mulkfiction-blog

[mulkfiction-blog]

Dwelling in Digital Spaces: Designing for Human Behaviour in Screens

     The metaphoric extension of ‘dwelling’ transitions feelings of being at home within the user from the physical world into digital space. As designers, the adoption of screen space as a physical entity allows users to feel comfortable and grounded; it creates an experiential space for human behaviour to reside. When interactions provoke positive feelings of homeliness, users are more inclined to extend their experience, thus prolonging interaction sustainability.

     By drawing on Otto Friedrich Bollnow’s “On Human Space”, parallels between the human body and the physical world can be made to understand the importance of dwelling. Combined with Matthew Frederick’s “101 Things I Learned at Architecture School”, key insights in building architectural structures can be applied to designing digital interactions. To design for dwelling, this paper will explore the architectural approach of physical space and human space through the concepts of Program, Solid Void Theory, Arrival, and Circulation to give designers a framework for designing interactive artifacts that afford for human experiences.

     Frederick (2007) uses the term ‘Program’ to define organized space as an experience (Frederick, 2007, p.34). The interaction must be designed to accommodate for the intentions of the user. According to Bollnow (2011), experienced space is “manifested in concrete human life” (Bollnow, 2011, p.19). Therefore, experienced space must be discussed in relation to the human and its context. By synthesizing the two, the manifestation of the human in digital space can only be done through bodily engagement within the experience of the interaction.

     Context is an important characteristic to consider when designing. The Program of an interaction must be connected to the contextual data of the human body in order to create an experienced space. By conducting user research and defining the user, identifying pain points, user behaviours, and user needs and goals, it provides designers insights for creating journey frameworks and fluid taskflows. To create meaningful and impactful interactions, user centred design must be integrated from the beginning of the design process ensuring that users are at the heart of every interaction.

     Furthermore, Bollnow (2011) argues that space is “fixed in relation to man, within which… movement takes place” (Bollnow, 2011, p.24). Orientation resides within the human body, it gives a sense of guidance and direction.  Not only is it important to understand the orientation of the human body within the physical realm, it is crucial when transitioning into the digital. Being oriented in digital space keep users from getting lost within the vast and infinite spaces.

     To help the user in orienting, common interaction patterns can be used. By adopting common visual affordances and gestures, users can intuitively navigate through the interaction. Details in consistency are also important to pay attention to when designing. Using interactions that the user is already accustomed to and implementing them consistently creates a seamless experience for users to efficiently meet their user goal.

     Additionally, the ‘Solid Void Theory’ is applicable to designing for digital spaces. As defined by Frederick (2007), the Solid Void Theory holds that “a three-dimensional space is considered a positive space if it has a defined shape and a sense of boundary or threshold between in and out” (Frederick, 2007, p.20). In architecture, three-dimensional volumes are used to create spaces in which humans can experience different notions – dwelling and interacting. This concept of positive space can be applied to digital spaces in the context of the user’s ability to comfortably explore within this threshold.

     To design for a positive space, protection against outside threats must be addressed. As Bollnow (2011) claimed, to dwell “special effort is demanded” (Bollnow, 2011, p.123). The space of the house “is the area of rest and peace [where] man can relax his constant alert attention to possible threats” (Bollnow, 2011, p.125). Threats must be resolved and security measures must be attended to before man can dwell.

     As designers, it is vital to provide a space in which users feel protected and safe from threats. The threats found that can interfere with interaction design and sustainability stem from a lack of a design process, badly conducted user research, and design inconsistencies. In order for users to dwell in digital space, designers must provide a well-thought and planned out environment that accommodates human behaviour. To do that, a design process that supports iteration and empathy through all stages of ideation, user research, prototyping, and usability testing must be implemented.

     Building from this theory, the user’s ability to venture into metaphorical depth and being able to interact with the spaces provided mimic the way humans would interact physically with solid voids. Metaphoric depth has an explorative attribute. Users move through layers of the interaction through exploration and discovery. To demonstrate, the Spotify browse feature is a prime example of a positive space in which users dwell. The user moves through layers of the interaction to discover endless new music, there is no specific user goal to meet except exploration. It is dependant on contextual data and is a significant characteristic to consider when developing positive spaces for features.

     Equally important is how users arrive in space. The ‘Arrival’  is imperative in seducing humans to stay. The “satisfaction and richness of experiences” come from “mentally [connecting] visual cues from surroundings to needs and expectations” (Frederick, 2007, p.32). Strategic use of the experience of negative space is used to guide the user to positive space. The journey to the entry enhances the overall experience of the structure making it more rewarding for the user.

     This journey is familiar to how users arrive in digital space. The design of the landing page, the loading page, and the onboarding process is where first impressions are made. Visual details and the language of the interaction must appeal to the context of the user. Depending on the context of use, designers need to pay attention to the composition of the interface’s visual shapes, sizes, and colours. By implementing a style guide and grid structure, it helps in information hierarchy and decluttering. Language in design writing must also be taken into consideration. Copywrite vocabulary sets the tone for the overall interface. By maintaining clarity and inclusivity, it sets an inviting and welcoming mood to the user.

     Hand in hand with Arrival, the concept of denial and reward creates an “enrich passage” by “[diverting] users onto an unexpected path to create additional intrigue” (Frederick, 2007, p.32). Challenging expectations by counterpointing the Arrival helps in building up feelings of anticipation within the user. Temporary lostness allows users to explore while still maintaining a compelling user goal.

    A prime example of denial and reward is Snapchat. Snapchat’s approach to arriving in certain features adds to its interaction sustainability. As an exception, Snapchat uses design inconsistencies to their advantage; it plays with the line between keeping interactions interesting and potentially hindering user experience. Its success lies in new user content through exploration. It monopolizes on hidden features that its users stumble upon while accessing its main feature of sending photos. By hiding features and content, the discovery adds a playful element keeping interactions pleasureable and users engaged.

     Lastly, good ‘Circulation’ allows people to “move through negative spaces to dwell in positive spaces” (Frederick, 2007, p.22). Bollnow (2011) mentions that space is “structured as a totality of places and areas that belong together” (Bollnow, 2011, p.195). Circulation connects people to the the Program of the building; it conjoins a series of spaces. A good circulation combined with denial and reward emphasizes on the positive space that allows people to linger and interact. Additionally, Circulation “work both efficiently and aesthetically” while “offering pleasant surprises” (Frederick, 2007, p.156). Therefore, the journey to the positive space is as intriguing as the space itself; it adds to the reward of the program.

     The circulation system of an interaction can be recognizable as linking digital spaces together. This can be done through animations, visuals, and gestures. These elements give users the idea that they are entering a new space, yet is still connected in one continuous expanding space.

