Book review: Geomedia: networked cities and the future of public space

McQuire, S. 2016. Geomedia: Networked Cities and the Future of Public Space. Cambridge: Polity

GlobalFestival: Evaluating Real World Interaction on a Spherical Display

Spherical displays present compelling opportunities for interaction in public spaces. However, there is little research into how touch interaction should control a spherical surface or how these displays are used in real world settings. This paper presents an in the wild deployment of an application for a spherical display called GlobalFestival that utilises two different touch interaction techniques. The first version of the application allows users to spin and tilt content on the display, while the second version only allows spinning the content. During the 4-day deployment, we collected overhead video data and on-display interaction logs. The analysis brings together quantitative and qualitative methods to understand how users approach and move around the display, how on screen interaction compares in the two versions of the application, and how the display supports social interaction given its novel form factor

Would you like to sample'l Robot engagement in a shopping centre

© 2017 IEEE. Nowadays, robots are gradually appearing in public spaces such as libraries, train stations, airports and shopping centres. Only a limited percentage of research literature explores robot applications in public spaces. Studying robot applications in the wild is particularly important for designing commercially viable applications able to meet a specific goal. Therefore, in this paper we conduct an experiment to test a robot application in a shopping centre, aiming to provide results relevant for today's technological capability and market. We compared the performance of a robot and a human in promoting food samples in a shopping centre, a well known commercial application, and then analysed the effects of the type of engagement used to achieve this goal. Our results show that the robot is able to engage customers similarly to a human as expected. However unexpectedly, while an actively engaging human was able to perform better than a passively engaging human, we found the opposite effect for the robot. In this paper we investigate this phenomenon, with possible explanation ready to be explored and tested in subsequent research

Exploring the effect of spatial layout on mediated urban interactions

In this paper we focus on the spatial configuration and emergent social interactions in two locations in London mediated by interactive and networked urban displays. Our analysis draws upon interactions mediated through displays we implemented in the real world connecting four urban spaces [1]. We outline our case study and the methodology we implemented, including the analysis of the spatial layout on the micro/local scale in two sites, followed by the observations of social behavior and technologically mediated interactions by actors, spectators and passers-by during two community events, before finally outlining the following identified interaction zones: 1) direct interaction space surrounding the display (direct); 2) the surrounding public space (wide); and 3) across spatial boundaries i.e. the remotely connected space through networked displays (connected) over time. We highlight site-specific interactions and compare them to the more generic types of interactions, thus contributing to the understanding of mediated social interactions. We suggest that the properties of the spatial layout play a significant role and, to a certain extent, frame the type of interactions mediated through public displays. We highlight in particular the dynamic and interconnected nature of this mediation, defined through the spatial layout, people, type of social activities, and time of the day

Digital screen use for a road safety campaign message was not associated with attitudes or knowledge of passers-by: an experimental study

Introduction: Recent evidence suggests fatality risks for cyclists may be increasing in Britain. Understanding how to increase levels of cycling while keeping risk low is paramount. Educating drivers about cyclists may help with road safety, and mass-media messaging is a possible avenue, potentially utilizing digital displays screens in public areas. However, no studies have examined the use of these screens for road safety campaigns.  Methods: A quasi-experiment was conducted to examine if digital screens may be effective to raise awareness of a campaign message and encourage recall of car drivers. A digital campaign image was selected that encouraged car drivers and cyclists to ‘look out for each other,’ and stated than 80% of cyclists owned a driving license. Views and knowledge on driver priorities around cyclists were examined before (control) and after campaign exposure (intervention), and tested using regression modelling.  Results: 364 people were interviewed over five days. Those interviewed on intervention days were more likely to rank ‘Look out for cyclists’ as being more important compared to those interviewed on control days (OR 1.20), but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.355). Those who said they had seen the image did not rank ‘Look out for cyclists’ higher than those who said they had not seen it (p = 0.778). The disparity between reported and displayed percentage of cyclists with a driving license did not differ between intervention and control days, but was 8% higher amongst those who claimed to have seen the image (p = 0.026).  Conclusions: We did not find strong evidence that use of an image on digital screens increased public awareness or recall of a casualty reduction campaign message. Work is needed to investigate the effects of longer-term exposure to road safety images. Practical Applications: Short-term use of digital signage is not recommended for raising awareness of road safety campaigns

