Writing

Selected writing on accessibility, serendipity, and interactive public art.

Talking Accessibility: How Teams and Stakeholders Collaborate to Make an Accessible Product

Author(s): Oliver Luo
Abstract: In this Tanzu blog post, the author emphasizes that accessibility isn’t just a technical requirement but a shared responsibility between a development team and its stakeholders to align on from the very start. It outlines why accessible design and development matter — from ethical, legal, usability, and business cost-savings perspectives — then presents key principles such as engaging stakeholders early, embedding accessibility in user research, continuous testing, and aligning audit cycles with product releases. Finally, it offers practical “talking points” and responses to common pushback that help teams advocate for accessibility more thoughtfully and productively.
Keywords: Digital accessibility, accessible product development, inclusive software design, stakeholder alignment, accessibility best practices
Publication: Blog entry on the VMware (by Broadcom) Tanzu Labs practice site ↗
Citation: VMware Tanzu Team (3 Nov 2023). Talking Accessibility: How Teams and Stakeholders Collaborate to Make an Accessible Product. VMware Tanzu Blog.

Author(s): Oliver Luo, Allen Sayegh
Abstract: The shift to remote work and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a loss of informal, serendipitous encounters that once occurred in shared physical spaces. These unplanned interactions contribute to a sense of community and can significantly influence personal and professional trajectories. This research explores how digital experience and environment designers might intentionally design for serendipity, synthesizing existing literature into a user-journey map of serendipitous encounters and identifying key challenges and opportunities for supporting spontaneity.
Keywords: Digital serendipity, fortuitous chance encounters, design challenges and opportunities
Publication: Unpublished manuscript, Harvard Graduate School of Design 2020 summer research grant archive
Citation: Luo, O. & Sayegh, A. (2020). Designing for Serendipity in the Digital Space [Unpublished manuscript]. Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab (REAL), Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Author(s): Humbi Song, Oliver Luo, Allen Sayegh
Abstract: What makes people think an interactive public art installation seems “alive”? The paper examines the design and reception of two public artworks by the INVIVIA studio — MIMMI and PULSUS. Both are responsive installations that aggregate collective data and interpret it through vibration, lighting, and/or mist, yet different design decisions led to different perceptions of aliveness. The case study identifies key attributes that contribute to a sense of aliveness and discusses why it matters in design.
Keywords: Aliveness, perception, human-technology interaction, technological augmentation, public art installation
Publication: Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM) 2019: Beyond Intelligence, MIT, conference proceedings ↗
Citation: Song, H., Luo, O., & Sayegh, A. (2019). Attributes of Aliveness: A Case Study of Two Interactive Public Art Installations. Proceedings of DeSForM 2019: Beyond Intelligence, 254–257.