Evaluating visitor experiences with interactive art

The Music Room is an interactive installation that allows visitor to compose classical music by moving throughout a space. The distance between them and their average speed maps the emotionality of music: in particular, distance influences the pleasantness of the music, while speed influences its intensity. This paper focuses on the evaluation of visitors' experience with The Music Room by examining log-data, video footages, interviews, and questionnaires, as collected in two public exhibitions of the installation. We examined this data to the identify the factors that fostered the engagement and to understand how players appropriated the original design idea. Reconsidering our design assumptions against behavioural data, we noticed a number of unexpected behaviours, which induced us to make some considerations on design and evaluation of interactive art

Meaningful engagement: computer-based interactive media art in public space.

Interactive technologies, including electronic devices are increasingly being utilized as a medium for artistic expression and have been placed in freely accessible public environments with mixed results. When audiences encounter computer-based interactive media arts in a public space they are drawn by various interactivities, to play and experiment with them. However, whether the audience is able to gain a meaningful experience through those physical interactivities has remained an issue of both theoretical and practical debate. This paper will focus on these aspects, most specifically through the study of interactive art in freely accessible public space. The author proposes four new conceptual/analytical tools for examining the subject. It is anticipated that this paper will provide possible alternative strategies for both artists and art researchers in this field with a purpose to enhance intellectual engagement with their audiences, so as to succeed in leading interactors to obtain meaningful experience and rewards

Thinking with a New Purpose: Lessons Learned from Teaching Design Thinking Skills to Creative Technology Students

This paper reports on the insights gained from introducing design thinking into the final year of a UK university course where students created positive behavior change interventions. The rationale for the course design and teaching process are outlined, with a focus on design as engineering versus innovation process. The students took a design thinking journey using Stanford University d.school's 5-step approach of Empathize-Define-Ideate-Prototype-Test, and their journey is described in detail. We found that at first students found the Design Thinking approach counter-intuitive and confusing, yet throughout the process they recognized the strengths and opportunities it offers. On the whole, students reflected positively on their learning and on their re-evaluation of the role of a (service) designer. Lessons learned from a teaching point of view are also outlined, the most poignant being the realization that it was necessary to 'un-teach' design practices students had come to take for granted, in particular the view of design as a self-inspired, linear and carefully managed process

Corruption and misuse of public office

Sets out the law relating to corruption and misuse of public office in a clear and accessible manner Examines the legal and practical issues relating to the investigation and prosecution of corruption, providing the practitioner with a complete guide to handling a corruption case. Analyses the regulatory mechanisms for dealing with standards in public life. Includes coverage of international efforts to combat corruption, allowing practitioners to use the information confidently when dealing with cases involving foreign officials. The only dedicated work on this subject. The law and practice relating to corruption and the misuse of public office is of considerable topical interest. The legislation in this area has developed over recent years, with the implementation of statutes such as the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. These key pieces of legislation extend UK jurisdiction to corruption offences committed abroad by UK nationals and incorporated bodies, and strengthen the mechanisms to recover assets and wealth obtained as a result of unlawful activity. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the law relating to corruption as it has been shaped over recent years. Written by leading practitioners with extensive experience of handling both the civil and criminal aspects of corruption cases, the book provides a clear exposition of the current law. It examines the legal and practical issues relating to the investigation and prosecution of corruption cases and includes specialist coverage of issues such as whistleblowing, and the recovery and repatriation of assets. Corruption cases often span jurisdictions. This book enables practitioners to handle any aspect of a corruption case by providing them with detailed analysis of the international efforts to combat corruption, and the legal developments taking place in key jurisdictions and regions covered by UN, EU, OECD, and Commonwealth initiatives

Developing a language of interactivity through the theory of play

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.In a world increasingly influenced by interactive interfaces, devices and services both in the commercial and non-commercial spheres, understanding interactivity and its underpinnings is essential. We have moved into a state of flux in which both culture and technology are in constant interplay and the only constant is change itself. The only future-proof approach to designing for and dealing with an environment of constant change in these systems and forms is to look for a mechanism and theoretical framework that underpins them all. Drawing upon a range of disciplines – from design, art, cognitive science, linguistics and more – this thesis argues that play is such a fundamental building block of culture, society, technology and cognition that it is the ideal lens through which to examine the interactive experience. It is versatile enough to cross boundaries and fundamental enough to be understood intuitively. Through an understanding of the intersection between movement, embodied cognition, metaphor and play, a set of principles of interactivity are developed that are flexible enough to analyse and be applied to a broad spectrum of interactive experiences, from interactive artworks to services to individual user interface elements. Finally, it is proposed that these principles provide a way to examine the phenomenal growth of social networks and the fundamental cultural shifts we are experiencing today as a result of the friction generated between emerging networked technologies and the industrial age structures they are dismantling