nordichi presentation - material interactions with tangible tabletops in a pragmatist perspective
DESCRIPTION
We investigate how the interaction with tangible interactive tabletops can be seen as a material exploration of form and sound. As the theoretical foundation for our analysis we build on John Dewey’s pragmatism as well as recent efforts to appropriate pragmatism for interaction design research. As the research platform for this investigation we developed an interactive tabletop, the Radar Table, which allows users to create soundscapes by manipulating tangible objects. The Radar Table was deployed ‘in the wild’ at a major Danish music festival, and based on video recordings we examine people’s dynamic exploration of sound through the interactive tabletop. The main contribution of the paper is the development of the theoretical foundation for understanding tangible tabletops as material interfaces that can be shaped and experimented with. We build on three of the basic concepts of pragmatism: situation, inquiry, and technology, which we develop further for the study of the dynamics of material interactions with tangible tabletops as part of a research strategy of appropriating pragmatism for use in interaction design and HCI research.TRANSCRIPT
Material Interactions with Tangible Tabletops:
a Pragmatist PerspectiveNicolai Brodersen Hansen; [email protected]
Kim Halskov; [email protected] CAVI & PIT
The Radar Table
Radar Table?• Research interest in design materials
• Few detailed qualitative studies of tangible tabletops “in the wild”
• Complex phenomena with a strong material component
• General interest in developing pragmatism as a foundation for interaction design and HCI.
Material interactions with tangible tabletops
• Contribution: theoretical framing based on pragmatism
• Focus on the material aspects of the interface
• Exploration of form and sound
Pragmatist framework
• Problematic situations
• Inquiring strategies
• Technology supporting inquiry
The Radar Table
The Radar Table• 80 cm x 107 cm translucent table surface
• Underneath: a projector and a camera connected to a computer
• Tangible objects with visual markers tracked by camera: position, and rotation
• Sample objects and effect objects
• Visuals and sounds projected and played
The Radar Table
The Radar Table; Design principles
• Support walk up and use
• Encourage exploration
• Support both individual and social play
• Enable emergent use
Deploying the Radar Table
• Spot 2013; Music Festival for small upcoming bands
• Filmed topdown with a GoPro camera
• Roughly 6.5 hours of video
Analysis
• Video material analysed and condensed
• Typical instances of use identified
• Then interpreted through the concepts of situation, inquiry and technology, drawn from Dewey’s pragmatism
Pragmatism: Situation
• Situation is the assemblage of a subject, and his/her environment, including other people, things, spaces, and social constructs
• ”Determinate” (or stable)
• ”Indeterminate” (or unstable)
Pragmatism: Inquiry
• Inquiry is the process by which we deliberately try to improve and reshape a situation, so it becomes increasingly desirable or stable
• Dynamic and distributed; instrumental
• Experimental
• Transformation - gradual
Pragmatism: technology
• Instrumental use in inquiry undertaken by participants
• Constrains and enables certain kinds of transformations
• Constitutes the entire situation
Pragmatist framework
• Problematic situations
• Inquiring strategies
• Technology supporting inquiry
Problematic situations• What can I do here?
• What is the interplay between the table and sound?
• What is the relationship between the different tangibles?
• How can I manipulate individual sounds?
• What would make the current soundscape sound better?
• What would I do if this were a "live performance"?
Inquiry strategies• Turn over tangibles
• Add/remove tangibles
• Remove all tangibles
• Slowly and methodically tweak tangibles
• Observe others
• Converse with others
Technology supporting inquiry• People… using
• Tangibles… to experiment with..
• … interactive sounds
Conclusions• the Radar Table “in the wild” is a diverse and situated
experience: no two experiences end and start in the exact same way.
• Inquiry evolves through stages of experimental learning and doing
• experimental learning and doing is distributed across people, tangibles and sound
• Pragmatism offers a potential framework for analysing the above points in practice.
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