Nava Haghighi
Select projects
© Nava Haghighi. All rights reserved.
© Nava Haghighi. All rights reserved.
P0: EDA biofeedback lab studies (n=7)
P1: formal explorations (left)
P2: algorithm development (n=30, 10 days)
P3: purple zone study (n=25, 14 days)
The commitment to multiplicity and pluriversality challenges design to move beyond singular, stable conceptions of the human. Personal sensing systems offer a rich site for examining this challenge because they mediate and constitute relational understandings of bodies, selves, and technologies, yet typically assume bounded, rational subjects capable of optimizing discrete processes through feedback. Building on critical discourse around sensing technologies and embodied experience, we examine what it might mean to make space for multiplicity through technical design practice in sensing. We design a real-time biofeedback system that surfaces ``purple zone,'' marking the threshold of in/visibility in Electrodermal Activity that resists both categorization and conscious control. Through a two-week study with 25 participants, we examine encounters with purple zone, instances where ontological ambiguity around self and body emerge, and participants' strategies for dealing with such encounters. We conclude by reflecting on the inherent tensions in and possibilities for engaging with ontological multiplicity through design.