S Sietske Klooster

Move to get moved: a search for methods, tools and knowledge to design for expressive and rich movement-based interaction

The world is inherently meaningful for us, i.e. we perceive the world in terms of what we can do with it, and by physically interacting with it we access this meaning and express the meaning. We believe that this is the core reason and foundation for turning to movement-based interaction. ‘Interaction creates meaning’ does not only hold for users during interaction but also for designers when generating ideas and developing concepts. Therefore, we postulate that if one truly likes to design for movement-based interaction, one has to be or become an expert in movement, not just theoretically, by imagination or on paper, but by doing and experiencing while designing. In order to do so, we believe that designers need design tools, techniques, knowledge, awareness and skills that support their search for expressive, rich behaviour. Our search for this support resulted in several methods, tools and knowledge that help designers exploring, visualising and reflecting on interactions. Our developed methods and tools such as the Design Movement approach with its choreography of interaction, gestural design tools, interactive installations and interactive tangible sketching, have not only supported and inspired designers to design for movement-based interaction, but also resulted in surprising, fresh designs in comparison with the limited scope of rather uniform and traditional electronic consumer products. This paper discusses the possibilities and limitations of our approach.

Urban Computing and Mobile Devices

n this issues Works in Progress department, we have 12 urban computing and mobile device entries that span a wide range of computing and social areas. The first entry examines how an urban environment could operate as a large-scale, real-time control system. One project focuses on annotating public spaces and sharing the tags with others. Two projects tie together social networking in cyberspace with local urban communities. Two projects examine computing and social interactions in physical spaces. Two entries explore how to combine synthetic and physical views of urban environments. Four entries investigate how we explore urban spaces, interact with technology in those spaces, and create shared community histories.In this issues Works in Progress department, we have 12 urban computing and mobile device entries that span a wide range of computing and social areas. The first entry examines how an urban environment could operate as a large-scale, real-time control system. One project focuses on annotating public spaces and sharing the tags with others. Two projects tie together social networking in cyberspace with local urban communities. Two projects examine computing and social interactions in physical spaces. Two entries explore how to combine synthetic and physical views of urban environments. Four entries investigate how we explore urban spaces, interact with technology in those spaces, and create shared community histories.

Contact through canvas: an entertaining encounter

When meeting someone new, the first impression is often influenced by someone’s physical appearance and other types of prejudice. In this paper, we present TouchMeDare, an interactive canvas, which aims to provide an experience when meeting new people, while preventing visual prejudice and lowering potential thresholds. The focus of the designed experience was to stimulate people to get acquainted through the interactive canvas. TouchMeDare consists of a flexible, opaque canvas, which plays music when touched simultaneously from both sides. Dynamic variation of this bodily contact is reflected through real-time adaptations of the musical compositions. Two redesigns were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated and a final version was placed in the Lowlands Festival as a case study. Evaluation results showed that some explanation was needed for the initial interaction with the installation. On the other hand, after this initial unfamiliarity passed, results showed that making bodily contact through the installation did help people to get acquainted with each other and increased their social interaction.