     Animations are a great way of transitioning from one space to another seamlessly. For example, when clicking on a hyperlink, animations such as overlay or easing can help the user spatially orient themselves. It creates a visual relationship from one screen to another through movement and time.

     Gestures, such as swiping and scrolling, give a consistent and continuous tactile feel when navigating through an application. By using interaction patterns and consistent gestures, it gives users the feeling like they are physically moving the space with their fingers.

     Through visuals, relationships between spaces are illustrated on screen. Visual connections and grouping can be made with gestalt principles. Especially through branding and colours, uniformity is easily established by the user.

     Altogether, Bollnow (2011) and Frederick (2007) give designers an understanding of creating a space for humans to dwell. Bollnow’s (2011) definition of dwelling in relation to human space can be metaphorically extended into digital spaces. By combining Bollnow’s (2011) philosophical findings with Frederick’s (2007) practices on how to build architectural structures, key ideas can be applied to creating meaningful user-centred interactions. Defining the Program of the interaction through user research, user needs and desires can guide the design early on. The implementation of the Solid Void Theory protect users against potential threats and encourages further exploration of the interaction. The first impression of an interaction is made at the Arrival, visuals and language are essential in keeping users engaged. A good Circulation lets users move through the negative space of the interaction to the Program. It connects spaces together and highlights on areas in which the user can dwell. In essence, these concepts, when implemented in the early stages of the design process, can afford the feeling of home and a desire to dwell within a user.

References

Bollnow, O., Shuttleworth, C., & Kohlmaier, J. (2011). Human space / O.F. Bollnow; translated by Christine Shuttleworth; edited by Joseph Kohlmaier.

Frederick, M. (2007). 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School / Matthew Frederick.

[mulkfiction-blog]

servo

WEEK TWO 🔉

For this week, we finished the javascript animations of the interface and decided on whether or not we wanted to continue from building off where we left off in the materials workshop.

1. (Materials) Because we had limited experience with materials and the time limitation on module three, we weren’t really sure when we would hit the breakthrough and wasn’t really sure what this is what we should be focussing on. We kind of struggled with continuing with the sound by reflecting on what connection did the sound have to do with the interaction and came to the conclusion that during our tinkering, we got a bit lost and wasn’t exactly sure what we were doing with it. We weren’t sure whether or not it was arbitrary.

2. (Javascript) We wanted to implement different animations on the interface to engage the user. We wanted the user to use hover and click in different ways to trigger an output feedback.

3. (Coaching with Clint) Notes:

- The interaction could be a bit artificial, not as organic because of the way we focused on the visuals and the motor separately

- Using a contact speaker

- Expressing individual items in the field or the field itself?

- Servo can’t be precise, do we go against or go with it?

- What is the general character of the thing rather than the individual thing

- Do we appreciate for what it is, all one thing?

-Challenge: for the user to find their own activity around it and be able to play with it, how you’re upsetting the whole field rather than manipulating the individual

- Motor can be more of an extension of the cursor rather than the object

- What’s the metaphor of the interaction?

- Probing the objects?

- More residing in you rather than the objects

- Maybe the dark blue square have more of a harder movement and the opaque one, softer. Feeling the triangles, tactile feedback? A surface that you’re touching and probing, not really seeing the objects as active as much

- Overall turbulence of the thing versus the individual

- What conceptualization of this do we want to go with?

- Movements: back and forth between small ranges

- Framing: What are we representing?

After talking to Clint, we decided that we wanted to play with the field as a whole. We definitely agreed that we should have built the whole interaction together along with the servo and the interface. It would have made it a more organic interaction versus it being forced because we weren’t entirely sure how to connect the Arduino servo into the sketch. Following that, we wanted to make the darker colours more intense and the clicking more intense.

4. (Arduino Sound) By using delays() and servo.write(), we first started by playing with the rhythm of the  Arduino servo sound to mimic the movement of the animations as a way to connect the user to the interface. We wanted to explore user understanding through a direct connection of the animation.

5. (Movement)

6. (Intensity) After getting the hover to work a bit better, we wanted to compare and contrast it to a user prodding and poking at it. As Clint said, “Motor can be more of an extension of the cursor rather than the object.”

7. (Insights) It didn’t really end up the way we wanted it to because of us struggling with the code a lot. We wanted more hovering interactions and felt that it would have been a lot more like an extension of the cursor. How does sound represent the intensity of the sketch when the user probes it? Does sound add depth/ 3D?

Some insights we found:

Movement versus Intensity/ the whole versus the Object:

- the movement has to be precise

- moving the light blue triangles taught us the importance of easing in and easing out in animations, to make it a fluid experience

- Intensity

- Which ones are more intense and how do you judge that?

- Animation versus visual intensity

- Which one catches your eye more? The visuals?

Colour, hierarchy, /Gestalts are all characteristics that affect it

Colour sticks out more

- Which ones do we use?

- the faster the animation, the more intense it is

Loudness versus Intensity

How does the loudness of the servo play into the intensity of it? Is the sound it’s making intense or is it just the volume?

- the intensity in the sketch versus the servo

- servo

- delay

- movement

- loudness

- visuals

- colour

- movement

combined as a whole?

8. (Coaching with Jens)

- Animations

- Experimenting with coupling animations with sound and how that affects the experience and feeling

- Relationship between animations, how they can be enhanced and supported with sound

- something in the animations that we are emphasizing through sound or vice versa

- How does visual intensity go into sound intensity?

- Vocabulary has limitations (“intensity”)

- Intensity: call and a response?

[mulkfiction-blog]

servo

WEEK ONE ⚡️

What Lisa and I struggled with the most was coming up with a topic to start exploring and to start tinker with.

1. (Brainstorming) Because of the interactive abstract emotion art I was tinkering with during module one, I was really interested in exploring expressionism. I wanted to build off of it and make something that took in user input and generated art using the servo.

At first, I was really ambitious and was looking up ways to hook up the Arduino to the Xbox Kinect, I wanted to explore movement and expressionism through user movement interaction. We also thought about using camera vision again and attaching it to the servo as an expression.

Something else I thought of was to use the servo as an input. If the user was to turn it, it would turn the onscreen interface,  kind of like a kaleidoscope for kids.

After discussing it with Lisa, we noticed that the servo made a lot of sounds. It had a harsh motor mechanic feel to it and we wanted to use it as an output. How do we build from the motor? How do we use sound as an expression?

What we really liked out of our brainstorm session was to use the servo as an output, we didn’t want to use it to mimic or point to things. We wanted to play with the idea of sound as well.

