On the development of idShare, a platform to support interaction design activities of small co-located teams

Externalizations and boundary objects are crucial for effectively communicating between stakeholders in multidisciplinary design teams. Especially when discussing ideas for new interactions, practitioners are increasingly finding themselves in need of new tools that allow them to rapidly, easily and more explicitly describe the dynamically changing aspects of their designs. For this purpose, we are investigating, in collaboration with the design departments of three industrial companies, the development and evaluation of a platform to support co-located (interaction) design activities. Previous research has already resulted in innovations in both hardware and software infrastructure, and in this workshop paper we therefore mostly report on some recent and planned activities towards a more coherent vision for an environment that we have named idShare. This is an interactive space that consists of two areas, an area for individual work and an area for the coordination of collaborative activities. In this paper we describe the aim and motivation of our research, the current stage of the development of the tools, and the design process and evaluations that are conducted in collaboration with the industrial partners

On the development of idShare, a platform to support interaction design activities of small co-located teams

Externalizations and boundary objects are crucial for effectively communicating between stakeholders in multidisciplinary design teams. Especially when discussing ideas for new interactions, practitioners are increasingly finding themselves in need of new tools that allow them to rapidly, easily and more explicitly describe the dynamically changing aspects of their designs. For this purpose, we are investigating, in collaboration with the design departments of three industrial companies, the development and evaluation of a platform to support co-located (interaction) design activities. Previous research has already resulted in innovations in both hardware and software infrastructure, and in this workshop paper we therefore mostly report on some recent and planned activities towards a more coherent vision for an environment that we have named idShare. This is an interactive space that consists of two areas, an area for individual work and an area for the coordination of collaborative activities. In this paper we describe the aim and motivation of our research, the current stage of the development of the tools, and the design process and evaluations that are conducted in collaboration with the industrial partners

Marco de trabajo para el bocetado de interacciones enactivas

En este trabajo se presenta un marco de trabajo para caracterizar el bocetado de interacciones enactivas. Se pasa revista a los conceptos básicos de interfaces enactivas y al rol del bocetado para el diseño de interacciones. Luego se propone un marco de trabajo que organiza el bocetado en un mapa en dos dimensiones. En una se expresa la interactividad que corporizan las diferentes representaciones utilizadas por los diseñadores (bocetos 2D, maquetas y bocetos en hardware). La otra, organiza el rango de expresividad que esas representaciones alcanzan en términos de la experiencia de usuario. Las diferentes categorías de bocetos se vinculan en el marco propuesto mediante los atributos de la interactividad que busca el diseñador. Se presentan dos casos de estudio exploratorios sobre el uso de bocetos para la generación de ideas de interacciones enactivas. Finalmente, se esbozan los requerimientos que surgen para el desarrollo de herramientas que soporten el bocetado de interacciones enactivas.In this paper a conceptual framework for addressing the sketching of enactive interactions is presented. The concepts of enactive interfaces and the role of sketching for designing interactions are reviewed. A conceptual framework for sketching organized as a two-dimensional map is described. One of those dimensions expresses the interactivity that embodied by the different representations used by designers (2D sketches usually made freehand on paper, models or mockups and sketches in hardware -(electronically enhanced mockups adding interactive capabilities). The other one organizes the user experience expressiveness achieved by the different sketches. The sketches categories are linked through the attributes of interactivity sought by the designer. Two case studies show some exploration in the use of sketching during the idea generation for enactive interfaces. Finally, the paper outlines some requirements for tools that support the sketching of enactive interaction.Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Framework for sketching enactive interactions

En este trabajo se presenta un marco de trabajo para caracterizar el bocetado de interacciones enactivas. Se pasa revista a los conceptos básicos de interfaces enactivas y al rol del bocetado para el diseño de interacciones. Luego se propone un marco de trabajo que organiza el bocetado en un mapa en dos dimensiones. En una se expresa la interactividad que corporizan las diferentes representaciones utilizadas por los diseñadores (bocetos 2D, maquetas y bocetos en hardware). La otra, organiza el rango de expresividad que esas representaciones alcanzan en términos de la experiencia de usuario. Las diferentes categorías de bocetos se vinculan en el marco propuesto mediante los atributos de la interactividad que busca el diseñador. Se presentan dos casos de estudio exploratorios sobre el uso de bocetos para la generación de ideas de interacciones enactivas. Finalmente, se esbozan los requerimientos que surgen para el desarrollo de herramientas que soporten el bocetado de interacciones enactivas.In this paper a conceptual framework for addressing the sketching of enactive interactions is presented. The concepts of enactive interfaces and the role of sketching for designing interactions are reviewed. Aconceptual framework for sketching organized as a two-dimensional map is described. One of those dimensionsexpressestheinteractivitythatembodiedbythedifferent representations used by designers (2D sketches usually made freehand on paper, modelsormockupsandsketchesinhardware-(electronicallyenhanced mockups adding interactive capabilities). The other one organizes the user experience expressiveness achieved by the different sketches. The sketches categories are linked through the attributes of interactivity sought by the designer. Two case studies show some exploration in the use of sketching during the idea generation for enactive interfaces. Finally, the paper outlines some requirements for tools that support the sketching of enactive interaction

