Freshly squeezed touch into bits: towards the development of a haptic design palette
Haptic interfaces have the potential to enhance communication and interaction via the computerenabling affective expressive interpersonal communication and enriching interaction by haptic feedback. Still, what exactly their potential is and how we can design in order to fulfil it remains topic of contemporary debate. My contribution to this debate shall be to place some of the current developments into a philosophical and cultural context and to introduce social science based methodologies, which will help broaden the discussion and scope of input. Through semiotic analysis, we can predict meaning making in haptic communication that goes beyond linguistic description. Examples of Haptic interfaces shall be positioned as case studies in this typology. Also, I describe the Haptic Box and PinKom as my way of investigating a semiotic system of touch. In conclusion, this paper hopes to inform and catalyse the development of a haptic design palette.
haptic communication affect culture social semiotics