Eva Eriksson

Mission from Mars: a method for exploring user requirements for children in a narrative space

In this paper a particular design method is propagated as a supplement to existing descriptive approaches to current practice studies especially suitable for gathering requirements for the design of childrens technology. The Mission from Mars method was applied during the design of an electronic school bag (eBag). The three-hour collaborative session provides a first-hand insight into childrens practice in a fun and intriguing way. The method is proposed as a supplement to existing descriptive design methods for interaction design and children.

Mixed interaction space: designing for camera based interaction with mobile devices

In mobile devices, such as mobile phones and PDAs, an integrated camera can be used to interact with the device in new ways. In this paper we introduce the term mixed interaction space and argue that the possibility of using mixed interaction spaces is what distinguishes camera-based interaction from other types of sensor-based interaction on mobile devices. We present our implemented applications, and related work that use mixed interaction spaces. Based on this we address how mixed interaction spaces can have different identities, be mapped to applications, and how it can be visualized.

Reclaiming public space: designing for public interaction with private devices

Public spaces are changing from being ungoverned places for interaction to be more formalized, controlled, less interactive, and designed places aimed at fulfilling a purpose. Simultaneously, new personal mobile technology aims at providing private individual spaces in the public domain. In this paper we explore the implications of interacting in public space and how technology can be rethought to not only act as personal devices, but be the tool to reclaim the right and possibility to interact in public spaces. We introduce information exchange, social support and regulation as three central aspects for reclaiming public space. The PhotoSwapper application is presented as an example of a system designed to integrate pervasive technology in a public setting. The system is strongly inspired by the activities at a traditional market place. Based on the design of the application we discuss four design challenges when designing for public interaction.

Use your head: exploring face tracking for mobile interaction

In this paper we present how face tracking can be implemented on mobile devices. Our main contribution is to present how face tracking on mobile systems can be used as a multi-dimensional input technique and to demonstrate how this can be used in different mobile applications. We present at set of different applications based on the tracking, and discuss current and future advantages, challenges and problems with face tracking as input device for mobile systems.

Large-scale participation: a case study of a participatory approach to developing a new public library

In this paper, we present a case study of a participatory project that focuses on interaction in large-scale design, namely, the development of the new Urban Mediaspace Aarhus. This project, which has been under way for ten years, embodies a series of issues that arise when participatory design approaches are applied to large-scale, IT-oriented projects. At the same time, it highlights the issues public knowledge institutions face, when interactive technologies challenge their fundamental roles and practices; by extension, this case offers examples of how these challenges may be explored and addressed through IT-based participatory initiatives. We present a range of such activities carried out during the past ten years, and present the main lessons from the project, based on interviews with three key stakeholders. These lessons focus on how to make participation work in practice, how to align different paradigms of inquiry and practice in a project of this scale, and how to capture and anchor the insights from participatory events to inform the ongoing design process.

Movement-based interaction in camera spaces: a conceptual framework

In this paper we present three concepts that address movement-based interaction using camera tracking. Based on our work with several movement-based projects we present four selected applications, and use these applications to leverage our discussion, and to describe our three main concepts space, relations, and feedback. We see these as central for describing and analysing movement-based systems using camera tracking and we show how these three concepts can be used to analyse other camera tracking applications.

Designing technology for and with developmentally diverse children: a systematic literature review

This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review of research papers on the involvement of developmentally diverse children in design. The review shows that there is a growing tendency to include developmentally diverse children in the design process. Compared to other groups of developmentally diverse children, children with high-functioning autism between 8 and 12 years old are the ones that are most often actively involved in the design process. Other groups of children often have a more passive role, being observed, both in the requirements, design and evaluation phase. Working with mixed groups of children, either children with different disabilities, or typically developing children together with developmentally diverse children, also occurs more seldom. Compared to design with typically developing children, adults are involved more intensively in the design, either as users, proxies, experts and/or facilitators. Specific guidelines for how to prepare and perform design sessions with developmentally diverse children often emphasize the need for a coherence of activities, a clear structure in the sessions, verbal as well as textual explanations, and the active participation of caregivers, teachers and therapists. Based on these findings we give several suggestions for further research.

Designing for participation in public knowledge institutions

We address the challenges facing designers of interactive technologies for public knowledge institutions such as museums, libraries and science centres. We argue that visitor participation is a key concern for these institutions and present a theoretical framework for understanding participation grounded in pragmatist philosophy. We then present design work carried out in three different settings, namely a museum, a combined aquarium and science centre, and a municipal library. Based on a discussion of these design cases, we offer six design considerations for designing for participation in public knowledge institutions.

StorySurfer: a playful book browsing installation for children's libraries

In this paper, we present a large-scale interactive book browsing installation for childrens libraries called StorySurfer. The StorySurfer prototype is developed within the Interactive Childrens Library project, which includes interests from within design, research, industry, and libraries. The objective of the project is to give room for and encourage the physical activities of children, while pursuing to connect these with the basic digital and analogue services of the library e.g. borrowing and handing in books, searching for information, and providing access to a rich variety of media.

Mixed Interaction Space — Expanding the Interaction Space with Mobile Devices

Mobile phones are mainly interacted with through buttons, thumbwheels or pens. However, mobile devices are not just terminals into a virtual world; they are objects in a physical world. The concept of Mixed Interaction Space (MIXIS) expands the interaction with mobile phone into the physical world [Hansen et al. 2005]. MIXIS uses the camera in mobile devices to track a fixed-point and thereby establishes a 3 dimensional interaction space wherein the position and rotation of the phone can be tracked. In this paper we demonstrate that MIXIS opens up for new flexible ways of interacting with mobile devices. We present a set of novel, flexible applications built with MIXIS and we show that MIXIS is a feasible way of interacting with mobile devices by evaluating a MIXIS application against a traditional mobile interface. Finally, we discuss some design issues with MIXIS.