2. (Attributes) We struggled a lot with finding a direction to follow so we referred back to the interaction attributes. We went down the list and picked the ones we wanted to use as a guideline. It sparked a lot of questions about the type of interaction we want to explore and produce.

Diverging: unusual, unnatural, amplified, grasping for attention

Covered: magic, excitement, exploration, action-mode, witchcraft, deeply impress somebody

- Inconstant = random?

Mediated: Uncertainty, ambiguity, magic, handing over the responsibility (the interaction

happens somewhere else), you don’t put much of yourself in it

As something abstract and expressionistic, we wanted it to grab the user’s attention while still keeping it playful and explorative. We began discussing whether or not we wanted to make an implicit or an explicit interaction. Does it become an implicit output just because you don’t understand it? Is user understanding related or correlated to an interaction being explicit or implicit outputs? What is the connection to user understanding?

3. (User Expectations) We thought about challenging user expectations and user understanding. If we were to make an illogical interaction where the user’s expectations were proven wrong, what type of feeling and interaction would that create? What would that add to the interaction and how far would we be about to push it? As from module one and two, a common theme that kept coming back to me was the sustainability of the interaction. Like mentioned in the module before, Snapchat sustains on its playfulness and its users' exploration. Does making an interaction illogical make it more sustainable in the long run? What happens when the user figures it out? Going back to Module two, me and Adam’s definition of metaphorical depth and distance, I can draw comparisons with user exploration of illogical interactions to adding depth to the interaction. We also were thinking of exploring delay feedback and instant feedback.

4. (Movements) We continued further and started by trying to connect movements to sound. We wanted to create an interactive interface where the user would explore the field and the motor would move. It would include delayed dragging, longer movements, and changing colours. So essentially, How do we connect sound to the interaction on screen? What kind of interaction does that mean to the user?

5. (Sketch) We created a graphical user interface for the user to interact with:

Gestures

—> random triangles

- Double click —> changes colour

- Hover —> move away to different spots

- Drag & drop

- Scrolling

- Rotate

6. (Notes on Coaching from Clint)

- Find a motivation, find some tensions

—> aspects diminish, push and pull to conclude something

- Micro vs macro

- The whole ix

- Different ix techniques activating hovering

- Why should that on screen ix have that sound?

- Sound has depth because the ix has depth

- Contact mics, amplifier? —> inside of the interaction, immersive interaction

7. (Sound) After the coaching session, we spent a day in the materials workshop and tried to build out from the servo and create a sound that would hide the harsh mechanic sound of the servo. We were thinking of mimicking the sounds hovering, clicking, and panning. We wanted to play with organic sounds versus louder and harsher sounds. We found it really difficult since we had limited experience on materials and we struggled a lot with a flexible enough material to move and scrape the surface.

[mulkfiction-blog]

space overview

SHOW N’ TELL  🎤

An overview of what Adam and I learned about space this module:

We started off with the question “How do we explore distance and depth in metaphorical 3D space within 2D space?” Through looking at other apps, we discovered two things, depth is more about exploring and discovering things while distance is more about the essentials. Through the Spotify app, we realized that when talking about depth and distance, it is dependent on context and what the user is doing. Going to artists or choosing a song is going the distance whereas browse and random playlists the user is going through extra layers and going in depth with no end goal. With the Messenger app, choosing a friend and chatting them, the user is going the distance. Going through the features, like gifs, location, games, bots, the user is going in depth. Going the distance has a user aim and going in depth is more explorative.

Taken from the readings, dwelling in space protects a human from outside threats and provides security. By metaphorically extending dwelling to digital space, threats we discovered for users when dwelling in digital space was not knowing what to do, inconsistencies, interaction sustainability, and information hierarchy. We also explore the exception of Snapchat and why they were so successful. There is a thin line between interaction patterns being too inconsistent, yet still being playful and explorative maintaining sustainability.

We continued on in trying to link spaces and explored how to make it seem like a continuous space through animations, gestures, and visuals. Through animations, we talked a lot about the pros and cons of parallax, obscuration, easing, and overlay. We tinkered with the overlay by using the button to expand the space into a new page.

(Hypebeast App) With swiping gestures, we developed a new Hypebeast app that uses a grid user task flow to navigate through the app. We discovered that it made the app more consistent, uniformed the space and linked it together. By stripping it down to the basics, it made it seem like a bigger space when the articles seem “connected”.

(Desktop) With the MacBook animation example, we wanted to link the personalized space into one big space. We took a look at how the MacBook and the iPhone differs and tried to imitate the desktop to look like the iPhone’s home tabs. We removed the bar and added a scroll animation to connect the spaces together creating a more seamless experience between the desktops.

Critique Notes “Interactive”: engaging - Can be horrible and pleasurable? Desktop - Scrolling space → infinite? -Snapping feature can be discontinuous, separating What are the advantages of exploring metaphorical depth and distance? What was the point of discussing this? Does it serve any purpose? Conventions - Settled form historical reasons —> challenge historical conventions that have been engrained More articulate about the results

Reflection With this module, I think the most I gained out of it was exploring metaphorically how depth and distance relate to space and how animations can add and take away from the experience.

I think the advantages of exploring metaphorical depth and distance can help with features in applications. We talked about how distance is an essential function of the app and how depth is optional and explorative. We discussed a lot on how everything depends on user context. I think we can take this information and use it to make applications sustainable by providing users optional layers of depth to an app. Like Snapchat, beyond the essential distance of snapping someone a photo, users can explore and play within the app. If making certain features discoverable, it would maintain certain interactions.

Making an experience isn't just about making it interactive, it can be engaging in both a horrible and good way. What makes a good interface is about making it communicative, it should relay the purpose of the interaction through a seamless experience.

During this module, we tried out too many things so we only scraped the surface. I think it would’ve been more interesting to maybe stick with one challenge. I think we were too excited to start making things that we didn’t really think it through before we started especially with the Spotify app and the perspective Word experiment. Definitely realized that we should work on time management and priorities so that we could have further explored and elaborated.

[mulkfiction-blog]

space

WEEK THREE 🖥 We focused a lot on phone interactions and gestures for the first two weeks and wanted to play around more with desktops.

1. (Desktops) We started comparing the desktop workspace to an iPhone home screen. The iPhone home screen feels like we are panning, the background stays put as the user goes through each tab making it feel like a continuous infinite space instead of it being disjointed like the desktop. The desktop has a black gap with a changing background making it feel like a completely different space.

With our first interaction, we removed the black bar and made a static background. We found that it made the space more continuous by linking it together. It made the desktop look more like one big space instead of multiple smaller screens. What are the advantages of it? Why haven’t Apple changed it? It could become a bit disoriented if the user has more than five screens.

