Playful Interaction
METTE AGGER ERIKSEN1, PETER GALL KROGH1, MARTIN LUDVIGSEN2 1 Aarhus School of Architecture, Noerreport 16, 8000 Århus C, Denmark 2 Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, Aabogade 34,DK 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
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Abstract: The video Playful Interaction describes a future architectural office, and envisions ideas and concepts for playful interactions between people, materials and appliances in a pervasive and augmented working environment. The video both describes existing developments, technologies and designs as well as ideas not yet implemented such as playful modes of interaction with an augmented ball. Playful Interaction has been used as a hybrid of a vision video and a video prototype (1). Externally the video has been used to visualising our new ideas, and internally the video has also worked to inspire and encourage dialogue between the different disciplines involved in the EU funded, ‘Disappearing Computer’ project WorkSPACE.
Keywords: Interaction utilising space and body, playful working environments, video prototype vs. vision video, multidisciplinary design, encouraging dialogue.
1. Background The domain of interest in the WorkSPACE project is creative professionals like landscape architects, and from studying this domain we have learned that important aspects in their working environments amongst others include: shifting modes of collaboration, easy access to visual and tactile inspiration and a spatial organisation of materials (2). The involved disciplines in the project are computer scientists, ethnomethodologists, information scientists, industrial designers and architects. And the overall objective is to develop and experiment with technologies and physical prototypes including interactive walls, tables and mobile appliances (3) (4). The aim is to support different work situations by enabling intuitive, meaningful and transparent transitions between the appliances, e.g. by combining digital and physical working materials through the
appliances, e.g. by combining digital and physical working materials through the use of RFID-tags (5). The idea of the video is to illustrate existing developments and technologies in the project, together with new ideas of tools for interaction as they might be implemented in an ideal setting, and to focus on the element of playfulness rather than functionality and efficiency.
2. The video Playful Interaction is a hybrid of a vision video and a video prototype. The video was recorded in a ‘virtual set’ where it was possible to mix real world objects and actors with 3D imagery in a coherent context. The video shows a level of finish, which could characterise it as a vision video. Also adding to the video film-like elements like voice-over and a soundtrack adds to this characterization. However we see the distinction between vision video and video prototype more in how the video is used in the design process. A vision video is a presentation of a concept or project, whereas a video prototype is an extended sketch; an idea set forward to be tested in the iterative process of design. Externally it has been used to visualise our ideas for playful interactions with computers, where as it internally has been used to encourage dialogue between the different disciplines, in order to broaden the perspective on our own work and reposition the boundaries of the project.
2.1 New interaction ideas envisioned The setting in the video is a future office for architects. We envision an office environment where transitions between selected surfaces (walls, tables, shelves, floors, doors, etc.) can happen through gestures, physical materials (6) and through appliances such as a ball.
Figure 1: Picking up documents and ‘furnishing’ the individual workspace with the ball, extending the users range.
In the following we will focus on the ball as a potential playful appliance for different types of interaction. A ball is a dynamic object, and most people are familiar with its semantics and the activities that it usually engages us in e.g. collaborative games, informal play, etc.
Figure 4: In a creative workplace like an architectural office, collaboration takes place on many different levels and in many different settings.
Around the office the ball enables users to ‘furnish’ the environment with different materials, giving colleagues a peripheral awareness about ongoing work. Traditionally many architects organizes materials from a project this way, in order to have as easy access to as much of the drafted materials, plans, maps etc as possible. The ball can pick up or position digital documents on interactive surfaces, so whenever the ball hits a displayed digital document it will pick it up, and when it hits a vacant space, it will release the document that was most recently been picked up.
Figure 3: Preparing a meeting room using the ball to adjust the position and rotation of the pictures placed on the walls.
The analogue qualities of the ball bring an intrinsic imprecision to the interaction with digital materials. However, being able to create a temporary environment for a meeting by fluently bringing documents forward in a fast and seamless interaction, would often be far more important, than the exact positioning of these documents. Between the fingertips, the ball can subsequently be used to roughly adjust the scale position and rotation of the document.
Figure 4: Informal exchange of materials between colleagues by passing the ball.
In the central space of the office an interactive floor contains information from a mixture of projects, published for colleagues to get inspired and share knowledge.
The ball is not a personal object so metaphorically it enables transference of energy from one person to another giving a very physical dimension to the exchange of information and inspiration, continuously migrating around the office.
2.2 Playfulness Today almost all work on computers takes place from the same physical position using the same tools. We argue that different types of work situations call for different interaction modes – varying in e.g. level of precision and scale. Playful Interaction explores and expands this range of interaction modes between the digital and the physical, and as an interface the ball proposes intuitive and playful ways of supporting transitions between different room-based appliances. The ball insists on interaction as a bodily experience, and would change the working environment into a more informal setting where the sharing of knowledge also includes social and playful interaction (7).
3. Using video as a generative method Based on our experiences both vision videos and video prototypes are very powerful methods for communicating ideas of future use scenarios (8). However the video prototype is a more active design-tool. With a video prototype a designer is able to describe a scenario and an idea to other participants in a design project. The video invites discussions ranging from detailed technology- and implementation driven discussions e.g. the ball as a tool, to the overall discussions of the conceptual frame, in our case the idea of playfulness in the physical interaction in a pervasive computing environment. The video becomes a shared language equally understandable and usable to all in interdisciplinary discussions. Within the WorkSPACE project all the different disciplines are familiar with video prototyping as a method for fast sketching of future use-scenarios, and everybody has immediately been able to grasp the ideas and start developing them even further, both through brainstorming and critical review. Playful Interaction has helped broaden the perspective on our own work, and reposition the boundaries of the project. With this video and the discussions it has raised, we have come to a better understanding of the considerable differences, in how the respective disciplines addresses a design challenge in the project.
4. Acknowledgements. Thank you to our colleagues in the WorkSPACE project, funded by the EU, IST, 'Disappearing Computer' project WorkSPACE (IST-2000-25290), and for the productive and fun collaboration with the people from CAVI at Aarhus University.
5. References: 1. Mackay, W. , Video Techniques for Participatory Design: Observation, Brainstorming and Prototyping, Tutorial at Interact99, 1999 2. Büscher M. et al., Spaces of Practice In W. Prinz et al. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. 139-158. Bonn, Germany: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001 3. Bødker S. et. al.: The interactive design collaboratorium In M. Hirose (Ed.), Proceedings of the Interact '01 . 51-58. Tokyo, japan: IFIP. 2001 4. Grønbæk K. et al. Interactive Room Support for Complex and Distributed Design Projects In M. Hirose (Ed.), Proceedings of the Interact '01 . 407-414. Tokyo, Japan: IFIP. 2001 5. Büscher M. et al. In formation: Support for flexibility, mobility, collaboration, and coherence. Submitted for Appliance Design Conference 2003. 6. Ishii H. et al., Emerging Frameworks for Tangible User Interfaces, In Carroll J. M. (Ed.), ”Human-Computer Interaction in the New Millenium”, p. 579-601. 2001 7. Djajadiningrat J. P. et al., Augmenting Fun and Beauty: A Pamphlet, proceedings of DARE2000, p. 131-134, Aarhus, Denmark, 2000 8. Bardram J. et al., Virtual Video Prototyping of Pervasive Healthcare Systems, proceedings of DIS2002, p. 167180. London, UK, 2002
