continuing the work I was doing, even though the class ended in December. This kind of continuing, sustained behaviour is rare for me, the queen of distraction.
Why should I combine the two topics? They seem only tangentially related.
For a long time, I’ve been a proponent of the idea that the art of maintaning an open perception on the world is key in becoming a good designer. Even young designers like me can recognize that people who see the world in tunnelvision aren’t going to be able to apply their knowledge in a creative way. Keeping the blinders on will prevent people from asking big questions, and because of this, they aren’t going to stand first in line to help solve the world’s most pressing problems.
I don’t think I’m going to be solving any major problems, at least not within the next year or two, and certainly not by the time I graduate from University. I’d like to think that I could, though.
What I do think is that I’ve got a pretty good question, to start it all off.