We reiterated it to include a scroll bar to indicate which desktop the user is on. We wanted to help the user know where they are and to not get lost in the scrolling. We made it so that it snaps to the screen, not as a scroll so that it still separates the desktops. Aesthetically, I prefer it more, but it removes the choice of personalizing your desktop with multiple wallpapers. I think it creates a more seamless and fluid experience when moving through each desktop and full-screen opened window.

[mulkfiction-blog]

space

WEEK TWO 🚀

1. (Spotify) To get started, we played around with the hammer.js gestures and brainstormed how certain gestures help with linking spaces. We decided to use Spotify as an example. We explored how gestures can add to interactions and the user’s experience in moving through the space. We made a user flow grid where the user navigates through the app through a series of swipes in hopes of creating a continuous and fluid movement and space as the user moves through the features. We added a home button because Spotify was such a big app and if the user was to move through it fluidly, they would have to be able to go back to home.

Map of our grid:

How to navigate to playlist:

We came across some problems with the code, in loading the next playlist.f. Upon further discussion and reflection, we weren’t too sure what we were doing with it and thought it needed to be scoped down. We decided to move on from the Spotify app and put it on hold for a bit since we became too fixated on the way it looked instead of the interaction itself and the way it explored space.

2. (Threats to Dwelling) Me and Adam decided to go back to brainstorming about space and how the user may feel at home in a digital space. How do we, as designers, provide the user a place to dwell? How do we provide them security? What are the threats? We started off by listing the threats and understanding what may hinder an experience in hopes of creating a space where users can feel safe to dwell.

Main threats we came up with:

The user feeling disoriented, not knowing where to go within the app

Example scenario: when a user wants to buy a t-shirt through an e-commerce site, hits the back button to edit their address, instead of taking the user back to the address, it restarts the whole buying process creating a frustrating and undesirable experience

Example scenario: the user accidentally hits the back button and loses the place they were scrolling to resulting in having to scroll through all the content again to access unseen content, can hinder the user experience if the user has already scrolled through a good chunk of the content and have to restart the process again

ie. using tap as zoom

ie. using swipe to go back, but also using swipe to pan in a different feature of an app

Must be consistent and uninformed to not feel a disconnect within the space

Keeping interactions and apps sustainable over time

An exception we talked about was Snapchat, how its inconsistencies in design somehow manages to help keep the app sustainable to its users. From last module, Clint asked how to make an interaction sustainable. Snapchat’s success lies in its users discovering something new every time they open it. It monopolizes on hidden features for the users to explore. There is a thin line between where inconsistencies in interactions can be interesting and engaging to the user and where it can be frustrating and hinder the user experience. Snapchat is a playful app that allows the user to discover new things. Which made me question: Snapchat, depth or distance? Snapchat, the main feature of sending an image to someone could be going the distance whereas discovering new features, like Shazam and news, is going in depth.

3. (Continuous Space) Is it possible to create an intuitive sense of continuity between linked spaces? We took a look at how to link spaces within one big space through animations, gestures, and visuals. How do we create a sense and understanding of movement and change in space, yet feel connected

Animations are a combination of space and time. Speed is a super important factor to consider when designing animations since it can add to the experience or hinder it drastically. We decided to review the following animations: obscuration, parallax, easing, overlay, and dimensionality. 

Example: when on the iPhone you click into a folder and it obscures the home page

If it attracts users to stay on the page, does it make it sustainable though? Would users eventually get over the fun factor of parallax?

Can be disorienting 

Not completely necessary, it is fun and cool, but isn’t essential 

Can be visually distracting, taking away from the content of the page

Gestures vary from phone and desktop. We took a look at how the MacBook uses the trackpad and force touch to navigate around the interface versus how the iPhone uses swiping and tapping gestures. We concluded that the iPhone had a more tactile approach and felt like the user was actually using their fingers to move through the space because of how tangible a phone is.

We also talked about how important visuals can be when tying together space. Visuals such as colour palette, hierarchy, and icons must be consistent when moving from one space to another for uniformity.

4. (Hypebeast App) After discussing about gestures and the way they add to the interaction, we decided to go back to the Spotify grid navigation and scope it down to a news site that only includes top ten articles. We chose to use Hypebeast content so we have something to design around.

How does this change the screen space?

Makes it more consistent

Creates a uniformed space by linking them together

Could be disorienting if there are more pages linked together

Strips down the app to the basics, simpler

Feels like a bigger space when the articles are “connected”

More tangible

Continuity

Gesture of dragging connects the spaces together

Easy to understand what you’re doing

Reflecting on it, we came to the conclusion that this design is only suitable for a phone sized screen because of its simplicity. On a tablet or desktop there would be too much empty and dead space. The gestures and the interaction of dragging/ swiping does not have the same experience on a desktop as on a phone. Using a phone and touch makes the interaction more direct by removing the extra barrier of the tool/mouse.

5. (Personalizing digital space) How can we more easily move things around in digital space? How can we furnish a digital workplace so things we are working on and with are ‘at hand’ and ‘in view’? After the accelerator workshop, we played around a bit with perspectives and how they add to personalized space by connecting it back to the text.

What is personalize space?

Macbook desktops

Smartphones

Photoshop

Messenger

Tumblr, blogs, etc.

We wanted to create something where the user can personalize and edit text. The box follows the perspective and point of view of the user around as they edit a document. We weren’t too invested in this example as we reflected on what we were doing, we weren’t really sure how it uses the space practically. I think if we were to further develop this idea it would have been interesting to see if we could use perspective in a way where it gives the user everything they need at hand.

[mulkfiction-blog]

space

WEEK ONE 🌫 This week we started off by exploring and comparing different apps and social media platforms on how they use digital space to their advantage. (Partner: Adam Terne)

1. (Brainstorming)

Notes on how to start and from talking to Clint:

Orientation = where you are

Directionality

Where digital spaces meet and don’t meet

Where we are in our file system and the internet

Bodily sense of space

We started by thinking of examples of physical space and how humans move about them.

Maps

We use maps to navigate and direct us from Point A to Point B

Keyboards

Users have a sense of where they are when they are typing while staring at the screen

Actions are intuitive/ muscle memory

Questions we came up with:

How do we explore distance and depth with 2D space? We started with webpages. We came up with a preliminary definition that distance is hyperlinks that take users to other domains whereas depth is hyperlinks that stay within the domain. We started to test it out on different websites to further build upon our definition. Do login screens hinder the user or does it make the user go deeper? Is it comparable to a door, does it take you somewhere?

