Thecla Schiphorst

Teaching & research interests

• Embodied cognition and interaction
• Movement knowledge representation
• Wearable, tangible & natural user interfaces
• Interactive media art
• Aesthetics of interaction
• Experience design

Thecla has an Interdisciplinary MA under special arrangements in Dance and Computing Science from Simon Fraser University (1993), and a Doctor of Philosophy – Ph.D. (2008) from the School of Computing at the University of Plymouth. Her background in dance and computing form the basis for her research in embodied interaction, focusing on movement knowledge representation, tangible and wearable technologies, media and digital art, and the aesthetics of interaction. She applies body-based somatic models as articulated in systems such as Laban Movement Analysis to technology design processes within an HCI context. Her research goal is to expand the practical application of embodied theory within technology design.

She is a member of the original design team that developed Life Forms, the computer compositional tool for choreography, and collaborated with Merce Cunningham from 1990 to 2005 supporting his creation of new dance with the computer.

• MA, Dance and Computing Science, Simon Fraser University
• PhD, School of Computing, University of Plymouth