The Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID) is a leading innovator within the realm of experience design. In developing new platforms for human interaction via communication technologies and new media, ACID is committed to helping people participate in an increasingly digital world. The centre houses a multi-disciplinary team of ethnographers, designers, computer scientists and software developers who utilize their expertise to provide solutions for clients who wish to use technology to get closer to their users or customers.
The strength of the centre’s research derives from its extensive investigation into new ways to facilitate collaboration and develop social capital in various communities via technological intervention. In creating versatile digital media content, ACID aims to develop methods and tools that emphasise automation, generation and adaptation, thus enhancing creative potential for individual users.
ACID’s unique propriety research methodology follows a process that begins with careful determination and understanding of case-specific human interaction needs, followed by the formulation of initial designs for an appropriate digital interface. Each project’s prototype subsequently undergoes extensive testing and evaluation before a solution is obtained, carried out with the aid of genuine subjects in living laboratories.
Since 2007 ACID has provided technology-based resolutions to human problems in a number of real-world contexts. The broad spectrum of the centre’s research encompasses services to education, tourism, local government, electronic entertainment, indigenous communities, artistic practitioners and telecommunication networks.