From users to citizens: Some thoughts on designing for polity and civics

This paper presents an essay aimed at prompting broad discussion crucial in keeping the interaction design discourse fresh, critical, and in motion. We trace the changing role of people who have advanced from consumers to producers, from stationary office workers to mobile urban nomads, from passive members of the plebs to active instigators of change. Yet, interaction designers often still refer to them only as ‘users.’ We follow some of the historic developments from the information superhighway to the smart city in order to provide the backdrop in front of which we critically analyse three core areas. First, the issue of echo chambers and filter bubbles in social media results in a political polarisation that jeopardises the formation of a functioning public sphere. Second, pretty lights and colourful façades in media architecture are increasingly making way for situated installations and interventions fostering community engagement. And third, civic activism is often reduced to forms of slacktivism. We synthesise our discussion to propose ‘citizen-ability’ as an alternative goal for interaction designers to aspire to in order to create new polities and civics for a better quality of life

A Model of the Deviation between the Intended and the Actual Experiences with Interactive Installations

Interactive installations engage people in different ways, many of which are different than originally intended by the designer. We present a model that illustrates the differences between the intended experience and the actual experience of people. The model is demonstrated through the analysis of one interactive installation at the Science Museum (London) and the various parameters are mapped and visualized. We suggest that the participants of interactive installations engage differently than originally intended by the designer, which can be defined here as "deviation". There are several levels of deviation, and the proposed model will illustrate the critical interaction stages and visualize the deviations. This model offers new tools for designers and curators alike

UbiqLog: a generic mobile phone based life-log framework

Smart phones are conquering the mobile phone market; they are not just phones they also act as media players, gaming consoles, personal calendars, storage, etc. They are portable computers with fewer computing capabilities than personal computers. However unlike personal computers users can carry their smartphone with them at all times. The ubiquity of mobile phones and their computing capabilities provide an opportunity of using them as a life logging device. Life-logs (personal e-memories) are used to record users' daily life events and assist them in memory augmentation. In a more technical sense, life-logs sense and store users' contextual information from their environment through sensors, which are core components of life-logs. Spatio-temporal aggregation of sensor information can be mapped to users' life events. We propose UbiqLog, a lightweight, configurable and extendable life-log framework that uses mobile phone as a device for life logging. The proposed framework extends previous research in this field, which investigated mobile phones as life-log tool through continuous sensing. Its openness in terms of sensor configuration allows developers to create exible, multipurpose life-log tools. In addition to that this framework contains a data model and an architecture, which can be used as reference model for further life-log development, including its extension to other devices, such as ebook readers, T.V.s, etc

Interactive Ceiling : ambient information display for architectural environments

Zsfassung in dt. SpracheIm Zeitalter der Informationsgesellschaft sind wir ständig von digitalen Geräten umgeben. Diese Geräte stellen nützliche Werkzeuge für die Beschaffung von Information dar, sind aber in ihrer Bedienung oft frustrierend, speziell wenn es notwendig ist, ein konstantes Bewusstsein über Information aufrecht zu erhalten. Das Konzept von Ambient Displays beschreibt die Integration von digitalen Technologien in alltägliche Umgebungen, um ein Bewusstsein über Information an der Peripherie der Wahrnehmung zu unterstützen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht speziell die Eignung der architektonischen Decke als Ambient Display, das Information in unaufdringlicher Form darstellt und immer verfügbar ist.Dabei stützt sich die Arbeit unter anderem auf relevante Gebiete, die die Basis für die ausgeführte Forschungsarbeit bilden, wie zum Beispiel historische Deckenfresken, interaktive Architektur und Ubiquitous Computing. Unter Anwendung eines explorativen Ansatzes wurden fünf Machbarkeitsstudien durchgeführt, um Anwendungsszenarien zu untersuchen und Konzeptprototypen zu entwickeln. Die Ergebnisse von diesen Studien, sowie Erkenntnisse von der Literaturrecherche, wurden in Form eines Frameworks zusammengeführt, das als Werkzeug für das Design und die wissenschaftliche Untersuchung von interaktiven Decken dient. Basierend auf der Literaturrecherche und den von der Entwicklung der Prototypen abgeleiteten Erkenntnissen wurden weiters Design Richtlinien vorgeschlagen, die zukünftige Forschung in diesem Bereich leiten sollen.Eine Schlussfolgerung der Arbeit ist, dass interaktive Decken speziell zur Visualisierung von räumlichen Daten, wie zum Beispiel Schall oder Umgebungsbedingungen, eignen, da sie die visuelle Abbildung der Position, an der die Daten auftraten, ermöglichen. Des weiteren ist die ästhetische Integration in der architektonischen Umgebung von wesentlicher Bedeutung, um die Benutzerakzeptanz sicherzustellen.In the information society of today, we are interacting with computing devices on a daily basis. While they are a valuable tool for retrieving information, it can be sometimes frustrating for users to access this information. This is especially the case when they want to maintain a constant awareness of information.  The concept of ambient display suggests the integration of computing technologies into everyday environments to support monitoring of information at the periphery of users' attention. This thesis investigates the architectural ceiling for ambient display of information that is non-obtrusive, always available, and can be accessed by simply looking upwards. Various related fields are investigated that provide an important foundation for the research work described in this thesis, such as historical ceiling frescos, interactive architecture and ubiquitous computing. Using an explorative research approach, five feasibility studies were conducted to explore application scenarios and develop proof-of-concept prototypes for interactive ceilings. The results from the studies and insights from the literature review are conveyed in a framework for ceiling interaction, which serves as a tool for design and research in the field of interactive ceilings. Based on the literature review and the experience from developing the prototypes, design guidelines are suggested to further guide future research in this field. A conclusion derived from this work is that interactive ceilings are especially suited for visualizing spatial data, such as sound or environmental conditions, since they allow for visually mapping their location in space onto the ceiling. Further the aesthetic integration into the existing architectural environment is of vital importance to assure user acceptance.17

Design Think Make Break Repeat: A Handbook of methods

Buku ini mendokumentasikan enam puluh metode beserta alat dan studi kasus yang melibatkan berbagai disiplin dan perspektif desain - mulai dari desain produk dan layanan hingga desain interaksi dan pengalaman pengguna, ditulis sebagai sumber belajar dan panduan referensi untuk membangun pemahaman pembaca tentang proses desain sebagai metode untuk pemecahan masalah dan inovasi yang kompleks. Setiap metode disajikan melalui deskripsi berbasis bukti bersama dengan latihan langkah demi langkah dan template siap pakai. Metode berlaku untuk berbagai proyek desain dan di berbagai domain dan industri. Pendekatan lintas disiplin ini juga tercermin dalam pilihan tantangan desain dan studi kasus yang disertakan dalam buku ini, yang berkisar dari kendaraan otonom hingga merancang pengalaman berbelanja di masa depan.Kata kunci: desain, metode, handboo

Personal and Private Calendar Interfaces support Private Patterns: e.g. Diaries, Relations, Emotional Expressions

This paper yields new insights into the emotional value of personal calendars for their users and explores their habits. Using an ethnographic approach we collected data about personal scheduling and revealed highly interesting aspects that are particular valid for private calendars. Interestingly, we found that users still prefer paper calendars although they have access to PDAs and desktop interfaces. One of the main reasons for this is that the calendar represents an integrated all-in-one tool, and the properties of paper support this functionality more efficient than rigid digital calendars. We further observed that calendars have an important emotional value to their users, recording states of relations and emotional expressions like diaries. Based on our results we raise broad issues for the design of calendars that exploit the potential of advanced technology. Author Keywords Private calendars, personal scheduling, emotional, diaries