Kristina Höök é professora de Design de Interação no Instituto Real de Tecnologia (KTH), Estocolmo, Suécia. Höök é uma palestrante frequente, conhecida por seu trabalho em navegação social, seamfulness, serviços móveis, interação afetiva e ultimamente, design para o envolvimento corporal em interação através da somaesthetics.

Sua competência reside principalmente no design de interação e nos estudos de usuários, ajudando a formar o design. Höök obteve inúmeras bolsas nacionais e internacionais, prêmios, e bolsas de estudo, incluindo a bolsa Cor Baayen pelo ERCIM (European Research Consortium for Informática and Mathematics) para o seu trabalho de tese em 1997, o prêmio INGVAR da Fundação de Pesquisa Estratégica (SSF) em 2004, ela é uma Cientista Distinta da ACM desde 2014, e é uma palestrante destacada da ACM.

We are at a watershed moment where our relationship to technology is about to undergo a dramatic and irreversible shift. With the rise of ubiquitous technology, data-driven design and the Internet of Things, our interactions and our interfaces with technology will look radically different in the years ahead, incorporating changes like full body interaction, shape-changing interfaces, wearables and movement tracking apps. These changes offer an enormous opportunity-indeed, a necessity-to reinvent the way we interact with the inanimate world. Once-familiar, everyday objects, from our phones to our vacuums, require novel interaction models - not just typing text on screens, but, increasingly, movement-based, bodily communication. A qualitative shift is required in our design methods, from a predominantly symbolic, language-oriented design stance, to an experiential, felt, aesthetic stance permeating the whole design and use cycle.

I will discuss soma design - a process that allows designers to 'examine' and improve on connections between sensation, feeling, emotion, subjective understanding and values. Some design engages with bodily rhythms, touch, proprioception, bodily playfulness, but also with our values, meaning-making processes, emotions, ethics and ways of engaging with the world. Soma design also provides methods for orchestration of the 'whole', emptying the digital and physical materials of all their potential, thereby providing fertile grounds for meaning-making and engagement.

We are at a watershed moment where our relationship to technology is about to undergo a dramatic and irreversible shift.