Rachel Eardley

The whereabouts clock: early testing of a situated awareness device

We describe the initial deployment of a prototype device to support awareness of peoples location and activities in an office environment. This is a first step toward the design and testing of a related device for the home. Findings from this workplace trial show its value in helping people have a virtual presence, in locating people, and in fostering a sense of group belonging. However, the results also suggest how the design could be made more flexible and expressive which we will explore in the upcoming home trial.

Investigating the Relationship Between Battery Life and User Acceptance of Dynamic, Energy-Aware Interfaces on Handhelds

In a 24 x 7 mobile world experiencing a proliferation of handheld devices, battery life can be a limiting factor. In particular, handheld displays consume substantial battery power. One strategy to potentially reduce display battery consumption and support a positive user experience is to adopt emerging display technologies (e.g., OLEDs) that support energy-aware interfaces. The research reported here, the second investigation in a series, assessed user expectations regarding handheld battery life and explored the relationship between battery life and user acceptance of energy-aware, handheld interfaces. Twelve experienced handheld users engaged dynamic, prototype energy-aware interfaces to complete a scenario comprised of 5 representative tasks. Users identified battery life as an important handheld issue, were positive regarding a display-based approach to reducing battery consumption and varied consistently in their enthusiasm for specific interfaces. The findings highlight themes for the research and design of future energy-aware interfaces.

Augmenting refrigerator magnets: why less is sometimes more

In this paper we present a number of augmented refrigerator magnet concepts. The concepts are shown to be derived from previous research into the everyday use of fridge surfaces. Three broadly encompassing practices have been addressed through the concepts: (i) organization/planning in households; (ii) reminding; and (iii) methods household members use to assign ownership to particular tasks, activities and artifacts. Particular emphasis is given to a design approach that aims to build on the simplicity of magnets so that each of the concepts offers a basic, simple to operate function. The concepts, and our use of what we call this less is more design sensibility are examined using a low-fidelity prototyping exercise. The results of this preliminary work suggest that the concepts have the potential to be easily incorporated into household routines and that the design of simple functioning devices lends itself to this.

In-car concepts to support working parents

Working parents are an interesting segment of the population because they have heavy demands in both home and work spheres. In an initial, in-depth study [1], we discovered many different strategies that working parents employ to help them cope with work and family demands whether they are at work, at home or mobile. This research also highlighted working parents’ heavy dependency on the car as a kind of “mobile habitat” in which work and home demands are dealt with. More particularly, we found that the car is the context within which the transition both geographically and mentally between work and home life is managed. Because of this, working parents spoke of a number of particular stresses associated with car travel

Investigating How Smartphone Movement is Affected by Body Posture

We present an investigation into how hand usage is affected by different body postures (Sitting at a table, Lying down and Standing) when interacting with smartphones. We theorize a list of factors (smartphone support, body support and muscle usage) and explore their influence the tilt and rotation of the smartphone. From this we draw a list of hypotheses that we investigate in a quantitative study. We varied the body postures and grips (Symmetric bimanual, Asymmetric bimanual finger, Asymmetric bimanual thumb and Single-handed) studying the effects through a dual pointing task. Our results showed that the body posture Lying down had the most movement, followed by Sitting at a table and finally Standing. We additionally generate reports of motions performed using different grips. Our work extends previous research conducted with multiple grips in a sitting position by including other body postures, it is anticipated that UI designers will use our results to inform the development of mobile user interfaces.

Designing for Multiple Hand Grips and Body Postures within the UX of a moving Smartphone

In this paper we explore how screen-based smartphone interaction can be enriched when designers focus on the physical interaction issues surrounding the device. These consist of the hand grips used (Symmetric bimanual, Asymmetric bimanual with thumb, Single handed, Asymmetric bimanual with finger), body postures (Sitting at a table, Standing, Lying down) and the tilting of the smartphone itself. These physical interactions are well described in the literature and several research papers provide empirical metrics describing them. In this paper, we go one step further by using this data to generate new screen-based interactions. We achieved this by conducting two workshops to investigate how smartphone interaction design can be informed by the physicality of smartphone interaction. By analysing the outcomes, we provide 14 new screen interaction examples with additional insights comparing outcomes for various body postures and grips.

The HomeCar organiser: designing for blurring home-car boundaries

Ubiquitous computing is having an important impact on family life with a wide range of technologies supporting and creating the need for connected and smarter homes. In particular, mobile devices are allowing families to connect activities across spaces, which include the home and the car. This paper presents a new design concept -- the HomeCar Organiser -- which is a connected system that enables families to coordinate schedules, activities and artifacts between the home and activities placed in the car. The design of HomeCar Organiser was informed by an empirical ethnographic study of family car travel practices in the UK over one and a half years. The study motivated us to consider how routine practices of everyday life are negotiated through and in the car while supported by a range of technologies.