Marco de trabajo para el bocetado de interacciones enactivas

En este trabajo se presenta un marco de trabajo para caracterizar el bocetado de interacciones enactivas. Se pasa revista a los conceptos básicos de interfaces enactivas y al rol del bocetado para el diseño de interacciones. Luego se propone un marco de trabajo que organiza el bocetado en un mapa en dos dimensiones. En una se expresa la interactividad que corporizan las diferentes representaciones utilizadas por los diseñadores (bocetos 2D, maquetas y bocetos en hardware). La otra, organiza el rango de expresividad que esas representaciones alcanzan en términos de la experiencia de usuario. Las diferentes categorías de bocetos se vinculan en el marco propuesto mediante los atributos de la interactividad que busca el diseñador. Se presentan dos casos de estudio exploratorios sobre el uso de bocetos para la generación de ideas de interacciones enactivas. Finalmente, se esbozan los requerimientos que surgen para el desarrollo de herramientas que soporten el bocetado de interacciones enactivas

Improving User Involvement Through Live Collaborative Creation

Creating an artifact - such as writing a book, developing software, or performing a piece of music - is often limited to those with domain-specific experience or training. As a consequence, effectively involving non-expert end users in such creative processes is challenging. This work explores how computational systems can facilitate collaboration, communication, and participation in the context of involving users in the process of creating artifacts while mitigating the challenges inherent to such processes. In particular, the interactive systems presented in this work support live collaborative creation, in which artifact users collaboratively participate in the artifact creation process with creators in real time. In the systems that I have created, I explored liveness, the extent to which the process of creating artifacts and the state of the artifacts are immediately and continuously perceptible, for applications such as programming, writing, music performance, and UI design. Liveness helps preserve natural expressivity, supports real-time communication, and facilitates participation in the creative process. Live collaboration is beneficial for users and creators alike: making the process of creation visible encourages users to engage in the process and better understand the final artifact. Additionally, creators can receive immediate feedback in a continuous, closed loop with users. Through these interactive systems, non-expert participants help create such artifacts as GUI prototypes, software, and musical performances. This dissertation explores three topics: (1) the challenges inherent to collaborative creation in live settings, and computational tools that address them; (2) methods for reducing the barriers of entry to live collaboration; and (3) approaches to preserving liveness in the creative process, affording creators more expressivity in making artifacts and affording users access to information traditionally only available in real-time processes. In this work, I showed that enabling collaborative, expressive, and live interactions in computational systems allow the broader population to take part in various creative practices.PHDComputer Science & EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145810/1/snaglee_1.pd

Head Up Games : on the design, creation and evaluation of interactive outdoor games for children

This thesis proposes a new genre of outdoor games for children, namely Head Up Games. The concept was inspired by the observation that existing pervasive outdoor games for children were mostly played head down, as the predominantly screen-based interaction of existing games required constant attention of the children. First, the vision of Head Up Games is described and illustrated with several design cases (Chapter 2). In contrast to the head down games, Head Up Games aim to encourage and support rich social interaction and physical activity, play behaviors that are similar to play behaviors seen in traditional outdoor games (such as tag and hide-and-seek). The design process of Head Up Games poses several challenges. In User Centered Design it is commonly accepted to start the development of a new product using low-fi mock-ups, e.g., paper prototypes, and evaluate these with end-users. In the case of Head Up Games this proved to be difficult, as the emerging game experience is significantly altered when using paper prototypes. Therefore, a study was carried out that used high-fi prototypes, i.e. working, interactive, prototypes, from a very early stage in the design process (Chapter 3). This way, the effect of interactions on the game experience can be addressed earlier and better in the design process. Furthemore, having access to technology early in the design process, allows designers to better explore the design space. However, designers often do not possess adequate skills to quickly prototype interactive products, particularly products that need to be evaluated in an outdoor context. Such a development is often costly and time-consuming. Therefore, the RaPIDO platform was developed (Chapter 4). The platform not only includes the appropriate hardware for creating outdoor games, but is also bundled with software libraries, to allow designers not specifically trained in software engineering to adopt the platform easily. RaPIDO was evaluated using a case study methodology with two Industrial Design master students. The evaluation not only focused on the usability of the platform, but, more importantly, how the use of the platform affected the design process. The main conclusion of the study was that the designers indeed were able to rapidly create mobile games, and that the hardware offered was suitable for creating outdoor games. Furthermore, issues were identified with regard to writing the game software, e.g., managing the complexity of the software. Finally, for evaluating Head Up Games with children two methods were applied: the Outdoor Play Observation Scheme (OPOS) was used to quantify the intended play behavior. Furthermore, GroupSorter was developed to provide a framework to interview a group of children simultaneously, resulting in qualitative comments. Both OPOS and GroupSorter were applied for evaluating three Head Up Games, which are described in Chapter 5

Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with