Many thanks to everyone who attended the Cool Workshop at HCI2011. The workshop was a great success and definitely the 'coolest' workshop at the conference!

COOL2011 - HCI2001 Workshop 

The aim of this workshop is to stimulate debate on, and increase knowledge of, designing for cool. The workshop will aim to answer the following three questions;

• What is cool? How do artefacts become cool? What are its essential characteristics and what makes a product, or a behaviour around a product cool?
• How can ordinary items be appropriated in 'cool ways?
• How are we to design for appropriation in cool ways?

Click here for the workshop home page.

The ChiCI Group has just employed two new RAs... Brendan and Lorna. Both previously studied HCI at Lancaster University and are in the closing stages of their PhDs.