Interactive 2X2
Interactive sessions are dynamic presentations based on an active project, inquiry, approach, or method. There are four sessions by Kingston University faculty members. They grouped in a 2X2 format and initiated by a short presentation to set the context for a dialogic exchange.
Designing for emergence and (mis)communication
Gregory Mills
When considering how to relate systems thinking and design, the majority of systemic design approaches use concepts from the study of complex systems to guide design practice at the level of large-scale human organisation, as systems thinking offers principled methods for articulating and tackling emergent complexity within and between interacting systems, in particular social systems that are embedded within larger and larger systems. Systems theory shows that at each scale of analysis, much like a fractal, new complex, emergent phenomena come into view.
However, in addition to being ideal for zooming out to larger and larger social systems, dynamical systems theory is perhaps even better suited for zooming in to uncover the systems out of which a larger system emerges. For example, systems analysis of an organisation will reveal its emergence out of multiple interactions between multiple (sub-)organisations, which in turn emerge out of multiple interactions between different parties, that in turn emerge out of individual interactions in a variety of contexts, which in turn emerge out of rich, multimodal, cognitive, often mediated social processes, and so on. Crucially, as the magnification is increased, the complexity also does not necessarily decrease; Language is the prime example of a complex adaptive system (Steels, 2000; Ellis et al., 2009).
Based on these insights, this talk explores how increasing (as opposed to decreasing) the magnification on social systems, i.e. zooming in on the mechanisms of language emergence at the micro-interactional, conversational level, yields valuable, practical guidelines for the design and evaluation of mediated technologies, and also yields promising methods for the evaluation of design practice.
Dr Gregory Mills is a Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment, School of Computer Science and Mathematics, and Department of Networks and Digital Media.
Our Story Matters—The untapped potential of autoethnography to drive technology innovation
Makayla Lewis
The realm of autoethnographic research [1] in human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer science, e.g. [2-4], can reveal powerful stories that are often overlooked. The human element behind technological innovation can be side-lined in an era dominated by technological innovation, data, and algorithms. This conversation puts forward a fusion of technology and storytelling (textual and visual), exploring how first-person research—our everyday experiences, tensions, and attitudes—can support empirical data about how society uses or could use technology. Makayla Lewis shows how they have harnessed the personal to improve understanding of today’s technologies, e.g. [5-8]. This talk is organised as a journey of self-reflection and self-study, an essential tool for your untold stories. The audience is invited to explore the idea that “your story matters” in the space of artificial intelligence (AI), where they are the main character, thus providing supplementary people-centred data that can support breakthroughs in the ever-evolving landscape of technological innovation.
Dr Makayla Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in User Experience Design, School of Computer Science and Mathematics.
[1] Carolyn Ellis and Art Bochner. 2000. Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject, in the handbook of qualitative research, N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln, Editors., Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA. p. 733-768.
[2] Lucero, Andrés. 2018. Living without a mobile phone: An autoethnography. In Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference, pp. 765-776.
[3] Sarah Turner, Jason RC Nurse, and Shujun Li. 2022. “It was hard to find the words”: Using an Autoethnographic Diary Study to Understand the Difficulties of Smart Home Cyber Security Practices. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended
Abstracts. 1-8.
[4] Mafalda Gamboa. 2022. Conversations with Myself: Sketching Workshop Experiences in Design Epistemology. In Creativity and Cognition (C&C ’22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 71–82.
[5] Makayla Lewis and Sturdee, Miriam. 2022. Curricula Design & Pedagogy for Sketching within HCI & UX Education. Frontiers in Computer Science: 35
[6] Makayla Lewis, Miriam Sturdee, Mafalda Gamboa, and Denise Lengyel. 2023. Doodle Away: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Doodling as a Strategy for Self-Control Strength in Online Spaces. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (AltCHI), April 23-28, 2023, Hamburg, Germany. ACM, New York, NY, USA
[7] Miriam Sturdee, Makayla Lewis, and John Miers. 2022. Do Humans Dream of Digital Devices? Subconscious User Experiences and Narratives. In Creativity and Cognition (C&C ’22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.
[8] Makayla Lewis, Mauro Toselli, Ruth Baker, Julia Rédei, and Claire Elisabeth Ohlenschlager. 2022. Portraying What is in Front of You: Virtual Tours and Online Whiteboards to Facilitate Art Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In Creativity and Cognition (C&C ’22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 350–363.
Honeypots and AI for Proactive Cybersecurity
Vasileios Argyriou
“Honeypots,”* empowered by artificial intelligence, represent a cutting-edge approach to proactive cybersecurity. These advanced security mechanisms leverage AI algorithms and machine learning to not only detect but also proactively engage with malicious actors. AI-enhanced honeypots excel in identifying emerging threats, adapting their behaviour to evolving attack techniques, and providing real-time insights into attacker tactics. By automating threat detection, response, and adaptation, these intelligent honeypots serve as a valuable early warning system, offering organisations, critical infrastructures and hospitals a proactive advantage in defending against cyber threats. Moreover, AI-driven honeypots contribute to the collection of valuable threat intelligence, enabling security teams to better understand the evolving threat landscape and strengthen their overall cybersecurity posture.
* AI Honeypot perform sophisticated algorithms to properly process the attack information and generate data in a format that AI algorithms can understand, manage and use to detect attacks. A honeypot is a network-attached system set up as a decoy to lure cyber attackers and detect, deflect and study hacking attempts to gain unauthorised access to information systems.
Professor Vasileios Argyriou’s research is in computer science and AI, School of Computer Science and Mathematics.
Shades of Grey: Strategic bimatrix stopping games for modelling (un)ethical hacking roles
Eckhard Pfluegel
This talk focuses on the emerging topic of game-theoretical modelling of the phenomenon of grey-hat hackers. A two-player complete information bimatrix game is presented, capturing the strategic dilemmas involved in an organisation’s interaction with a grey-hat hacker. It is then shown how an equilibrium analysis of the game illustrates these dilemmas from a game-theoretical point. This game is then extended to a class of stochastic bimatrix games called “Shades of Grey.” Several game instances are presented, and it is shown how an instance with a full-rank stopping matrix can resolve these dilemmas. This yields a more sophisticated and versatile framework for game-theoretic modelling of (un)ethical hacking roles than previously known in the literature, which we believe to be useful to other game-theoretic applications beyond the Shades of Grey games.
Dr Eckhard Pfluegel is an Associate Professor, Cyber Security, School of Computer Science and Mathematics.
