Martin Brynskov

Staging Urban Interactions with Media Façades

Using media facades as a subcategory of urban computing, this paper contributes to the understanding of spatial interaction, sense-making, and social mediation as part of identifying key characteristics of interaction with media facades. Our research addresses in particular the open-ended but framed nature of interaction, which in conjunction with varying interpretations enables individual sense-making. Moreover, we contribute to the understanding of flexible social interaction by addressing urban interaction in relation to distributed attention, shared focus, dialogue and collective action. Finally we address challenges for interaction designers encountered in a complex spatial setting calling for a need to take into account multiple viewing and action positions. Our research-through-design approach has included a real-life design intervention in terms of the design, implementation, and reflective evaluation of a 180 m2 (1937 square feet) interactive media facade in operation 24/7 for more than 50 days.

Mock games: a new genre of pervasive play

In this paper we identify and characterize, in theory and by design example, a new genre of pervasive play for tweens that lies on the border between play and game, called mock games. The objective is to design digital support for more or less structured playfulness among preteen children, primarily girls, in a way that emphasizes humor, friendly battle and identity construction. The method used is a combination of a review of a number of theories of games and play and a field study into the social reality of childrens playful activities. Based on these two investigations we characterize mock games as a genre and show that it is not covered well by any one of the reviewed theories, taking into account both social and technical aspects. Then we present a design example of such a system, DARE! We conclude by discussing ethical issues and set goals for future research.

City bug report: urban prototyping as participatory process and practice

This paper explores the wider contexts of digital policy, transparency, digitisation and how this changes city administration and the role of the (digital) publics, using City Bug Report as a design case. Employing a mix between design research and action research, the authors exemplify and analyse elements of both the design process, the organizational, the political and technological contexts. They point to the role of researchers and designers in exploring and understanding digital elements of public space as not merely registering structures but also actively engaging in public discourse, providing critique and alternatives as much as solutions. Further research and challenges are discussed.

Out of the box: exploring the richness of children's use of an interactive table

In this article we explore how to enrich the experience of toys that usually spend a boring time in their boxes in the toy store by digitally bringing them out of the box. For this purpose we have developed an interactive table based on the 3D game engine Virtools, together with the reacTIVision software and have studied and evaluated the use of the table in a full-scale, realworld situation in the toy department of a major Danish retailer. Our detailed analysis highlights the wide range of interaction forms and interaction modes facilitated by the table, moving from initial exploration to playful and engaging experiences, both on individual and social levels. We sum up our findings and their relevance for future design and show how the interplay of physical design, interaction, and content has been instrumental in giving children and adults a richer and extended experience of the toy -- even though it remains in the box.

Citizen’s Right to the Digital City

Edited by thought leaders in the fields of urban informatics and urban interaction design, this book brings together case studies and examples from around the world to discuss the role that urban interfaces, citizen action, and city making play in the quest to create and maintain not only secure and resilient, but productive, sustainable and viable urban environments. The book debates the impact of these trends on theory, policy and practice. The individual chapters are based on blind peer reviewed contributions by leading researchers working at the intersection of the social / cultural, technical / digital, and physical / spatial domains of urbanism scholarship. The book will appeal not only to researchers and students, but also to a vast number of practitioners in the private and public sector interested in accessible content that clearly and rigorously analyses the potential offered by urban interfaces, mobile technology, and location-based services in the context of engaging people with open, smart and participatory urban environments.

The design of tools for sketching sensor-based interaction

In this paper we briefly motivate, present, and give an initial evaluation of DUL Radio, a small wireless toolkit for sketching sensor-based interaction. In the motivation, we state the purpose of this specific platform, which aims to balance ease-of-use (learning, setup, initialization), size, speed, flexibility and cost, aimed at wearable and ultra-mobile prototyping where fast reaction is needed (e.g. in controlling sound), and we mention general issues facing this category of embodied interaction design tools. We briefly present the platform, both regarding hardware and software. In the evaluation, we present our experiences with the platform both in design projects and in teaching. We conclude that DUL Radio was the preferred platform for sketching sensor-based interaction compared to other solutions, and that it does seem to be a relatively easy-to-use tool, but that there are many ways to improve it. Target users include designers, students, artists etc. with minimal programming and hardware skills, but this paper addresses the issues with designing the tools, which includes some technical considerations.

UrbanixD: designing human interactions in the networked city

Interaction Design, in an urban context, is an increasingly important field of research. City populations are currently in a state of rapid flux. Conurbations are fast becoming a hybrid of the physical environment and the digital datasphere. How we, as physical beings, will connect with, interpret and adapt this increasing dataflow residing in our cities is already becoming a significant research question. The SIG organisers will frame the discussion through a human-centred view of the concerns, experiences and behaviours that may occur in cities of the future. By adopting an approach of Thinking and Doing it is hoped that the SIG will act as a catalyst for community building.

Code-labelling: A teaching activity encouraging deep learning in a non-STEM introductory programming course

The code-labelling exercise is an attempt to apply natural language education techniques for solving the challenge of teaching introductory programming to non-STEM novices in higher education. This paper presents findings from a study exploring the use of natural language teaching techniques in programming education collected in an Action Research cycle. The results support the use of a structural approach to teaching programming to this target audience; particularly, the translation-grammar method seems to integrate well with programming education. The paper also explores the potential underlying reasons. It seems the exercise invokes an assimilation of students existing cognitive schemata and supports a deep-learning experience. The exercise is an invitation to other teachers to create further iterations to improve their own teaching. It also seeks to enrich the portfolio of teaching activities for solving the challenge of teaching introductory programming to non-STEM novices.

The Paradigm Shift of Living Labs in Service Co-creation for Smart Cities: SynchroniCity Validation

In the literature there are many definitions of co-creation and several disciplines are involved within this approach, especially co-design, participatory design and open innovation. Co-creation has been linked with many tools and platforms, without a coherent framework and specific guiding principles to follow, especially within the smart cities’ context for developing new services. For this reason, it is required to clearly define which are the methods and digital tools that cities should pursue to fully exploit the potential of these platforms in terms of enhancing global collaborations. Starting from the review of the literature on participatory design, co-creation and open innovation, the paper aims to discuss the role of Living Labs in supporting service design for smart cities, by providing an effective approach for involving stakeholders in real life experimentation through digital platforms. The evaluation has taken into account the current use of co-creation approaches by eight smart cities involved in the SynchroniCity project, and considered as the current best practices in Europe. The analysis focused on timing, stakeholders, activities for involving citizens, rewarding systems, tools and metrics used to investigate the success of their implementation. Ten methods and twelve tools have been selected as the one best supporting smart cities in service design and their real application has been investigated through an online questionnaire and in depth interviews to the cities. As a result of the study, Living Lab has resulted as the most used and effective method for the smart cities in the EU for service design.

A Market Analysis of Urban Interaction Design

Urban Interaction Design draws upon knowledge and approaches from a range of disciplines involved in the design of urban spaces, connecting them and establishing their interactions as a principle. It is also rooted in the wider field of interaction design, from which it takes much of its emphasis on behaviors at the human scale, putting the citizen at the center of the process of creating solutions in networked urban spaces. The paper presents the results of a preliminary survey that seeks to articulate, through best case examples, the challenges and opportunities for the field of Urban Interaction Design in the context of Smart Cities.