Urban Sensoria: Human-Centered Computing in PracticeDr. Alejandro Jaimes

LUMMIDenzil FerreiraFabio Kruger

Jorge GonçalvesMoritz Behrens

Sofia Reis

• Motivation– Explore the light conditions in Oulu and their relation with the

cultural habits of Oulu people– We wanted to explore how sunlight affects peoples' mobility

around Oulu's downtown areas. We've setup three cameras around the city and observed that people deflect from non-illuminated areas, with temperature drops up to 10ºC between areas

• Hypothesis– Are people like sunflowers?– Do they follow the light?

Methodology• Spatial analysis and observations

– Explore the specific cultural habits of Oulu people – Count people for 5 minutes

• Experimenting / performing– Draw the shadow lines

• Blue in the morning• Red for lunch• White in the afternoon

– Take pictures of the drawings on the ground• Develop a software prototype• User centered study

– Evaluate prototype– Interviews

Sun DiagramRise: 02:58:20Noon: 13:17:18Set : 23:36:16

Sun DiagramRise: 02:58:20Noon: 13:17:16Set : 23:36:13

Other observations...

• People gathering around or looking when the line was being drawn– Intimidated when they saw the camera– When we looked straight at them

• Even a small / unusual action can draw attention to the screens

Other observations...

• The sun moves VERY fast– In less than 5 minutes the shadow had already

displaced

A few paper prototypes…

Paper Prototypes

Paper Prototypes

The Prototype

The Prototype

The Prototype

• We recorded images from two hotspots once every 30 seconds

• A time lapse of the videos is presented to users

Some funny picture captured by the cameras

Evaluation

• Main findings:– The vertical slider looks

intuitive• All interviewees

interacted with it naturally– The app is funny– Not everybody likes the

sun• Our app can also be used

to look for shadows