Bodystorming
Bodystorming is a technique sometimes used in interaction design or as a creativity technique. It has also been cited as catalyzing scientific research when used as a modeling tool.{{cite journal|last1=Powers|first1=J D|last2=Castle|first2=B T|last3=Odde|first3=D J|title=The predicted role of steric specificity in crowding-mediated effects on reversible biomolecular association|journal=Physical Biology|volume=12|issue=6|date=November 2015|pages=066004|issn=1478-3975|doi=10.1088/1478-3975/12/6/066004 |pmid=26595211|bibcode=2015PhBio..12f6004P}}
The idea is to imagine what it would be like if the product existed, and act as though it exists, ideally in the place it would be used. It is going through an idea with improvised artifacts and physical activities to envision a solution. This User Experience Design (UXD) technique is ideal to design physical spaces (e.g. the interior design of a shop) but can also be used to design physical products or software.
Use in Scientific Research
American dance company Black Label Movement's artistic director Carl Flink created a bodystorming system with University of Minnesota biomedical engineer David Odde in 2009 as a part of their Moving Cell Project.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.tpt.org/mn-original/video/HIT--The-Moving-Cell-Project-594336H-1/ |title=HIT + THE MOVING CELL PROJECT |date=September 29, 2012 |publisher=Twin Cities Public Television (TPT / PBS) |first1=Carl |last1=Flink |first2=David |last2=Odde}} funded by the university's Institute for Advanced Study. The system initially brought dance artists and scientists together, including Dance Your PhD founder John Bohannon who first applied the term "bodystorming" to this method,{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqhopRhju4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/0nqhopRhju4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Dance vs. PowerPoint, a modest proposal |first=John |last=Bohannon |date=November 28, 2012 |publisher=TED-Ed}}{{cbignore}} in order to rapid prototype research hypotheses in biomedical engineering using choreographic rules for participants to follow. As a technique for scientists and dancers to model scientific theories,{{cite magazine |magazine=Dance Magazine |url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/flying-through-space-2306923645.html |title=Flying Through Space |first=Linda |last=Shapiro |date=January 1, 2014}} it has been credited with catalyzing scientific research{{cite video |first=David |last=Odde |work=TEDMED |title=If truth is beauty, can art be science? |date=May 29, 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJgwDpb0z-4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/oJgwDpb0z-4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} and gives the participants the “psychological sense of what it would be like to be a molecule".{{cite web |title=UCSF Profiles: Dyche Mullins |url=https://profiles.ucsf.edu/dyche.mullins |publisher=University of California, San Francisco}}{{citation |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/bodystorming-dance-grooves-show-how-molecules-move |work=Science |title=Bodystorming: Dance Grooves Show How Molecules Move |first=Helen |last=Fields |date=November 12, 2012}} Bodystorming sessions have been held at the 2018 Neuro-Oncology Symposium as well as the PSON Annual Investegators Meeting (2019) allowing scientists to use the Bodystorming system to model their current research. It also “offers new opportunities to learn, teach, and drive new discoveries across disciplinary boundaries.”{{cite journal|last1=Flink|first1=Carl|last2=Odde|first2=David J.|title=Science+dance=bodystorming|journal=Trends in Cell Biology|volume=22|issue=12|date=December 2012|pages=613–616|issn=0962-8924|doi=10.1016/j.tcb.2012.10.005|pmid=23122551}} Subsequently, research scientists have found the method not only “builds awareness of science”{{cite journal|title=When hip-hop meets endoplasmic reticulum|journal=Nature India|year=2015|issn=1755-3180|doi=10.1038/nindia.2015.52}} but understands that the body is “not just a site of knowledge but also a medium of communication.”{{cite news |work=Deccan Herald |title=A dance that bridges gap between science, art |first=Nikitha |last=Bengaluru |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/465212/a-dance-bridges-gap-science.html |date=March 12, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709020054/https://www.deccanherald.com/content/465212/a-dance-bridges-gap-science.html |archivedate=2015-07-09}} A typical bodystorming session poses scientific questions then “provides visual information on why a model works or fails and streamlines the process of selecting a successful model.”{{cite news |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/when-belly-dance-meets-genetic-mutations/story-yQN0KQvqQ5mt3bv5jdnXfP.html |work=Hindustan Times |title=When belly dance meets genetic mutations |first=Vanita |last=Srivastava |date=April 29, 2015}}
Opinions on this method
The proponents of this idea like to point out the fact that you get up and move, trying things out with your own body, rather than just sitting around a table and discussing it while having to imagine it in the abstract (as in the case of brainstorming). It is a proper user-centered design method, since it can be carried out by the designers as well as the users of the final product.
References
- {{cite journal|last=Oulasvirta|first=Antti|author2=Kurvinen, Esko |author3=Kankainen, Tomi |title=Understanding contexts by being there: case studies in bodystorming|journal=Personal and Ubiquitous Computing|volume=7|issue=2|pages=125–134|doi=10.1007/s00779-003-0238-7|date=July 2003|citeseerx=10.1.1.59.7715|s2cid=1697822}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Schleicher|first1=Dennis|last2=Jones|first2=Peter|last3=Kachur|first3=Oksana|title=Bodystorming as embodied designing|journal=Interactions|date=1 November 2010|volume=17|issue=6|pages=47|doi=10.1145/1865245.1865256|s2cid=10389123}}
- Wilson, C. (2011). [http://dux.typepad.com/dux/2011/04/uxd-method-11-of-100-bodystorming.html UXD Method 11 of 100: Bodystorming].
Specific
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