Nathan G. Freier (freien@rpi.edu)
Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction
Language, Literature, and Communication
Joint Appointment in Information Technology
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Home SEED Lab Publications Teaching CV

Social, Emotional, and Ethical Design (SEED) Lab
children's technology design, social and moral development, social robots, embodied agents, personified technology, human flourishing, value sensitive design, contemplative computing

Lab Objectives

To design and evaluate technology with the goal of supporting (1) children's social and moral development and (2) people's contemplative interactions with technology, including facilitating individual and social empowerment, environmental awareness, and civic engagement.  Basic and applied research is conducted in the areas of human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, and child development using the principles of value sensitive design and grounded in interactional constructivist theory.
 		  

Current Lab Members and Affiliations

PEOPLE

Elia Nelson, Ph.D. Student, Research Assistant
Amanda Rotondo, Ph.D. Student
Lillian Spina-Caza, Ph.D. Student
Jay Zalinger, Ph.D. Student

GROUPS

DeCoLab

RPI's Design Collaborative - A technology and problem-centered design group directed primarily by graduate students in collaboration with community members and faculty. [website forthcoming]


Current Projects

Alyx image Children's Attributions of Moral Standing to Personified Technologies

Investigating the impact of technology design on how children conceptualize social and moral interactions between humans and personified technology.  Addresses the questions of whether and how children generalize their knowledge of social and moral interactions amongst humans to interactions amongst humans and technology. [CHI 2008]
 
Robovie image Children and Benchmarks in Human-Robot Interaction
 with Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (University of Washington), Hiroshi Ishiguro (University of Osaka), Batya Friedman (University of Washington), Takayuki Kanda (Advanced Telecommunications Research), Rachel L. Severson (University of Washington), and others

Investigations into benchmarks for the development of research and design in human-robot interaction and, additionally, children's interactions with and conceptualizations of a humanoid robot. [Interaction Studies]
 
 
thinker Technology's Influence on the Development of Wisdom Concepts
with Elia Nelson

This research strand includes investigations into both adult and child concepts of wisdom, and the influence of technology on the development of those concepts. We are interested in understanding how technology can be designed to motivate individuals to reflect upon their understanding of at least three perspectives on wisdom: having wisdom, being wise, and acting wisely. The studies conducted within this research strand will contribute to an already existing body of knowledge on folk theories of wisdom and also contribute design principles that can guide technology designers. [IDC 2008]

Educating and Situating the Reflective Designer Locally and Globally
with Astrid Larssen (Ashesi University College) and Penny Hagen (University of Technology, Sydney)

In this research program, we are exploring the factors that are important to consider when educating interaction designers situated within both local and global frames of reference. We wish to raise questions regarding how cross-geographical collaboration takes place within a design context, and how the resulting interaction design manifests the constraints and resources of multiple local contexts while maintaining and empowering global connections.

Past Projects

IRToolbox
with Efthimis Efthimiadis (University of Washington)

Developed a web-based toolkit to help students learn information retrieval principles and design strategies for search engines.  The system is actively used in graduate-level information retrieval courses at the University of Washington. [SIGIR 2007]
 
Child offering AIBO a pink ball Robotic Pets & Preschoolers
 with Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (University of Washington), Batya Friedman (University of Washington), and others

Investigated how preschool children interact with and understand the robotic dog AIBO (compared to a stuffed dog). [Interaction Studies]
 
Telegarden Chatroom
 with Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (University of Washington), Batya Friedman (University of Washington), and others

Investigated the user experience of telepresence. [RO-MAN 2005]
 
Room with an Augmented Window
with Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (University of Washington), Batya Friedman (University of Washington), and many others

Compared the benefits of working in an office with a view out the window of a beautiful nature scene vs. an identical view (in real time) projected on a large display that covers the window in the same office. [Journal of Environmental Psychology]
 
Office Window of the Future?
 Batya Friedman (University of Washington), Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (University of Washington), and others

Is it possible to "reinvent" the office window - through display technology - and create an augmented window to the natural world? [CHI 2004]
 
UrbanSim
 with Alan Borning (University of Washington), Paul Waddell (University of Washington), and many others

Development of a land use, transportation, and environmental modeling simulation for use by metropolitan planning organizations in the United States and around the world. [website] [Networks and Spatial Economics]