AutomaTiles : tangible cellular automata for playful engagement with systems thinking

There is an increasingly vital awareness that our world is an aggregate of complex systems, emergent behavior, and system dynamics. The perceptual and analytical tools for exploring and studying these systems, however, have generally been relegated to scientists (whether mathematicians, physicists, biologists, economists, or computer scientists). Thus, as more and more people become aware of such systems, most people are still excluded from engaging with complex systems. By inventing a new tool and interface, consisting of playful objects called AutomaTiles, I propose a new approach for fostering a more aware society of systems thinkers. AutomaTiles provide a three-tiered approach to making systems thinking more accessible. Firstly, AutomaTiles are a friendly and approachable set of playful objects; seen simply as toys, they afford the surprising effects of emergent behavior when brought together in aggregate. Secondly, AutomaTiles can be a tool for exploring collective behavior, distributed algorithms, and models of systems (whether forest fires or social phenomena) from a hands-on perspective. Lastly, AutomaTiles are a new kind of platform for games, bringing computational intelligence to table-top games, bringing together the social dynamics of face-to-face interaction with the complexity afforded by conventional video-games. Expanding the work on the future of board games from Playful Systems, we have created a novel digital-physical interface for playing games that allows for modes of gameplay never before possible in a table-top game. This thesis will illustrate the design decisions and affordances of AutomaTiles as a platform for engaging with these three tiers of the exploration and manipulation of complex systems.

Department dc:contributor.department

Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Bobrow, Jonathan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kevin Slavin.

• Program in Media Arts and Sciences ()

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106059

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/106059