Nick Dulake

Using Tangible Smart Replicas as Controls for an Interactive Museum Exhibition

This paper presents the design, creation and use of tangible smart replicas in a large-scale museum exhibition. We describe the design rationale for the replicas, the process used in their creation, as well as the implementation and deployment of these replicas in a live museum exhibition. Deployment of the exhibition resulted in over 14000 visitors interacting with the system during the 6 months that the exhibition was open. Based on log data, interviews and observations, we examine the reaction to these smart replicas from the point of view of the museum curators and also of the museums visitors and reflect on the fulfillment of our expectations.

Audio-based narratives for the trenches of World War I

We report in detail the co-design, setup and evaluation of a technological intervention for a complex outdoor heritage site: a World War I fortified camp and trenches located in the natural setting of the Italian Alps. Sound was used as the only means of content delivery as it was considered particularly effective in engaging visitors at an emotional level and had the potential to enhance the physical experience of being at an historical place. The implemented prototype is visitor-aware personalised multi-point auditory narrative system that automatically plays sounds and stories depending on a combination of features such as physical location, visitor proximity and visitor preferences. The curators created for the trail multiple narratives to capture the different voices of the War. The stories are all personal accounts (as opposed to objective and detached reporting of the facts); they were designed to trigger empathy and understanding while leaving the visitors free to interpret the content and the place on the bases of their own understanding and sensitivity. The result is an evocative embodied experience that does not describe the place in a traditional sense, but leaves its interpretation open. It takes visitors beyond the traditional view of heritage as a source of information toward a sensorial experience of feeling the past. A prototype was set up and tested with a group of volunteers showing that a design that carefully combines content design, sound design, tangible and embodied interaction can bring archaeological remains, with very little to see, back to life. We show co-design, setup, and test of a digital interaction for an archaeological site.The prototype is a visitor-aware personalised multi-point auditory narrative system.Visitors interact with sound by walking and using NFC cards in a belt-like device.Narratives had explicit reference to the territory and aimed at generate emotion.The mix of sound, voices, personal stories, and immersive experience was very evocative.

Articulating Co-Design in Museums: Reflections on Two Participatory Processes

In this paper we reflect on the process of co-design by detailing and comparing two strategies for the participatory development of interaction concepts and prototypes in the context of technologically-enhanced museum visiting experiences. While much work in CSCW, HCI and related disciplines has examined different role configurations in co-design, more research is needed on examining how collaborative design processes can unfold in different ways. Here we present two instances of co-design of museum visiting aids, one stemming from an open brief, another from an initial working prototype; we discuss the process in each case and discuss how these alternative strategies presented the team with different possibilities as well as constraints, and led to different patterns of collaboration within the design team. Finally, we draw a set of themes for discussion and reflection to inform and aid researchers and practitioners participating in similar co-design processes, particularly in the domain of cultural heritage.

Prototyping tangibles: exploring form and interaction

In order to better explore the opportunities for tangible interaction in new areas such as the home or cultural heritage sites, we used multiple rapidly-developed prototypes that take advantage of existing technology. Physical prototypes allow us to give form to ideas and to evaluate the integration of form and function, two core components of tangible interaction. We discuss potentials and pitfalls when using off-the-shelf digital devices (by embedding a device, cracking it open and building on it, or collating board and parts) through six prototypes developed in two studies. Hacking devices to materialize our ideas proved excellent for fast prototyping. Technology imposed constraints and prompted different design solutions than initially intended offering unexpected ways to engage. On the basis of this experience we outline a process and offer guidelines for the fast prototyping of tangible interactions.

Vertebral fragility fractures: co-designing solutions to promote independence and quality of life based on the needs of service users

Introduction Vertebral fragility fractures (VFF) affect one in six women and one in twelve men during their lifetime, costing the UK NHS more than £133 million each year (without considering medication). Pain as a result of VFF can last up to 2 years, with up to 20% having another VFF within a year. They impact on ability to do everyday activities, such as getting washed and dressed as well as stopping people going to work, often because people are afraid to move. The aim of this study was to utilise a co-design approach with people living with VFF to identify areas of unmet need and establish whether proof of prototype devices could be co-created that addressed those needs. Methods A participatory and iterative approach was utilised involving ten people with osteoporosis or VFF, plus carers, physiotherapists, industrial designers, design engineers and researchers in a series of workshops. Results In workshop one, we immersed ourselves in the lived experiences of people with VFF, carers and physiotherapists. A series of creative activities captured these experiences visually, physically and emotionally and statements of need were defined. In the second workshop, creative activities were undertaken to generate ideas and concepts, moving from two dimensional to three dimensional visualisations. We are currently in the process of converting these visualisations into concept artefacts. The final workshop (May 2017) will develop ‘brand and marketing material’ for each artefact that will be promoted to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ panel of key stakeholders. Conclusion People with VFF report that services and support (including equipment) do not particularly meet their needs. As a diverse group of patients, carers, designers, engineers and researchers, we were able to develop prototype solutions with supporting materials that could be further developed and tested. We plan to use this this work to underpin the development of a future grant application in 2017.

Flying with data: Openness, forms and understanding.

Abstract: There is a concerted effort to make available large amounts of public and open data. This paper explores this much-vaulted idea in terms of how easy or difficult it might be to find and access this data, and how a non-specialist audience is able to read, comprehend and make sense of complex digital data in its conventional form. Following a discussion that introduces the concept of the datadriven physical object (the data-object), and the current issues pertaining to the access and use of open data, the paper traces the journey of two design researchers through the activity of locating and using publicly available healthcare statistics as source content for developing this new form of data interpretation. The documented ‘dataseeds’ case study suggests that making data publically available is only the first step in thinking about how digital data can be accessed and shared in meaningful ways by a range of different audiences.