DESIGNING PERSUASIVE SYSTEMS FOR USER ENGAGEMENT IN COLLABORATIVE INTERACTION

Social influnce concepts have great potential to positively affect the behaviors and attitudes of individuals. Drawing on socio-psychological theories, this study explores how social influnce design principles alter user engagement in collaborative interaction during public events. Based on a theory-driven research model, a persuasive information system comprising social influnce design principles of cooperation, social learning, and social facilitation was implemented and examined with a sample of 101 participants. The results reveal interactions between the design principles and their capacity to explain the persuasiveness of the system, which further substantially predicts the actual engagement of participants in collaborative interaction and their intention to use such systems in the future. Both cooperation and social learning are significantly correlated to perceived persuasiveness, and the cooperation also noticeably moderates the effect of social facilitation on social learning. These findings are potentially instrumental in achieving a richer understanding of how best to further harness social influnce for enhanced user engagement through novel socio-technical environments and for the future development of persuasive systems

Situating Media Infrastructure: Understand the Role of Public Space Characteristics in Influencing Public Interaction with Media Infrastructure

Media Architecture scholars have outlined the importance of considering the urban design perspective in informing the deployment of digital media in public space. In this paper, we build on their work and provide a detailed account based on the knowledge from urban design theories coupled with literature from Human-computer Interaction research. Specifically, we address the role of location- its physical and spatial characteristics and situated human activities- in influencing public interaction with media infrastructure. We aim to provide a framework for understanding the complex relationship between media infrastructure and urban public spaces, and explore the impact of locations on how people interact with media infrastructure by: 1) developing an initial framework of public space characteristics based on urban design knowledge, 2) conducting a case study of InLinkUK network with detailed field study and analysis on 3 selected sites in London. We discuss the initial outcome of the case study analysis and report on the next stages of this research. This paper addresses the question: how media architecture can contribute to a sense of place and provide a detailed account based on a case study in London. It attempts to broaden and extend existing calls by media architecture scholars to consider urban design knowledge in informing the deployment of digital media infrastructure in public spaces

Feasibility and performance analysis of middleware support for a situated virtual-physical civic engagement platform

Abstract. With the prevalent ubiquitous computing technologies, it is possible to explore novel solutions for supporting civic engagement as a set of urban practices. One interesting urban practice is the soapbox, traditionally conceived as wooden structure, from where to hold impromptu speeches. For this thesis, a novel soapbox prototype with ubiquitous computing mediated technologies is introduced, with our focus on the feasibility and performance analysis of its middleware support, investigating how our middleware is able to meet the goals of a situated virtual-physical civic engagement platform. Based on our empirical evaluations, it is demonstrated that our prototype is effective to support civic engagement and serve purpose of continuously soapbox streaming

Increasing Passersby Engagement with Public Large Interactive Displays: A Study of Proxemics and Conation

This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in the Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Human Factors on Computing Systems on the ACM Digital Library at https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3279778.3279789Prior research has shown that large interactive displays de- ployed in public spaces are often underutilized, or even un- noticed, phenomena connected to ‘interaction’ and ‘display blindness’, respectively. To better understand how designers can mitigate these issues, we conducted a field experiment that compared how different visual cues impacted engagement with a public display. The deployed interfaces were designed to progressively reveal more information about the display and entice interaction through the use of visual content designed to evoke direct or indirect conation (the mental faculty related to purpose or will to perform an action), and different ani- mation triggers (random or proxemic). Our results show that random triggers were more effective than proxemic triggers at overcoming display and interaction blindness. Our study of conation – the first we are aware of – found that “conceptual” visuals designed to evoke indirect conation were also useful in attracting people’s attention.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Supporting stimulation needs in dementia care through wall-sized displays

Beside reminiscing, the increasing cognitive decline in dementia can also be addressed through sensory stimulation allowing the immediate, nonverbal engagement with the world through one’s senses. Much HCI work has prioritized cognitive stimulation for reminiscing or personhood often on small screens, while less research has explored sensory stimulation like the one enabled by large displays. We describe a year-long deployment in a residential care home of a wall-sized display, and explored its domestication through 24 contextual interviews. Findings indicate strong engagement and attachment to the display which has inspired four psychosocial interventions using online generic content. We discuss the value of these findings for personhood through residents’ exercise of choices, the tension between generic/personal content and its public/private use, the importance of participatory research approach to domestication, and the infrastructure-based prototype, illustrated by the DementiaWall and its generative quality