Provenance for the people: an HCI perspective on the W3C PROV standard through an online game

In the information age, tools for examining the validity of data are invaluable. Provenance is one such tool, and the PROV model proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium in 2013 offers a means of expressing provenance in a machine readable format. In this paper, we examine from a user’s standpoint notions of provenance, the accessibility of the PROV model, and the general attitudes towards history and the verifiability of information in modern data society. We do this through the medium of an online-game designed to explore these issues and present the findings of the study along with a discussion of some of its implications

Designing mobile experiences for collocated interaction

Many of our everyday social interactions involve mobile devices. Yet, these tend to only provide good support for distributed social interactions. Although much HCI and CSCW research has explored how we might support collocated, face-to-face situations using mobile devices, much of this work exists as isolated exemplars of technical systems and / or interaction designs. This paper draws on a range of such exemplars to develop a practical design framework intended for guiding the design of new mobile experiences for collocated interaction as well as analysing existing ones. Our framework provides four relational perspectives for designing the complex interplay between: the social situation in which it takes place; the technology used and the mechanics inscribed; the physical environment; and the temporal elements of design. Moreover, each perspective is features some core properties, which are highly relevant when designing these systems. As part of presenting the framework we also explain the process of its construction along with practical advice on how to read and apply it

Exploring large-scale interactive public illustrations

We present a research-through-design exploration of transforming large-scale public illustrations into interactive media. We collaborated with creative practitioners to extend an existing visual marker technology to support spatial and layered interaction with wall-sized images. We document how these techniques were used to design interactive illustrations and how visitors to an exhibition engaged with these. We conclude that it is feasible to combine spatial and layered interactions to attach complex narratives to public illustrations, and highlight challenges around instruction giving, sociality and repeat experiences.Work has been supported by the UK EPSRC (EP/L023717/1 and EP/M02315X/1). Our ethics approval does not allow for the release of transcripts collected during the design process, and hence access will not be provided to third parties. High-resolution versions of the illustrations are available from http://www.artcodes.co.uk/

Designing Mobile Experiences for Collocated Interaction

Many of our everyday social interactions involve mobile devices. Yet, these tend to only provide good support for distributed social interactions. Although much HCI and CSCW research has explored how we might support collocated, face-to-face situations using mobile devices, much of this work exists as isolated exemplars of technical systems or interaction designs. This paper draws on a range of such exemplars to develop a practical design framework intended for guiding the design of new mobile experiences for collocated interaction as well as analysing existing ones. Our framework provides four relational perspectives for designing the complex interplay between: the social situation in which it takes place; the technology used and the mechanics inscribed; the physical environment; and the temporal elements of design. Moreover, each perspective features some core properties, which are highly relevant when designing these systems. As part of presenting the framework we also explain the process of its construction along with practical advice on how to read and apply it

The ethical implications of HCI’s turn to the cultural

We explore the ethical implications of HCI’s turn to the ‘cultural’. This is motivated by an awareness of how cultural applications, in our case interactive performances, raise ethical issues that may challenge established research ethics processes. We review research ethics, HCI’s engagement with ethics and the ethics of theatrical performance. Following an approach grounded in Responsible Research Innovation, we present the findings from a workshop in which artists, curators, commissioners, and researchers explored ethical challenges revealed by four case studies. We identify six ethical challenges for HCI’s engagement with cultural applications: transgression, boundaries, consent, withdrawal, data, and integrity. We discuss two broader implications of these: managing tensions between multiple overlapping ethical frames; and the importance of managing ethical challenges during and after an experience as well as beforehand. Finally, we discuss how our findings extend previous discussions of Value Sensitive Design in HCI

Mass participation user trials

This thesis investigates how researchers can take advantage of the rapid adoption of mobile technology that has brought with it transformations in social and cultural practice; the expectations of what computers are, what they can do, and the role of digital objects in everyday life. In particular this thesis presents and discuses the use of new App Store style software distribution methods to reduce the cost, in terms of researcher time and hardware, of recruiting a large group of participants for a trial ‘in the wild’ while increasing the potential diversity of users is becoming an attractive option for researchers pursuing the ubicomp vision. It examines the procedures for running large scale trials with the deployment of three applications released to a combined user base of over 135,000 in such a way as to keep the qualitative detail necessary to inform design while gain- ing the diversity of users for claims of generalisability. More generally, it discusses the results that can be expected from this ‘mass participation’ approach, and the ethical responsibilities they place upon researchers. The contributions of this thesis for mobile HCI show that in large-scale trials, relatively rich qualitative data can be collected along with substantial quantitative data, and that a hybrid trial methodology combining a large- scale deployment with a local trial can be a powerful tool in addressing shortcomings of trials that are either solely local or solely global. This thesis also contributes guidelines for researchers running large-scale user trials that give consideration to the established research norms and practices, in an attempt to strike a new balance between invasiveness and utility

Gifting personalised trajectories in museums and galleries

The designers of digital technologies for museums and galleries are increasingly interested in facilitating rich interpretations of a collection’s exhibits that can be personalised to meet the needs of a diverse range of individual visitors. However, it is commonplace to visit these settings in small groups, with friends or family. This sociality of a visit can significantly affect how visitors experience museums and their objects, but current guides can inhibit group interaction, especially when the focus is on personalisation towards individuals. This thesis develops an approach to tackling the combined challenge of fostering rich interpretation, delivering personalised content and supporting a social visit. Three studies were undertaken in three different museum and gallery settings. A visiting experience was developed for pairs of visitors to a sculpture garden, drawing upon concepts from the trajectories framework (Benford et al., 2009). Next, a study at a contemporary art gallery investigated how gift-giving could be used as a mechanism for personalisation between visitors who know each other well. Finally, the third study, at an arts and history museum, explored how gift-giving could be applied to small groups of friends and family. The thesis reports on how the approach enabled visitors to design highly personal experiences for one another and analyses how groups of visitors negotiated these experiences together in the museum visit, to reveal how this type of self-design framework for engaging audiences in a socially coherent way leads to rich, stimulating visits for the whole group and each individual member. The thesis concludes by recommending the design and gifting of museum and gallery interpretation experiences as a method for providing deeply personalised experiences, increasing visitor participation, and delivering meaningful group experiences