Dr. Juan Salamanca

Bio

Dr. Salamanca’s research lies at the intersection of design, social science, and informatics. His current research at the Design for Social Viscosity Lab at the University of Illinois is twofold. One strand investigates the social and material conditions necessary to facilitate or hinder cooperation and collaboration in collective practices such as urban commuting. His recent publications discuss the concept of social viscosity and introduce the use of agent-based modeling as a tool for studying it. His subsidiary line of research explores the visual analysis of large datasets for achieving unplanned collective goals in adaptive contexts such as smart cities.

Dr. Salamanca is an Affiliate Professor in the Informatics Program of the School of Information Sciences, the Siebel Center for Design, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois. He holds a Ph.D. from the IIT Institute of Design in Chicago, USA; an MDes in Design Direction from Domus Academy in Milan, Italy; and a BA in Industrial Design from Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia.

Design for Social Viscosity Lab

The Design for Social Viscosity Lab proposes a framework for the design of smart artifacts that mediate social activities. The framework consists of three main components: a model of the social activity, a model of the smart artifact, and a model of the interaction between the smart artifact and the social activity.

In constructing the framework, Dr. Salamanca pushes the boundaries of interaction design by examining how networks of people and artifacts interact, rather than just concentrating on the usual user-artifact dynamic. In this perspective, Dr. Salamanca views artifacts as value-laden agents that actively engage with people in social contexts, rather than simply serving as passive tools. For example, the interactions between drivers, passengers, and pedestrians in urban environments go beyond optimizing user-artifact interactions. It’s about the ongoing exchange of actions, intentions, and expectations, on a network of people, vehicles, streets, and sidewalks, playing a crucial role in building and maintaining the social bonds of public space. A detailed explanation is available in this publication.

The Design for Social Viscosity framework is valuable to a variety of groups, including those designing socio-technical systems, designers of services for smart cities, and interaction designers interested in addressing multi-party interactions to unlock the potential of individuals, technology, and collaboration to create positive societal impact.