exploring human constructions of existential meaning in interactions with designed objects by ian...
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Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Conversations with the sub-physical:
Exploring human constructions of
existential meaning
in interactions with
designed objects
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Embodied experience
proprioceptivesomato-sensory
neuro-motorinteroceptive
Cognitive experience
conscious experienceneuro-chemical
processes autonomic systems
cognitionPhenomenal experience
Perception of reality
truth
What is real?
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Authentic
visible meta-physical
Inauthentic
(everyday)
Invisible (hidden)
sub-physical
phenomenal meaning
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Temporality(time)
Relationality (Relationship to others)
Cognition(thinking & doing)
Spatiality(lived space)
Corporeality (body)
physicality
Sensorial
(five senses)
Affect(emotions, feelings)
Perception
Meta-physical experience
Sub-physical experience
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
…a little ToE
TAXONOMYof
EXPERIENCE(ToE)
4. OUT THERE - Contextual factorsExistential factorsEnvironmental factorsLegal / political / economic factorsSocial, ideological factorsTechnological factors
1. THE BODY - Somatic experienceSensorial
oSightoTouchoSmelloTasteosound
Comfort (ergonomics, human factors)Appearance (aesthetics)
2. THE HEART - Affective experiencePositively valenced affect 1 - 7Negatively valenced affect 7 - 1
3. THE HEAD - Cognitive experienceConnation – reflective experienceCognition – reflexive experience
New Mobility Vehicles (NMV’s)
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
How the methods interact
SEEing – a questioning process
A ToE stores
the information
about an
experience
?Sub-physical aspects of the experience – existential approach
Meta-physical aspects of the experience - hermeneutic approach
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Hermeneutical analysis - SEEing meta-physical meaning in authentic experience
How can a meta-physical
insight be reconstituted
within the context of a
new existential
experience?
‘Essential’ meanings
Existential analysis - SEEing sub-physical meaning in in-authentic experience)
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
SEEing
….the meta-physical essence of an experience
Steps 1,2,3ToE
1. Collect data
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort
Data processing
What do I know about this on the surface?
Step 4All the meanings
Plural meanings
Cause and Effect
What else does it mean?
Step 5The most important or essential
Essential meanings
Is the experience the same if it is not here?
How important is it to the nature of the experience?
Step 6Beyond form and functional aspects
Metaphysical meanings
What is special, unknown, novel or unexpected
Step 7Weighting
Ranking
Intensity
Sorting by intensity
Step 8Resorting
most intense?
Most intense, metaphysical, essential
Step 9Describe the most intense – the essence
Metaphysical?
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Steps 1,2,3ToE
1. Collect data
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort
Data processing
What do I know about this on the surface?
Asks: What do I know about this on the surface?
Steps 1,2,3 - ‘Doing a ToE’
1. Collect information
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort into data
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Steps 1,2,3ToE
1. Collect data
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort
Data processing
What do I know about this on the surface?
Step 4All the meanings
Plural meanings
Cause and Effect
What else does it mean?
Cause and EffectAsks: What else does it mean?
Step 4Teasing out the full plurality of meanings
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Steps 1,2,3ToE
1. Collect data
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort
Data processing
What do I know about this on the surface?
Step 4All the meanings
Plural meanings
Cause and Effect
What else does it mean?
Step 5The most important or essential
Essential meanings
Is the experience the same if it is not here?
How important is it to the nature of the experience?
Asks: Is the experience the same if this meaning is not here?How important is this meaning to the nature of the experience?
Step 5Determining the most important or essential meanings
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Steps 1,2,3ToE
1. Collect data
2. Write descriptions
3. Sort
Data processing
What do I know about this on the surface?
Step 4All the meanings
Plural meanings
Cause and Effect
What else does it mean?
Step 5The most important or essential
Elements of embodied experience
…but what about the existential part
…embodied experience
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Philosophy - phenomenology
Psychology - behavioral
Neuropsychology
Neurophysiology
Neuroscience
Cognitive science
Perception
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Existential analytic of ‘essential’
meanings
Stage 1: Inauthentic (everyday level)
experience
Asks: What is the phenomenal
embodiment of this experience; the
ordinary, everyday, pre-ontological,
preneotic, 'existential‘, physically
related aspects of the experience which
help to make the experience what it is.
This layer of ordinary-ness shows itself
in explicit somato-sensory interactions
with implicit layers of embodied
meaning or perception
These meaning structures might be considered in terms of;
Physical (body)
Proprioception
Body image & Body schema
(conscious and autonomic /
prenoetic)
Actions, movement and motor
schemas
Object (form and function)
interactive ecological experience
Contextual factors (spatial)
Perception – a blurry inter-modal, phenomenal space between mental and the physical experience
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Phenomenal analytic of ‘essential’
meanings
Stage 2: Explicating the ‘essence’ of the
experience
Asks: What is the phenomenal ‘essence’
of this experience?
What is indicated as its substantive,
intrinsic sub-physical soul?
What does the embodied experience
point to that is immediately hidden?
…really, really really
Sub-physical (mind)
Perceptions - simulations
noetic – self reflection –
consciousness
Intention – beliefs - desires
inter-subjectivity (relationship to
other)
Agency & Ownership
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Re Hidden-ness
There are “aspects of the structure
of consciousness that are more
hidden, those that may be more
difficult to get at because they
happen before we know it.
They do not normally enter into the
phenomenal content of experience in
an explicit way, and are often
inaccessible to reflective
consciousness”
Gallagher, 2005, p.2
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
NVivo
Qualitative Data Analysis
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Applying this theory to empirical data using NVivo
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
ESSENCES OF EMBODIED NMV EXPERIENCE
Essence: Feeling empowered or important
(41 passages / 15%)
Node description: I feel special or empowered by
association with the activity, the event gives me a
heightened sense of self worth
Experiential fragments:It is a lifestyle association that conveys ‘coolness’
tothese vehicles, the elemental feeling of being
part ofthe environment but still being protected from itDriving in crisp, cold, sometimes wild weather
andbeing well clothed, You are really in it and can
seemore of it, The feeling is less that you are IN a
vehiclebut more traveling on one thru the world,
desirable,unique, wantable, covetable, feeling a surge of
power,being aware of other road users and pedestrians,other road users, standing out, etc.
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
Hermeneutical analysis - SEEing meta-physical meaning in authentic experience
A meta-physical insight might be
reconstituted in the context of a
new existential experience which
generates a new …. perception …
and so on
Stage5‘Essential’ meanings
Existential analysis - SEEing sub-physical meaning in inauthentic experience
Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney
...thank you
I would welcome
your comments, suggestions
and valuable critique