Using a multisensory interface system, we examined how people’s emotional experiences change as their tactile sense (touching a plant) was augmented with visual sense (“seeing” their touch). Our system (the Interactive Plant system) senses the electrical capacitance of the human body and visualizes users’ tactile information on a flat screen (when the touch is gentle, the program draws small and thin roots around the pot; when the touch is more harsh or abrupt, big and thick roots are displayed). We contrasted this multimodal combination (touch + vision) with a unimodal interface (touch only or watch only) and measured the impact of the multimodal interaction on participants’ emotion. We found significant emotional gains in the multimodal interaction. Participants’ self-reported positive affect, joviality, attentiveness and self-assurance increased dramatically in multimodal interaction relative to unimodal interaction; participants’ electrodermal activity (EDA) increased in the multimodal condition, suggesting that our plant-based multisensory visual-tactile interaction raised arousal. We suggest that plant-based tactile interfaces are advantageous for emotion generation because haptic perception is by nature embodied and emotional.

This paper presents Touchology, interactive plant projects that explore serenity and emotional attachment through meditative touch of plants with interactive audio-visualizations. Gardening is seen to improve mindfulness, memory and cognitive abilities. Those who are unable to benefit from this activity, such as the mentally and physically disabled are less prone to be exposed to the leisure. Due to simple technical setups, the projects presented here can be placed anywhere at the ease of the user. The pilot studies with target populations indicate that calming tangible interaction with plants can evoke mindfulness in a similar way to gardening related experiences.

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This paper discusses the development of digital pedagogical and promotional tools for ongoing anthropological and archaeological work in the Darién Region of Panama. The Darién Region has been underexplored by archaeologists for the last century, and is home to the Darién Gap, the only break in the Pan-American Highway, which has, thus far, facilitated Indigenous sovereignty and protected endemic species. The authors have collaborated to share experiences of navigating the Darién Province of Panama through storytelling, adventure, and exploration with digital media. This project resides as a website with a variety of video and game works. Our goal is to have as much media available in both English and Spanish as possible, to be accessible to the local communities in Darién and to international communities, which is crucial to support locallyinitiated conservation initiatives. Current projects include videos documenting known populations that have migrated through the area, videos documenting a current anthropologist's explorations of the region, a game depicting a historical anthropologist's findings of an archaeological expedition from the 1920s, and accessible compilations of research on local flora and fauna.

InTouch Wearables is a set of wearables that consist of dresses and shoulder pieces that allow mother and child to share remote touches through garments with ambient feedback. This was created to explore how remote touches can convey emotion and help people stay connected between remote locations. This project was created based on the lead artist's personal experience with her child. In InTouch Wearables, a parent can increase the vividness of her conversation with a child through contextualised touch, and the loved ones may enhance the affective tone of their communication using remote touch technology. All the electronic components of the garment for sensing human touches and actuating colour-changing garment are embedded on the main fabrics.Remote touch. Child-parent relationship. Interactive wearables. Colour changing garment. Creative engagement.