Human-centred

research about how technologies improve personal well-being, social participation and societal cohesion

DICA-lab is a research collective[1] within the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), University of Luxembourg and has been active since 2007.

Putting diversity, multi-mediality and multi-modality at its centre, the research group on Dynamics in Interaction, Communication and Activity (DICA-lab) undertakes developmental research on human and social aspects of technology mediated interactions within complex socio-digital activity systems. Basic and applied research is emphasising on

  • Situated practices of living, working and participating in socio-digital activity systems
  • Interactions within multi-device environments and through increasingly smart interfaces
  • Impacts of digital technologies and media use on learning, development and community building.
  • New forms of cultural expression and technology mediated participation.

The main research areas tackle community challenges such as:

  • Building trust through participatory research fostering mutual understanding
  • Co-creating innovation and transformation within organisations and communities based on the diverse needs of community members and across communties
  • Reducing digital gaps across society to promote digital inclusion and access to knowledge and development, equal employment opportunities, and take-up of ICT by target groups across the lifespan and professional contexts
  • Contributing to pervasive safety and health across the lifespan with smart solutions for improving personal well-being, quality of life, social participation and societal cohesion.

The lab is studying interactive processes “in the wild” through comprehensive process-tracking research methods, e.g. data-driven interaction analysis or tool-bound activity research.

It has ample expertise in the field of the analysis of learning and development in general, at all ages and within highly diversified – language and culture – settings. Developmental research projects foster collaboration, innovation and new forms of agency within inter-related activity systems and beyond organizational, institutional, cultural, or linguistic boundaries as well as the training of trainers and experts in the area.

Domains of application concern Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive Technologies, Augmented and Mixed Reality, Online Communities, Participatory Sensing, Smart Cities, E-inclusion as well as Human Aspects of Information Security, Privacy and Trust.

[1] A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project(s) to achieve a common objective. (retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective)