Designing empathy: the role of a “control room” in an e‐learning environment

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to focus on the challenge of designing an interface for a virtual class, where being represented together contributes to the learning process. It explores the possibility of virtual empathy. Design/methodology/approach-The challenges are: How can this feeling of empathy be recreated through a delicate staging of location and interactions? How can the feeling of togetherness be organized in a 3D environment without creating a feeling of distraction? What are the tools of empathy in a mediated situation? The authors propose to use the concept of "contradictory semiotic analysis" to describe the design process that taps into visual cultures to build a representation and tools that support users' empathetic interactions. The analysis of designers' work from a semiotic point of view shows that they do not necessarily paint after life but play with different media and representations to build "remediated" situations of use. Findings-The paper introduces the concept of "control room" elaborated after Manovich's control panel, to describe the visual interface that supports a diversity of points of view, hence supporting mediated empathetic relationships. Originality/value-The paper answers the design questions: how can the system of representation support the feeling of empathy amongst participants through a delicate staging of space, people and of interactions within this space? How can a participant get, first, a feeling of togetherness and, second, a feeling of empathy with other participants? The design methodology is explained based on a "contradictory semiotic analysis" made of the comparison with similar platforms and with other modalities of empathy in different media. Second, the design proposition is described. Third, the design challenges that this type of production entails are discussed and the difficulties faced during the design process are analyzed.

Arts et sciences du design : la place des sciences humaines

“…L'analyse des sites constitue ainsi un « réservoir » de « propriétés esthétiques » qui sont « discrétisées » dans l'objectif d'être re-composées. C'est sur la Mai 2015 base de ce que j'appelle la « discrétisation » des éléments de design que le travail de conception peut aborder une autre phase qui repose elle aussi sur une analyse sémiotique et que nous avons qualifiée d' « analyse sémiotique contradictoire » (Gentès et Cambone, 2013). En effet, il ne s'agissait pas seulement de consolider les connaissances sur l'existant mais d'organiser des pistes sémiotiques pour la conception.…”

“…Nous proposons de partir de plusieurs projets de recherche menés à Telecom ParisTech, au sein du Codesign Lab 05 , pour approfondir les relations privilégiées que le design entretient avec les sciences humaines. En particulier, nous utiliserons le projet de recherche et de développement FUI 06 VUE, projet de plateforme e-learning avec l'entreprise 3I, qui est décrit plus en détail par ailleurs (Gentès et Cambone, 2013) pour souligner l'articulation des sciences humaines au projet de design.…”