Integrating Emotions and Knowledge in Aesthetics Designs Using Cultural Profiles

Abstract

Emotions have been described as complex organized states and some Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have been developed based on them. TUIs using some kind of physical interfaces called Phidgets, have included a strong emphasis on touch and physicality as well as on exploiting the meaning and cultural usage associated with everyday physical objects. However, there is a gap between emotions and knowledge management. This paper presents a detailed analysis to show how this relationship is developed in several cultures, trying to find a common understanding to relate them. From a cognitive point of view, some image schemas have been established and extended using metaphors. As a result it is possible to relate schemas that come from perception to abstract schemas. For instance, several physical properties as position in a frame or curve shape properties used in aesthetics designs can be associated to some kind of emotions as ‘joy for speed’. Cultural profiles are the missing element to formalize it because emotion expression can be different in every culture; moreover scientific knowledge and emotions come together in the same representation in some cultures. As conclusion, a research line is exposed for integrating knowledge management in TUIs, and in this paper a previous prototype has been developed.

This work was partially supported by Colombian Colciencias Projects No. 4128-14-18008 and No. 030-2005, Cicyt Projects TEN2004-08000-C03 and TIN2004-08000-C03-03.