Spotify We opened up the Spotify app on desktop and started exploring with it. We added to our definition that depth can be measured by whether or not the user is exploring if the user is going deeper into the content or not. Distance is when the user is moving from one place to another. Are preferences distance or depth? Distance has an end goal, the user must have an aim to go the distance. Depth is more about exploring and discovering new things. If a Spotify user was to look through the browse playlists then they are moving through layers, through depth. If they were just selecting a song from an album or artist then they are going the distance. This means that CONTEXT needs to be taken into consideration when talking about metaphorical distance and depth in digital spaces. Do smaller screens make it seem like there is more depth to the app? Why? We found that with smaller screens you are pressing to get further and they are more tangible.

Messenger

With Messenger,  we found that distance is more essential whereas depth is optional. With Messenger’s features, the user can go into the depths of the app to access optional features like location, gifs, bots, games, etc. To talk to someone, the user would only have to go the distance by tapping on the person. It doesn’t affect the overall purpose of the app if the user chooses not to explore the app further and go through the extra layers.

Infinite Scrolling

We came to the conclusion that websites like Pinterest, Facebook feed, Twitter, and Tumblr that use infinite scrolling adds to the depth of the digital space because the user is exploring new content.

How is time relevant to our definition of depth and distance?

Tumblr vs. Instagram

Instagram is posted once, but Tumblr can be shared over and over again. You can only view an Instagram post at a given time frame whereas you can find Tumblr posts from three years ago.

Does your perspective change over time on a website? How is time portrayed? How do we keep interactions sustainable over time?

We also explored on screen size and came to realize that having a bigger screen doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a bigger space to do things. It all depends on the user, most times you can do more on a phone because of its tangibility than on a twenty-one-inch flatscreen. Sometimes it may be physically harder to interact with bigger screens.

2. (Dissecting the text) Notes:

Decisive quality of mathematical space = its homogeneity

Unstructured in itself 

 Regular throughout —> extends in all directions into infinity

Distinct centre

Distinct system of axes

Experienced Space

Space that is manifested in concrete human life ‘éspace vécu’

Medium of human life

Dürkheim: ‘possibility of development’ and as ‘resistance’

Not a neutral, unchanging medium

Full of meanings referencing life, has opposing effects

Change according to tho the locations and areas of space

Kantian

‘Transcendental ideality’ of space

More than a mere form of human experience 

 General form of human living behaviour

Has ‘empirical reality’ 

Space is something fixed in relation to man, within which human movement take place

The Elementary Structure of Space

1 The Aristotelian concept of space

Natural Place

Space has a natural structure

Space as a Vessel

Not a system of relationships between things, but the boundary, completed from the outside, of the volume taken up by a thing

The hollow space bounded by a surrounding cover

Exactly as large as the thing that makes it up

Finite

Can lie within each other

There is no empty space?

Does not extend further than the things that fill it

2 Word usage and etymology

Everyday linguistic usage

Raum: elbow-room for a movement, space/distance between things, ‘free space’ around a person

Narrowness and Width

Linguistic references

Determined by the situation

‘Orte’ and ‘Stellen’ in space

Ort: does not imply extension, a filled surface or a filled space

Always specifically located and precisely fixed point

Retains sense of pointing

Can only move to a different point but can not exchange places and positions

Stelle [Position]

Fixed position of a thing

Place where one puts something and where this is later to be found

3 The natural coordinate system

Vertical axis and horizontal plane: upright man

Aristotle six kinds of space:

Above and below

Front and back

Right and left

Directions naturally arising from the position of the human being standing upright in space

The earth’s surface

Horizontal plane

hree forms of looking back, retreating and returning, represents the three basic forms of natural forward movement in an opposition direction

Perspective

Can never see an object independently of a particular POV

Never see it as it is ‘in itself’

Constantly changing

Always bound to a perspective

Objects change in size according to their distance from the observer

Horizon

Prevents one from getting lost

Gives the means to determine one’s situation and to work out the path of one’s intellect

Always remains the same

Extends in front of people a wide field of vision and movement reaching forward freely into space

A boundary that positively entices one into the distance

Broadens out spatial development for humans and immediately restricts it again

Belongs inseparably to the spatiality of human existence

The placing of man in the center of his space and the horizon that encloses it are thus necessarily dependent on each other

Dwelling

Basic state of human life

To be at home in a particular place, rooted in it, belong to it

Special effort, man must ground himself

Have a fixed place in space, to belong to this place, and to be rooted in it (p.124)

Space and Security

Needs to secure the area by suitable means

Rest and peace

Relax his constant alert attention to possible threats

Offers protection

“We dwell plurally” “with our own” “separate from the others, the strangers”

Must outwardly protect, but also inwardly designed to meet the needs of those who dwell in it. Homeliness?

Mediating structures that interpose themselves?

Distance

Hodological space according to Lewin

The change that in concretely lived and experienced space is added to what we had already designated the accessibility of the respective spatial destinations

Space is structured as a totality of places and areas that belong together

Things to potentially explore further:

** How do we, as designers, provide the user a place to dwell? How do we provide them security? What are the threats?

To feel at home, we use common interaction patterns, things the user is already accustomed to for consistency

Does your perspective change over time on a website? How is time portrayed? How do we keep interactions sustainable over time?

Does your perspective change over time on a website? How is time portrayed? How do we keep interactions sustainable over time?

How does perspective change in digital space?

citations Bollnow, O., Shuttleworth, C., & Kohlmaier, J. (2011). Human space / O.F. Bollnow ; translated by Christine Shuttleworth ; edited by Joseph Kohlmaier.

[mulkfiction-blog]

implicit interactions overview

SHOW N’ TELL 👀 Pulled from the readings and through tinkering, what really stood out about implicit interactions was that they were unobtrusive and invisible. Implicit interactions are designed to be in the background and do not require explicit and direct comments. They are not conscious. It follows a system flow; it collects the contextual data of the user and takes that input and information and transitions it into the foreground. We came up with a set of attributes to reference and to guide us through our tinkering, mediated and uniformed. Mediated as in the user doesn’t put much effort into the interaction since it’s int he background. Uniformed, in the sense that the interaction must be natural and intuitive to the user which would usually mean sticking to common interaction patterns that the user is already accustomed to for a natural flow. So we took this system flow and the attributes and used it as a framework for our sketches.

(Emotion Camera) Like most teams, we started with a system that takes an image of the user’s smile and shares it back to them. The lifestream data is hidden, the system tracking facial data is in the background collecting input and the user’s emotion then triggers the snapshot image. Finally, the system reveals the image to the user. We quickly moved away from that and came up with colour blindness detector.

