What can the language of musicians tell us about music interaction design?

It is difficult to create good interaction designs for music software or to substantially improve existing designs. One reason is that music involves diverse and complex concepts, entities, relationships, processes, terminologies, and notations. An open challenge for interaction designers is to find systematic ways of channeling the tacit, specialized knowledge of musicians into designs for intuitive user interfaces that can capably support musically skilled users, without excluding those with less technical musical knowledge. One promising new approach to this challenge involves the application of research from the theory of image schemas and conceptual metaphors This theory has already been applied with some success to analyzing musical concepts, mathematical concepts, general-purpose user-interface design, and sound-generation interaction designs involving simple musical parameters such as tempo, volume, and pitch. We propose that by identifying the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by musical experts when analyzing an excerpt of music, and then assessing the extent to which these conceptual metaphors are supported by existing music-interaction designs, it is possible to identify areas where the designs do not match musicians’ understanding of the domain concepts. This process provides a principled basis for identifying points at which designs could be improved to better support musicians’ understanding and tasks, and for the provisional identification of possible improvements. We present the results of an analysis of dialogue between three musicians as they discuss an excerpt of music. A methodology for the systematic identification of image schemas and conceptual metaphors is detailed. We report on the use of the results of the dialogue analysis to illuminate the designs of two contrasting examples of music software. Areas in which the designs might be made more intuitive are identified, and corresponding suggestions for improvements are outlined. The present research appears to be the first to investigate the potential of conceptual metaphor theory for investigating and improving music-interaction designs that deal with complex musical concepts, such as harmonic progressions, modulation, and voice leading

Fertigung und schweißtechnische Montage der Stahlplattenfassade des Ozeaneums in Stralsund

Die FLZ Stahl- und Metallbau Lauterbach GmbH in Lauterbach/Rügen hat von 2006 bis 2008 die Konstruktion, Fertigung und Montage der Stahlplattenfassade des Ozeaneums in Stralsund realisiert. Im Ergebnis wurden 331 mehrdimensionale kaltverformte Stahlplatten mit Dicken zwischen 8 und 30 mm und Abmessungen bis zu 16 m x 3 m abschnittsweise berechnet und festigkeitsmäßig mit der Unterkonstruktion nachgewiesen. Bei Fertigung und Montage der Struktur mussten insbesondere thermische Deformationen aus Schweißwärme an den 2- und 3-achsig geformten Außenschalen vermieden werden

Intuitive interaction framework in user-product interaction for people living with dementia

This chapter is focused on intuitive interaction with various interfaces for people living with dementia. First, we describe the enhanced intuitive interaction framework, which contains a continuum suggesting various pathways to intuitive use that can be included in the design of interfaces. We discuss how it relates to users, and specifically how it may assist users living with dementia. Then three empirical studies conducted over two continents are discussed. Each involved participants living with dementia using interfaces in a lab. Data were analyzed for task completion, reaction times and completion times (Studies 1 and 2), and presence and effectiveness of physical and perceived affordances (two of the proposed pathways to intuitive use on the EFII continuum). These data were then compared according to the enhanced intuitive interaction framework, and the findings suggested that employing interface features that are more familiar and more ubiquitous for the target population would likely make the interfaces more intuitive for people living with dementia to use. The implications of these finders for users living with dementia and those designing for them are discussed