Jennifer G. Sheridan

Designing sports: a framework for exertion games

Exertion games require investing physical effort. The fact that such games can support physical health is tempered by our limited understanding of how to design for engaging exertion experiences. This paper introduces the Exertion Framework as a way to think and talk about Exertion Games, both for their formative design and summative analysis. Our Exertion Framework is based on the ways in which we can conceive of the body investing in game-directed exertion, supported by four perspectives on the body (the Responding Body, Moving Body, Sensing Body and Relating Body) and three perspectives on gaming (rules, play and context). The paper illustrates how this framework was derived from prior systems and theory, and presents a case study of how it has been used to inspire novel exertion interactions.

The Frame of the Game: Blurring the Boundary between Fiction and Reality in Mobile Experiences

Mobile experiences that take place in public settings such as on city streets create new opportunities for interweaving the fictional world of a performance or game with the everyday physical world. A study of a touring performance reveals how designers generated excitement and dramatic tension by implicating bystanders and encouraging the (apparent) crossing of normal boundaries of behaviour. The study also shows how designers dealt with associated risks through a process of careful orchestration. Consequently, we extend an existing framework for designing spectator interfaces with the concept of performance frames, enabling us to distinguish audience from bystanders. We conclude that using ambiguity to blur the frame can be a powerful design tactic, empowering players to willingly suspend disbelief, so long as a safety-net of orchestration ensures that they do not stray into genuine difficulty.Mobile experiences that take place in public settings such as on city streets create new opportunities for interweaving the fictional world of a performance or game with the everyday physical world. A study of a touring performance reveals how designers generated excitement and dramatic tension by implicating bystanders and encouraging the (apparent) crossing of normal boundaries of behaviour. The study also shows how designers dealt with associated risks through a process of careful orchestration. Consequently, we extend an existing framework for designing spectator interfaces with the concept of performance frames, enabling us to distinguish audience from bystanders. We conclude that using ambiguity to blur the frame can be a powerful design tactic, empowering players to willingly suspend disbelief, so long as a safety-net of orchestration ensures that they do not stray into genuine difficulty.

Exploring bluetooth based mobile phone interaction with the hermes photo display

One of the most promising possibilities for supporting user interaction with public displays is the use of personal mobile phones. Furthermore, by utilising Bluetooth users should have the capability to interact with displays without incurring personal financial connectivity costs. However, despite the relative maturity of Bluetooth as a standard and its widespread adoption in todays mobile phones, little exploration seems to have taken place in this area - despite its apparent significant potential. This paper describe the findings of an exploratory study involving our Hermes Photo Display which has been extended to enable users with a suitable phone to both send and receive pictures over Bluetooth. We present both the technical challenges of working with Bluetooth and, through our user study, we present initial insights into general user acceptability issues and the potential for such a display to facilitate notions of community.

Balancing exertion experiences

Exercising with others, such as jogging in pairs, can be socially engaging. However, if exercise partners have different fitness levels then the activity can be too strenuous for one and not challenging enough for the other, compromising engagement and health benefits. Our system, Jogging over a Distance, uses heart rate data and spatialized sound to create an equitable, balanced experience between joggers of different fitness levels who are geographically distributed. We extend this prior work by analyzing the experience of 32 joggers to detail how specific design features facilitated, and hindered, an engaging and balanced exertion experience. With this knowledge, we derive four dimensions that describe a design space for balancing exertion experiences: Measurement, Adjustment, Presentation and Control. We also present six design tactics for creating balanced exertion experiences described by these dimensions. By aiding designers in supporting participants of different physical abilities, we hope to increase participation and engagement with physical activity and facilitate the many benefits it brings about.

Designing for Performative Tangible Interaction

We propose that designing tangibles for public interaction requires an understanding of both functional and non-functional aspects informed by Live Art theories. In this paper, we outline design requirements for performative tangible interaction, propose a framework for assessing performative interaction and demonstrate its use through four case studies of the iterative redesign of a highly portable, tangible exertion interface. By reflecting on our experience of designing for performative interaction we develop guidelines for developing multi-participant Digital Live Art.

Understanding Interaction in Ubiquitous Guerrilla Performances in Playful Arenas

The inherent freedom of playful arenas combined with intimate ubiquitous technologies has led to a new breed of guerrilla performance. We draw on theory from computing, performance and club culture to illustrate the Performance Triad model, a method for the analysis, deconstruction and understanding of tripartite interaction in playful arenas. We then apply the Performance Triad model to Schizophrenic Cyborg a part reversal of wearable computing technology where the user is outfitted with an electronic communication display and yet this display is visible to others not the cyborgs themselves. This ubiquitous performance investigates the shifting boundaries between performer, participant and observer and of technology-enhanced guerrilla performance.

Towards a framework for investigating tangible environments for learning

External representations have been shown to play a key role in mediating cognition. Tangible environments offer the opportunity for novel representational formats and combinations, potentially increasing representational power for supporting learning. However, we currently know little about the specific learning benefits of tangible environments, and have no established framework within which to analyse the ways that external representations work in tangible environments to support learning. Taking external representation as the central focus, this paper proposes a framework for investigating the effect of tangible technologies on interaction and cognition. Key artefact-action-representation relationships are identified, and classified to form a structure for investigating the differential cognitive effects of these features. An example scenario from our current research is presented to illustrate how the framework can be used as a method for investigating the effectiveness of differential designs for supporting science learning.

Action and representation in tangible systems: implications for design of learning interactions

In tangible learning systems, the facility to promote physically active engagement highlights the need to understand how different designs impact on action and interaction, and the subsequent implications for learning. This paper draws on studies involving two tangible learning systems to analyse the effect of design choices on the kinds of (inter)actions engendered and how they create, shape and constrain different learning opportunities. Main findings suggest the need to promote and allow for different kinds of opportunities for conceptual reflection within the collective physical interaction; the importance of balancing collective representations and individual action-effect links; and the need to enhance appropriate awareness when dealing with several loci of attention.

Graffito: crowd-based performative interaction at festivals

Crowd-based events are generating new forms of crowd-based performative interaction. Nightclubs and festivals are at the cutting edge of crowd-based interaction with ubiquitous computing. The social capital of crowd-based interaction is not well understood and is usually limited to one-off events. Our intention is to explore the possibility for generating a lifelong contextual footprint of crowd-based performative interaction. In this paper, we present and discuss two case studies of designing applications for crowd-based performative interaction at two large-scale festivals and reflect on their implications for design.

Affordance-Based design of physical interfaces for ubiquitous environments

Physical interfaces have been proposed as a way to realize natural interactions with ubiquitous computing environments. The successful design of such interfaces requires design approaches that integrate aspects of our world which are usually treated separately in traditional system development approaches. This paper describes a design approach based on Gibson concept of affordance. We demonstrate an experimental method for studying object affordance and show how it can be applied to the design of a concrete physical interface artefact.