Multimodal support for social dynamics in co-located meetings

\u3cp\u3eIn this paper, we present a system that employs perceptual technologies (i.e. technologies that perceive the context through sensors such as cameras and microphone) to provide feedback about people's behaviour in small group meetings. The system measures aspects of behaviour that are relevant to the social dynamics of the meeting, speaking time and gaze behaviour, and provides visual feedback about these aspects to the meeting participants through a peripheral display. We describe the system properties and the perceptual components. Also, we present a study aimed at evaluating the effect of such a system on meeting behaviour. Groups of participants, amounting to 82 participants in all, discussed topics of general interest. Analysis of the data of 58 participants showed that feedback influenced the behaviour of the participants in such a way that it made over-participators speak less and under-participators speak more. Analysis of the micro-patterns of six participants indicated that feedback on gaze behaviour had little effect on the interaction dynamics. We conclude that perceptual technologies can be used to build services that may help people to improve their meeting skills and we consider some ways in which such systems may be deployed in meetings.\u3c/p\u3

Empathic handover : how would you feel? : handing over dementia experiences and feelings in empathic co-design

\u3cp\u3eIt is difficult to inform design with experiences from people with dementia. When it comes to involving this vulnerable user group and connecting multidisciplinary design teams, current empathic co-design methods and tools are scarce, seem fragmented and lack a coherent and structured approach. In response, we provide guidance to design teams by proposing a novel, empathic co-design approach that enables a user researcher, who encounters people with dementia, to transfer insights to team members who do not. Our proposal addresses three sequential co-design activities facilitated by an empathic principal designer: (1) individual harvest meetings, (2) collective handover workshops and (3) empathic ideation workshops. Using a case study involving a dementia simulator, we illustrate how the approach contributes to understanding users, transferring insights and translating empathy into design. The positive evaluation of the simulator led us to conclude that the approach not only guided the design team by offering a practical and coherent process, but also enabled individual team members to be receptive, inclusive and committed to people with dementia.\u3c/p\u3

A comparison of existing frameworks leading to an empathic formation compass for co-design

\u3cp\u3eAlthough empathy is an essential aspect of co-design, the design community lacks a systematic overview of the key dimensions and elements that foster empathy in design. This paper introduces an empathic formation compass, based on a comparison of existing relevant frameworks. Empathic formation is defined here as the formative process of becoming an empathic design professional who knows which attitude, skills and knowledge are applicable in a co-design process. The empathic formation compass provides designers with a vocabulary that helps them understand what kind of key dimensions and elements influence empathic formation in co-design and how that informs designers’ role and design decisions. In addition, the empathic formation compass aims to support reflection and to evaluate co-design projects beyond the mere reliance on methods. In this way, empathic design can be made into a conscious activity in which designers regulate and include their own feelings and experiences (first-person perspective), and decrease empathic bias. We identify four important intersecting dimensions that empathy is comprised of in design and describe their dynamic relations. The first two opposing dimensions are denoted by empathy and differentiate between cognitive design processes and affective design experiences, and between self-and other orientation. The other two dimensions are defined by design research and differentiate between an expert and a participatory mindset, and research-and design-led techniques. The empathic formation compass strengthens and enriches our earlier work on mixed perspectives with these specific dimensions and describes the factors that foster empathy in design from a more contextual position. We expect the empathic formation compass—combined with the mixed perspectives framework—to enhance future research by bringing about a deeper understanding of designers’ empathic and collaborative design practice.\u3c/p\u3

Interactive play objects:The influence of multimodal output on open-ended play

In this paper we investigate how providing multiple output modalities\u3cbr/\u3eaffects open-ended play with interactive toys. We designed a play object which\u3cbr/\u3ereacts to children’s physical behavior by providing multimodal output and we\u3cbr/\u3ecompared it with a unimodal variant, focusing on the experience and creativity\u3cbr/\u3eof the children. In open-ended play children create their own games inspired by\u3cbr/\u3ethe interaction with a play object. We show how the modalities affect the\u3cbr/\u3enumber of games played, the type and diversity of games that the children\u3cbr/\u3ecreated, and the way children used the different feedback modalities as\u3cbr/\u3einspiration for their games. Furthermore, we discuss the consequences of our\u3cbr/\u3edesign choices on open-ended play

Development of peripheral feedback to support lectures

In this paper we describe a service that provides peripheral feedback on participation level of the audience in lectures and seminars to presenters. The peripheral display makes the lecturer aware of the attention level as well as the interest level of their students. We hypothesise that providing this kind of feedback can help lecturers or presenters to adjust their behaviour to the cognitive demands of the audience. In this paper we report on the results obtained from a focus group and two surveys that were carried out. Following that we describe the development of peripheral displays focusing on the design considerations and process of the teacher support service. We describe the service by addressing its technological components and visualisations. Finally we briefly discuss the issues to be considered for the evaluation of such an unobtrusive service

2nd international workshop on ambient gaming

\u3cp\u3eAmbient games are games and playful activities that offer contextaware and personalized features. Because ambient play and games can be incorporated in everyday objects and routines, they allow players to play throughout the day. Ambient gaming offers promising opportunities for creating novel and unique player experiences. However, there are still many unanswered questions related to this new field of research, for instance related to gamification, personalisation and adaptation, aspects and issues of control and privacy. In this 2nd workshop on Ambient Gaming we intend to further discuss the opportunities and challenges in the field of ambient gaming and play with people from different disciplines (designers, researchers, and developers) who are active in this field.\u3c/p\u3

A systematic validation of the Empathic Handover approach guided by five factors that foster empathy in design

\u3cp\u3eThis study aims at validating the transferability of the Empathic Handover approach, which we originally developed for the co-design process of a dementia simulator. We argue that empathy in design is operationalised using five factors: emotional interest, sensitivity, self-awareness, personal experience, and mixed perspectives. This heuristic proved useful in systematically comparing the empathic capacity of design students using the Empathic Handover and traditional user research approaches. Our comparative study indicates that the Empathic Handover approach enables designers to develop empathy with vulnerable users they did not meet in person (both people with dementia and people who mourn). Additionally, the study enables us to develop an elaborate notion of the working mechanisms of empathy in design as well as practical improvements to the Empathic Handover approach.\u3c/p\u3

Playful moments of activity

\u3cp\u3eIn our design-research studies, we aim to persuade teenagers to engage in playful moments of casual activity. In this article, we present one explorative prototype: walk-of-fame, a multimedia installation that creates virtual avatars in a corridor, depending on the walking style of passers-by. We intend to create playful active moments throughout the day, independent of time or location, supported by mobile and ambient technologies.\u3c/p\u3

Peripheral feedback on participation level to support meetings and lectures

In the EU-funded Integrated Project Computers in the Human Inter- action Loop (CHIL), perceptive technologies are developed that enable us to build systems that, through perceiving and interpreting the ongoing course of events, are able to support people in situations of co-located communication and collaboration. In the current paper, we present two services. In one service, participants in a small-group meeting receive real-time feedback about observable properties of the meeting that are directly related to the social dynamics, such as individual amount of speaking time or eye gaze patterns. In the other service, teachers in a lecture room receive real-time feedback about the activities and attention level of participants in the lecture. We describe the user- centered design process, the conceptual designs and preliminary results of evaluations. \u3cbr/\u3