(Colour Detector) We really struggled with the context of this colour detector for people suffering from colour blindness, we weren’t sure how to make it implicit since the user was explicitly scanning items with the camera. We definitely were stumped with this and after developing it we realized that we had to take a step back and figure out whether or not we were wasting our time. This helped us gather our thoughts and brainstorm more ideas while realizing that context is extremely important when designing implicit interactions.

(Brightness Camera) Using the pixel demo, my partner started tinkering with a brightness camera that tells you to turn the lights on when it is too dark. Once there is sufficient light, the system sets a timer to take a snapshot image and then it reveals it to the user. So like the emotion camera, the system in the background takes in the amount of light as the input and once it has the lighting is at 70%, it triggers the set timer for the photo and brings it to the foreground by revealing it to the user.

(Art Installation) So from there, we came started to play with a few other ideas like a deep-learning shopping cart that scans items for its users, but I quickly realized that I was thinking too conceptually. To move away from that, I wanted to play around and explore the idea of an abstract, interactive art installation. It maps out the user’s emotions using the emotion tracker to generate a live stream colour map. So, it takes in input in the background of the user’s face and transitions it into the foreground in the form of shapes and colours. Different shades of a certain colour are based on the values. Something else I struggled with here, was collecting a certain colour with the right emotions since it’s very subjective. We tested it with different people by placing the computer in front of them without letting them know what the colours meant. What I wanted to do was explore and bridge the discrepancy between the emotions we show and the emotions we are actually feeling. To do that, I wanted to try and catch the user by surprise since usually, that is when emotions are most vulnerable and authentic.

Critique Notes How feelings get expressed and how do we work with it as individuals? Situalizing the material? Socially constructed idea on the criteria of sadness. What is sadness? What are emotions? How to keep it a sustaining interaction? How to keep it ambiguous and how to add depth to it? Am I the agent or is it an agent on its own?

Reflection With this module, I think what I struggled the most with was moving away from concepts. Back home, we are so focused on the overall product we create that I haven’t had the chance to take a step back to just focus on the microinteractions, and to just build and explore. It took awhile for me to wrap my head around what “building knowledge” meant and how to continue from there without a direct end goal. It was definitely nice to get out of my comfort zone and to see where it takes me. 

During the critique, I thought it got a bit philosophical at the end. As designers, we must always take in the emotions of our users so we must be aware of how feelings are expressed and how to translate it. I believe that emotions are part of intuition and a healthy way for our bodies to process information. I feel that although the criteria of sadness could be socially constructed, it is based on the majority of the human population and how they express themselves. Whether or not we as designers want to focus on the majority or the minority would be based on the context of our designs and their target audiences. I think that as an art installation somewhere, it could remain ambiguous and sustainable. However, even if someone was to figure it out, I think it can really give the users the upper hand in finding out a bit about themselves and how they express their emotions. They can take into their own hands on what they want to do with it and how they interpret it. I think it depends on the user on whether or not it can be sustainable. I feel that it doesn’t have to remain ambiguous for it to be effective.

Something else I came across while tinkering and also, from Jens during another group’s presentation was the ethics in implicitness. While combining implicit interactions with camera vision, not only was it a struggle to make implicit, it also made me question whether or not systems taking camera acquired input in the background is at all ethical. Is any implicit interaction that involves the system to take in user data without the user’s awareness ethical at all? We want to design technology that perceives human activity making it more efficient for the user, but where do we draw the line on the information it collects? How do we make things implicit, yet not violate the privacy and security of its users? I think that it is definitely an issue that we as designers must take into account during the design process.

[mulkfiction-blog]

implicit interactions

WEEK THREE ⌨️ Trying to move away from concepts, I wanted to continually build out our emotion camera and play around with the idea of an art installation for the following week before the show n’ tell.

1. (Emotion Camera) With the emotion camera, I kind of got sidetracked and spent a bit longer than I should on it by writing out prompts to make the user smile. I had a good laugh and a lot of fun doing it and testing it out with my friends.  It randomizes jokes on every refresh and when someone smiles or laughs it takes an image of them.

2. (Interactive Art)

Hypothetical Applications:

Maps out the user’s emotions using the emotion tracker to generate a live stream colour map

different shades of a certain colour based on the degree of values

Framework

Background/Proactive

The livestream camera is hidden

Emotion tracker is in the background collecting data and input

Foreground/Proactive

System generates a colour map based on the degree of values

The emotional degree of values is shown at the top left corner of the screen to the user

Foreground/Reactive

The colourful squares start to appear on the colour map at random size and location

different shades of a certain colour is based on the intensity of the emotion

Techniques

User Presentation

The colour map of squares and the values and emotions are indicated to the user

System Presentation

The system takes in the emotion input of the user using the facial tracker and uses the values to base the colours on

Override

The camera stops reading the user’s face when their face is undetectable. It will freeze the frame until the user’s face is detectable again

Attributes

Mediated

The user doesn’t put much effort into the interaction 

The user, at first, is unaware of what the colour map is

Uniformed

Since the user does not know what the map is for, everything the user does to interact with it is intuitive

Things to look out for

The technology isn’t fully developed, it can be very inaccurate

Does not always take input from users wearing glasses

Emotion tracker only shows what the user’s face is displaying, not what they are actually feeling

Trying to connect colours to feelings is very subjective

[mulkfiction-blog]

implicit interactions

WEEK TWO ✏️ During this week, me and my partner went back to exploring the attributes and guidelines we wanted to set for our own implicit interactions. By doing so, we hope to create a guideline in which we can continuously reference during our tinkering. We took the list of our ideas and justified it with the framework from the readings and came up with what we thought were important attributes to keep. With these guidelines, we wanted to make sure that what we were going to build and tinker with was on the right track before we continued further. 

1. (Emotion Camera)

Hypothetical Applications:

Raising awareness for a social issue by playing on the user’s emotions by capturing an image of the user while playing a video or photograph

Promoting a retail item by capturing an image of the user while playing an ad to show them how much they want the item

Framework

Background/Proactive

The livestream camera is hidden

Emotion tracker is in the background collecting data and input

Foreground/Proactive

User’s emotional input triggers the snapshot img

A shutter sound will notify the user

Foreground/Reactive

The system reveals the photo to the user

The photo prompts self-awareness within the user 

Techniques

User Presentation

The user watches a video or photograph in which triggers an emotion, the emotion is then captured and shown to the user at the end of the presentation

System Presentation

The computer takes in the emotion input of the user using facial tracker and takes an image when there is an emotional input from the user

Override

The camera stops reading the user’s face when their face is undetectable. It will freeze the frame until the user’s face is detectable again

Attributes

Mediated

The user only needs to show an emotion, user is unaware of the interaction and the camera

User is not aware that it is collecting data

Camera live stream is hidden from the user

Uniform

Interaction is unobtrusive, it is hidden and triggered by an emotion

Interaction is invisible, therefore it is natural and intuitive

Things to look out for:

The technology isn’t fully developed, it can be very inaccurate

Does not always take input from users wearing glasses

Emotion tracker only shows what the user’s face is displaying, not what they are actually feeling

Framework Diagram

Tinkering

I managed to set it so that it only captures one image when the value of the emotion is greater than 90. Next steps: put it into a context in which it would be used/triggers an emotional reaction from the user. 

