Pick Up and Play: Understanding Tangibility for Cloud Media

ABSTRACT The transition from local and personally owned file-based media management to cloud-based streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix brings new opportunities for users, but also leaves gaps in their understanding and practice. In this paper we present findings from an interview study that explored early adopters' complex relationships with their collections which spanned physical, digital and cloud media. From this we entered a design process focussing on new material forms for cloud based media. Based on this we discuss our design and point to areas where, tangible or not, affordances from physical and digital media are available to be explored in the cloud. Looking in particular at the concepts of scarcity, gifting, and identity we outline possible reasons why, and why not, they could be incorporated into cloud media services

Exploring New Metaphors for a Networked World through the File Biography

We present a body of work undertaken in response to the challenge outlined by Harper et al. in their paper, ‘What is a File?’ [9]. As a reimagining of the file metaphor, we intro-duce the file biography, a digital entity that encompasses the provenance of a file and allows the user to keep track of how it propagates. First, we describe the design and con-ceptual work that grounded the file biography. We then report findings from two studies in which we (i) asked users to sketch out file biographies for their own content, and (ii) deployed a tool called Milestoner, which enables users to build their own file biographies across multiple versions of files. We conclude by drawing implications for new file metaphors and the actions they enable

Surfacing Small Worlds through Data-In-Place

We present findings from a five-week deployment of voting technologies in a city neighbourhood. Drawing on Marres’ (2012) work on material participation and Massey’s (2005) conceptualisation of space as dynamic, we designed the deployment such that the technologies (which were situated in residents’ homes, on the street, and available online) would work in concert, cutting across the neighbourhood to make visible, juxtapose and draw together the different ‘small worlds’ within it. We demonstrate how the material infrastructure of the voting devices set in motion particular processes and interpretations of participation, putting data in place in a way that had ramifications for the recognition of heterogeneity. We conclude that redistributing participation means not only opening up access, so that everyone can participate, or even providing a multitude of voting channels, so that people can participate in different ways. Rather, it means making visible multiplicity, challenging notions of similarity, and showing how difference may be productive

Placing in Age: Transitioning to a new home in later life

Moving home in later life is an experience born of necessity for many older people. Yet, although a good deal of research has considered how to support “ageing in place,” relatively little attention has been given to the transition of moving to a new home, or how a feeling of belonging is accomplished once there. We present findings from two studies that explore “placing in age.” The first looks at downsizing one's home and the second at living in a residential care home. We reflect on what placing in age means in these two circumstances, and how technology might be used to support it. We highlight the importance of continuity through change and the ability to “design” everyday life. Rather than support for stability or reminiscing about the past, the aim is to address the need for change and to enable the meaningful spending of time now and in the future

Article in press

Previous work suggests that older adults view communication with family as being worthy of time and dedication, and that they fail to understand the allure of lightweight contact. This paper presents findings from a field trial in which three generations of a family were linked through situated messaging devices, which, while designed to support lightweight messaging, also afford rich and expressive contact. Analysis suggests that communication via the devices provided a valuable additional dimension to the families" existing practices, but that the type of messaging supported is best understood as one element in an amalgam of communication possibilities. Suggestions for complementary approaches are offered. Keywords: older adults, grandparents, situated display, games, asymmetry, case study. Article in press; to appear in Universal Access in the Information Society. 2 Introduction The growth in internet-based and mobile technologies has the potential to help older and younger people alike keep in touch and manage their relationships, including in a cross-generational context. However, barriers to the use of such technologies by older adults seem evident; new technologies are often aesthetically designed for and marketed at younger people, they are difficult to understand when prior experience with similar interfaces is lacking, and they are often dependent upon access to an internet network in the home. In addition to factors such as these (and there are certainly more, see for example We have previously reported that older adults express a preference for this type of focused interaction, that which might be considered "heavyweight" Article in press; to appear in Universal Access in the Information Society. 3 This paper presents a case study of a new situated messaging device, called Wayve, which was deployed in three households comprising an extended family, headed by a set of grandparents and their two sons. Wayve was designed for a family home, rather than for use by older adults, and supports lightweight messaging using various media, including pictures and scribble. The device was inspired by previous research on the use of HomeNote by families, and in its support of the transmission of handwriting it resonates with the few positive remarks made by our focus group participants. Further, by incorporating handwriting and imagery, it allows a certain richness of expression, and by affording flexible content creation, it has the potential to support reflection and focus when crafting messages. Thus, Wayve could be considered to offer a different shade of lightweight messaging, and further, one that is more personal than the broadcasting that is undertaken through tweeting and status updates. Our aim in this paper is to explore how Wayve was appropriated by this extended family, with a particular focus on examining whether the device was adopted by the grandparents and how lightweight communications across the family were valued by its different generations. Before further detailing the design of Wayve or the ways in which it was used by the family in question, a review of the literature in this area will be presented, starting with research on connecting older adults to their families, and then considering the design of situated messaging devices for the home. Related Work Work in the field of HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) illustrates various possibilities for connecting older adults and their extended families. These take a number of forms, including one-way monitoring, symmetrical sharing of activity information and reciprocal game-play. Often in this research there is an emphasis on connecting places rather than people; for example, in Rowan and Mynatt"s [24] deployment of the Digital Family Portrait, activity sensors were installed in a grandmother"s home, and the information depicted in a picture frame in the home of her son. Similarly, Miyajima et al."s [16] FamilyPlanter was developed to support a sense of closeness, or tsunagari-kan, between remote family members. Optical fibres in the planters glowed and rotated when movement was sensed at a paired plant. The use of an application requiring more explicit input is described Article in press; to appear in Universal Access in the Information Society. 4 by Plaisant et al. We have previously highlighted the studies by Miyajima et al. 6 of identity, as well as being used to coordinate activity. Indeed, parallels can be drawn between this work and the study of magic boxes Motivation for this Stud

The Flexible Realities of Using Design Probes: Reflections from a Care Home Context

We describe the use of design probes to study the circumstance of living in residential care. We worked closely with a single care home in the UK, with the aim of building deeper relationships with a small number of residents. We structured our visits as creative sessions for which probes were specifically designed. The sessions took place in communal areas of the home, and so they allowed us to understand the social dynamics of these spaces, as well as to closely engage with a small group of residents. We reflect upon how these methods resonated with an existing program of creative activities that was run in the home, and how the nature of the sessions transformed from activities that the women participated in to ones that they had more direct control over. Challenges include conducting research in a communal space, addressing the expectations our participants had of creative activities, and dealing with the complex interplay between the domestic and work spheres that is inherent to the care home context