Navimation Research

About

Jon Olav Eikenes

This is the blog of Jon Olav Eikenes, previously a PhD student in the interaction design department at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Norway. I now work as an interaction designer at Halogen in Oslo.

The project

My PhD project was part of the Norwegian user-driven research project RECORD, which dealt with online communities in which people create, share and use rich media such as music and videos. My focus within the research project was to look at the mediating interface that makes it possible to interact with computers, people and digital content. In particular, I was interested in a phenomenon I called ‘navimation’.

Navimation is a high-level concept, denoting the phenomenon of intertwining the activity of navigation with the appearance of visual motion (aka movement or animation). For example, the Cower Flow interface in iTunes and on the Apple iPhone allows the users to navigate their music collection, by flicking through album artworks. This is supported by visual movement on the screen, as if moving in a virtual three-dimensional environment. I find it interesting to investigate such interfaces at the level of communication, as the computers and screens around us are becoming more powerful and sophisticated in terms of complexity and visual representation. The design of these interfaces becomes a key issue, especially when we add the complexity of social networks and participatory design approaches.

My background

Trained as an industrial / interaction designer at AHO in Oslo and Elisava in Barcelona, it was a rather steep learning curve to become a researcher. This blog was an attempt to facilitate and ease this transformation, as a tool for reflection as well as a a tool for communicating with the world.

Some earlier design projects can be found in my old blog from the master course in interaction design at AHO, including the construction of a multi-touch table and multi-touch interface in 2006. The project has been written up here. Another project of importance for me was a student project I did with ABB R&D, where I designed a multi-user interactive collaboration table for use in control rooms. The solution was later patented.

For some years now I have been working part time as a cinema projectionist at the cinematheque in Oslo, which may explain my interest in cinematic interfaces and the illusion of movement.

Download full CV

Online presence

Flickr, delicious, dopplr, underskog.no, origo.no, and Facebook. Occasionally on Twitter.

Comments, suggestions and questions are highly welcomed. Feel free to contact me directly at jonolav dot eikenes at gmail dot com.

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