2. (Colour Detector)

Hypothetical Application:

Using colour detection in a video or a camera to help track and indicate colours for users suffering from colour blindness as a way to improve accessibility. 

Framework

Background/Proactive:

Collecting input in the background from the video or livestream

Foreground/Proactive:

Detection indicated by square and labels

Foreground/Reactive

Allows user to choose which colours to view

Techniques

User Presentation:

The indicated colours presented to the user

System Presentation:

The system shows the user the color by printing out a rectangle of the area filled the color. It also prints out the name of the color outside of the rectangle in the right corner. Therefore the user will know what color the objects in the video has. It only prints out some colors otherwise the video will be overflowed by rectangles.  

Override:

The user can stop the input by pausing the video.

Attributes

Mediated

System is collecting data in the background

Uniform

Interaction is unobtrusive

Framework Diagram

** After showing this to Sofie, we came across the issue of whether or not it was actually an implicit interaction. Upon further exploration, we realized that the user is explicitly using the camera as a way to actively scan items. We tried to come up with different contexts in which it could be used implicitly but was unsuccessful. After struggling and reflecting for a couple days, I also realized that it didn’t exactly adhere to the attributes that we came up with. Our framework diagram was incorrect and concluded that we should move on.

3. (Reflection) From the colour detector issue, we really struggled with the context aspect of implicit interactions. I also realized that we should move away from concrete concepts and focus more on tinkering. Something that came to me near the end of the week was the idea of an abstract implicit interactive art based on emotions and colours. I wasn’t exactly sure where I wanted to go with it yet but wanted to further explore it during the next week. 

[mulkfiction-blog]

implicit interactions

WEEK ONE 🎥 During this week, I decided to explore Ju et al and Schmidt’s definition of implicit interactions to expand my knowledge and set a guideline to building our own definitions. (Partner: Christopher Liljestam

1. (Dissecting the text) Notes and things I found important to highlight and keep as a reference: 

Range: Exploring Implicit Interaction through Electronic Whiteboard Design - Wendy Ju, Brian A Lee, & Scott R Klemmer

As defined in the Ju et al reading, implicit interactions are “those based on implied rather than explicit input and output” (Ju et al, 2008). It is the “pursuit of invisibility” (Ju et al, 2008). 

Frameworks and Types of Interactions: 

Ju et al (2008)

Reactive/Foreground - explicit, at the user’s commands - oversight and feedback on results Reactive/Background - user actions/external stimuli - feedback generalized/hidden (abstraction) Proactive/Foreground - interaction in the attentional foreground, involves greater urgencyforeground, involves greater urgency - can provide alerts or directions Proactive/Background - anticipates what to do, low oversight/input - tasks with low cost of error

Techniques:

User Presentation: how users implicitly indicate what they are doing

System Presentation: how systems indicate what they are doing

Override: how users can interrupt/stop a proactive system action

Which party is driving and imitating the interaction? - reactive: initiated by the user - proactive: initiated by the system

Implicit Human Computer Interaction Through Context - Albrecht Schmidt

Implicit interactions, defined by Schmidt, are “based on the assumption that the computer has a certain understanding of our behaviour in the given situation” and that knowledge is “considered as an additional input” (Schmidt, 2000).

Two Main Concepts:

- perception - interpretation

Three Basic Building Blocks:

(Situational) The ability to have perception of the use, the environment, the circumstance

(Situational) Mechanisms to understand what the sensors see, hear, feel

(Context enabled) Applications that can make use of their information

Perception and interpretation of the user, the environment, and the circumstance What happens around the application? How can this be sensed or captured? How to interpret this information? How can applications make use of it?

Basic Building blocks for context

Running on a specific device

At a certain time

Used by one or more users

In a certain physical environment

In a social setting

To solve a particular task

2. (Lecture) Additional things to keep in mind from the lecture:

3.  (Camera Vision Ideating) Potential Ideas to explore:

Using facial trackers and implementing facial filter

Deeplearning to check out/add to cart could potentially use a barcode reader or something

Capture to IMG using emotion detection combining both taking image demo and emotion tracker demo

Using colour detection for colour blindness Which one of these would actually be feasible? What camera vision demos can I use? How can I make it into an implicit interaction?

4. (Implementing) The major thing that stood out to me during the readings was that implicit interactions are UNOBTRUSIVE. They are invisible and hidden form the user, they are natural and implied.

SNAPCHAT FILTER I tried to use the facial trackers to implement facial filters like in Snapchat. I decided to start off easier and uploaded a pair of glasses to follow the live stream camera. I played around with the size and position of the glasses and came across the difficulty of loading a png onto getCurrentPosition(). After trying for awhile, I took a step back which made me question whether or not what I am doing is an effective use of my time and whether or not I should progress. What about this is an implicit interaction? Is it one? What about it is in the background? I realized that by directly placing the filter in front of a live stream camera, it makes it an explicit interaction. The user is explicitly taking a photo with a filter on. What does this accomplish? It is neither implied nor unobtrusive, it doesn’t exactly have a purpose other than it being fun. 

EMOTIONAL CAMERA The next concept I started to tinker with was the emotional camera. I wanted to see if I could combine the use of the emotional facial tracker with the capture image. To start off, I wanted to capture an image whenever the user smiles and to print it back to them.

I came across the problem of it capturing multiple images and is currently working on it to only take one. One way I thought of making it implicit was to hide the camera live stream in the background and only show the user once the photo was taken. However, I wasn’t sure what purpose it would serve. Further thoughts to explore: How could we expand on this and make it implicit? What about it can be in the background? What can it accomplish? What is the purpose?

citations Ju, W., Lee, B., & Klemmer, S. (2008). Range: Exploring implicit interaction through electronic whiteboard design. Proceedings of the 2008 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 17-26.

Schmidt, A. (2000). Implicit human computer interaction through context. Personal Technologies, 4(2), 191-199.

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hci analysis

TWITTER APP 🐣

Twitter is a social media platform that aims to deliver the latest updates on breaking news and entertainment. Whether users are using Twitter for business or personal use, users are able to 'tweet' about anything to the public.

