Research at GVU

The GVU Center’s research projects are conducted by Georgia Tech faculty and students drawn from disciplines in science, engineering, as well as the humanities and design. People everywhere have a need to be connected to one another, to communicate, to learn, to heal, to be entertained, to create, to express their ideas and visions, and to be given the tools and opportunity to improve their lives. These are the needs that the GVU Center embraces as goals.

Our belief is that the best solutions happen when a diverse and committed group of professionals bring different perspectives, skill sets, and experiences to the problem-solving table. This environment is truly where some of the most exciting and relevant work in academic research is being done.

Mission & guiding principles

To keep us focused in our commitment to a high level of human value in the work we do, we created seven guiding principles. These principles are not technical goals, but instead are themes that reflect the richness of human life and existence. Our goal is to pursue scholarship that adds value to one or more of these guiding principles.

Our seven guiding principles are: Emotion, Independence, Wellness, Learning, Creativity, Persuasion, and Trust

Emotion

     Technology certainly makes people more productive, but it’s not limited to that. Technology, especially in the form of interactive media, evokes powerful  human emotions—joy, excitement, passion, motivation, belonging, and engagement. Our goal is to understand the nuances of emotion and the role that technology can play in creating and sustaining emotional engagement, and create interactive experiences that engage with users on a range of emotional levels.

Independence

     We want technology to extend people’s capabilities by assisting them, not taking control of their lives. Empowerment is a powerful thing. By giving people the ability to control their own environment, and communicate effectively, we empower them to live and work more independently.

Wellness

     Embracing wellness and self-care, instead of focusing on the disease-state paradigm, is the future of healthcare. Sustainability of our personal wellness is a direct analogy to our sustainability as humans in the environment. We are committed to developing technologies that create independence from the clinical setting, improve quality of life, change people’s attitudes toward their health, and motivate cultural change about health and self-care.

Learning

     We want to invigorate the manner of engagement and reach of traditional education by creating tools that teach. Tools that teach will not only instruct students what they need to know, but also provide a reasoning framework for problem-solving—helping them learn what they should do when things are not working or outcomes are not as expected. We want to revolutionize schools by designing technology that helps kids learn.

Creativity

     Tapping into people’s creativity unlocks their potential. We want to understand how technological of tools can allow people to best express their creativity, and support the flow and sharing of creative ideas between people. We want to make digital production and new forms of digital creativity more accessible, and easier to produce. We also want to push the limits of computational creativity research and be able to facilitate creativity in ways that have not been done before.

Persuasion

     Technology is not neutral. It has the power to communicate and persuade. It can be used to advertise new products and services, foster new ideas, offer political and social commentary, allow people to see the world through the eyes of others, and be an integral part of a digital microcosm that mirrors the heady mix of morality, economics, dichotomies, and rules of the real world. That’s persuasion. We want to understand it, and how it can best work to the world’s advantage.

Trust

     How do you establish sufficient common ground for people to trust technology solutions? Do people trust the flow of information? The other people they are interacting with? The institution that the technology is owned or being sponsored by? Can you get to the point where a technology solution allows people to trust each other and work together collaboratively? How about in a place where the trust between people has been destroyed? Our goal is understand this process and create solutions that build and enhance trust—for workgroups as well as for communities and nations.