Welcome to the personal web site of Enrico Costanza.
I am a Research Assistant and PhD student in the Media and Design Lab at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), directed by Prof Jeffrey Huang. My research is in Human-Computer Interaction, especially with mobile devices and for creative expression. My work lies at the intersection of Design, Technology and Behavioural science. My engagement at the EPFL Media and Design Lab ranges from conducting my own research to supervising master student projects, to designing and delivering a master-level class on HCI, from setting up our rapid prototyping lab to writing grant proposals.
This website contains information about my research work and my interest in visual media, including the list of my publications and my CV. I have recently launched www.d-touch.org: a separate website for my research on visual markers, including an exciting large scale experiment on low-cost tangible user interfaces for music composition and performance. Please have a look also there!
I am interested in the use of technology for artistic expression and interpersonal communication. My aim is to design technology that is natural for people to use. Technology loses the form of a box and merges with everyday objects: the digital world gets closer to the physical one, though without invading it. The computer interface becomes printed visual symbols on urban walls, a set of foldable paper blocks on a table (which you can download and produce at home!), a pair of eyeglasses, an armband, a mirror... I like complex people and simple technology.
My PhD focuses on the design and recognition of visual markers, and their application to mobile HCI. I am currently developing a system that allows considerable freedom in the visual design of the markers, and a framework to study how they can be used to attach digital information to places, buildings and physical objects through mobile phones.
In parallel to the work on visual markers, I also continue to explore some other research topics, including tangible interfaces for music composition and performance and interfaces for wireless sensor networks based on sonification. More information can be found on the research section of this website, on and through the list of projects offered in our lab.
News!
Before joining EPFL I received an MS in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT Media Lab, with a thesis on "Subtle, Intimate Interfaces for Mobile Human Computer Interaction" (more information is available here). At MIT I used to work as a research assistant in Prof. Pattie Maes' Ambient Intelligence group, and I also used to collaborate also with the MIT SenseABLE City Lab. Earlier, I was part of the Liminal Devices Group at Media Lab Europe, and of the Media Engineering Group at the University of York, where I received an MEng in Electronic and Communication Engineering.
You can contact me via email using my first name @media.mit.edu