1. (Assumptions) In terms of Cartesian dualism, the user is the mind and Twitter is the body. According to Descartes, the mind is non-physical; it can exist outside of the body, but the body itself is perishable. In relation to Twitter, the user is the primary verbal being. Like all social media platforms, Twitter relies on user input to increase activity. The success of Twitter is dependent on human interaction and constant user generated content. Twitter is the medium in which allows the user to freely communicate publicly on the world wide web. Without the user, Twitter ceases to exist. Users who log on to tweet and share their thoughts are individuals. Yet, through interacting with Twitter, by connecting us to different users it allows us to be social beings. It allows its users to talk without physically talking, reaching a wider audience and building bridges from halfway across the world without physically being there. Inconsequently, although it condones the mind to freedom of speech, Twitter restrict its users to 140 characters setting limitations on self-expression and personal identity. It gives the user a voice and a channel, but at their own personal expense.

2. (Conceptions) The user acts through Twitter as a tool to help connect users to other users. Twitter has the human-like qualities of speech. It allows the freedom of speech, self-expression, and personal identity through the ability to tweet all forms of media and customizable user profiles. Twitter's features enable us to do many things within the community such as tag handle mentions, hashtags, replies, retweets, and likes. To access different features and menus, Twitter's icons uses flat design to mimic real life tool associations. The tweet icon is a quill, the direct message icon is a piece of mail, the search function is represented by a magnifying glass, and the notifications are illustrated by a bell. These icons help the user make real-life associations with Twitter allowing quick usability and familiarization. As a medium, it is a platform for users to express and communicate with other people whether it is through a direct message, a meme thread, or (more often than not) a hateful comment thread. Twitter's machine-like qualities include its algorithm for detecting hashtag trends and highlights, tweets that are tailored for the user, and its background data collection. Data collection helps targeted ads that later on appear in the foreground of Twitter's feed. It helps generate avenue for Twitter's stakeholders. It also keeps a user's feed relevant to the user with suggestions on tweets that the user would find intriguing. Proactive and foreground alerts help notify users when their handle is being tagged.  

3. (Design Philosophies) Twitter relies on computer-mediated communication, through this medium users are able to communicate with other users without face-to-face communication. This can help in the privatization of information, allowing users to be anonymous or letting them choose the amount of information they want to share. This reassures its users in the securitization of their personal data from the general public. Twitter's success lies in the exchange of data collection with its users. It thrives on its users acting and generating new data. In return, it allows its users a place and platform to connect with others. Through this form of communication, its users can express themselves in any of their interests. They can follow anything from friends, fashion, news to even internet trends and memes. Through these channels, a user can then interact with the information they choose to.

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interaction aesthetics

ATTRIBUTES ◻️ Lenz et al use ‘Interaction Vocabulary’ as a tool to deconstruct interactions. By pairing attributes together by experiential quality, it works as a framework for designers. Interactions are separated into three levels, the functionality level (What), the interaction level (How), and the experiential level (Why). The How-level refers to “the sequence of perception and action (133)”. The Why-level explores the “psychological needs and emotions emerging through an activity” (127). Designers are, thus, encouraged to explore both relations during the design process. By clarifying and stating the experience and matching it to the interaction attributes, it ensures a smooth process towards the desired product.

SPATIAL SEPARATION VS SPATIAL PROXIMITY

1. (Excercise)

2. (Reflection)  We explored the attributes of spatial separation versus spatial proximity.  Spatial separation: not feeling as a part of it, feeling of distance Spatial proximity: personal contact, feeling of relatedness, safety (you know exactly what you did), being a part of it, intensive examination of details.

*

We chose to compare different ways to choose a show on Netflix and we placed it on a scale ranging from separation to proximity. Old TV Remote: set commands, metaphorical distance from the TV itself, less freedom to do what you want, need to press several buttons to search through Netflix, delay in feedback Smart Remote: feels like you’re using a pointer, usually has a lag and delay in feedback, physically unnatural for the arm, direct manipulation Xbox Kinect & Voice Control: removes the barrier of using something to directly commanding the product, can lag a bit, relies on a set of commands Mouse Cursor: manipulate the screen efficiently, instant feedback Trackpad: more natural than the mouse, but is similar, uses your fingers to navigate the cursor, instant feedback Touchscreen: hand-held, versatile, personal contact, direct manipulation at our fingertips

*

Our team decided to explore the metaphorical space of products rather than physical space. Everyone one of these uses direct manipulation. We found that voice control did not really belong on the scale and we weren’t sure where to place it since it is dependent on the technological limitations. It removes the barrier of using a device to directly commanding the product, but there are certain set commands and words to say. 

citations

Lenz, E., Diefenbach, S., & Hassenzahl, M. (2013). Exploring Relationships Between Interaction Attributes and Experience. DPPI 2013 Praxis and Poetics, September (3–5), 126–135.

[mulkfiction-blog]

movement

CLAPPING HANDS 👏 Initial Findings: We found that clapping has different connotations in different settings depending on age. What we found significant about this movement was that babies learn it intuitively as an indication of joy and pleasure. There are different methods to clap, making different sounds, yet the meanings are still the same. In most cultural settings, clapping enforces positive feedback.

1. (Products) Product examples of the use of this movement can include turning products on and off, educational products, and medical products. Clapping is often seen used in turning products such as lights, on and off. It is also seen in educational products such as educational videos or games for children. It can help child development by teaching directions, such as top, down, left, and right, volume, tempo, and more. Clapping for medical games can aid in motor function for patients who are suffering from strokes, Parkinson's, and more, by exercising their muscles and brain. 

2. (Situation) Intuitively from when we are babies, we clap to express delight and enjoyment. As we grow older, clapping can be seen in situations such as a talent show or a speaker panel where we applaud the people on stage. Other situations can also include cheering on a sports team or after a speech to be polite.

3. (Semantics) Clapping illustrates positive feedback. It is intended to reassure and encourage the directed person(s).  

4. (Metaphor) Clapping is intuitive, we learn it by instinct to display approval. It isn’t something that is directly taught. Instead, we pick it up from our surroundings. Clapping, metaphorically, connotates pleasure and confirmation.

There is a certain cultural baggage that comes with the clapping movement. There are exceptions to when clapping is used. Sometimes it is used to keep the tempo and beat to a concert or singer and sometimes it is used in dance. Clapping can often be used to be polite in certain social situations where we want to acknowledge certain accomplishments. We’ve also explored how sometimes clapping is avoided in certain social contexts. For example, in parliament, knocking is used to indicate agreement. In slam poetry, snapping is used instead as positive feedback for unity and support.