The Rhythmic Self: chronobiology and computing

Speakers:
Prof Geri Gay,
Professor of Communication
Cornell  University
and
Dr Mark Matthews,
School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin

Date/time:  Friday 17th October 12noon

Location: LCR in ORI

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The Rhythmic Self: chronobiology and computing

Like almost all of life on Earth we have evolved to live in light and sleep
in darkness. Within our bodies there are billions of biological clocks,
controlled by a 'master clock' in our brain. Overwhelming evidence indicates
that these biological clocks have a rhythmic effect on our mental and
physical processes that follows a roughly 24-hour cycle. They affect our
mood, levels of concentration, digestion, sleep patterns and much more and
are profoundly important for our health, quality of sleep, and mood. Yet the
technologies we use are ignorant of our biology. Indeed, some of our most
impactful technologies including the light bulb, central heating and the
computer, can interfere with these biological rhythms - keeping us up later,
making us more distracted and enabling us to work against our biology.

In this talk, Professor Gay and Dr. Matthews will provide an overview of the
work they are doing at the Interaction Design Lab, which explores social and
technical issues in the design, implementation, and evaluation of
technologies for health and wellness. We will focus on our recent research
in Circadian Systems - technologies that play to the strengths of our
biology. We illustrate the potential of this work by reference to our
ongoing research projects on passively detecting variations in our daily
biology (Clockwise) and stabilizing daily circadian rhythms in serious
mental illness (Mood Rhythm).

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Geri Gay is the Kenneth J. Bissett Professor of Communication at Cornell
University and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow. She is also a member
of the Faculty of Computer and Information Science and the Director of the
Interaction Design Lab at Cornell University. Her research focuses on social
and technical issues in the design ofinteractive communication technologies.
Specifically, she is interested in social navigation, affective computing,
social networking, mobile computing, and design theory.

Mark Matthews is a Marie Curie fellow jointly with the Interaction Design
Lab at Cornell University and the School of Computer Science and Statistics
at Trinity College Dublin. His research focuses on the design and evaluation
of low-cost ubiquitous support systems for individuals with serious mental
illnesses and is currently investigating the interplay between Bipolar
Disorder and technology. He received his PhD in Computer Science from
Trinity College Dublin.