Chris Speed

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Chris Speed is a design researcher whose work explores the intersection of digital technology, social interaction, and tangible experiences. His key research areas include human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, and the design of playful, socially engaging systems. Speed is best known for his critical and creative investigations into how digital networks reshape our relationships with objects, spaces, and each other. His notable work, "Dancing Robots" (2014), examines the historical and cultural role of robots as tangible platforms for exploring human and social experiences, tracing a lineage from eighteenth-century automata to contemporary speculative design. While this specific paper has 3 citations, Speed's broader impact is substantial, with his research on the Internet of Things, digital ethnography, and participatory design accumulating hundreds of citations across his career. He has contributed significantly to understanding how digital data can be made tangible and how design can foster new forms of social connection. As a professor at the University of Edinburgh, Speed has also led major research projects and supervised numerous PhD students, shaping the next generation of design researchers. His work continues to challenge conventional boundaries between the digital and physical, the human and the machine.