IS1-2 ALife for Real and Virtual Audio-Video Performances

Several sub-disciplines of engineering are driven by the researchers’ aim of providing positive change to the society through their engineering. Based on two decades research in developing engineering systems with a societal impact (e.g. in robotics, embodied AI, and playware), in this paper we suggest a cyclic research method based on a mix between participatory and experimental processes. In particular, inspiration from the action research method applied to interdisciplinary technology development becomes a participatory approach characterized by rapid prototyping cycles which allow iterative technology specification and development together with people in their real world environment. With the mixed research method, we suggest that there are cases, where approaches from the positivistic and interpretivistic epistemologies can and should be merged. We exemplify this with health care technology and playware.