Out on the town: A socio-physical approach to the design of a context-aware urban guide Export

@article{citeulike:5719103, abstract = {As urban environments become increasingly hybridized, mixing the social, built, and digital in interesting ways, designing for computing in the city presents new challenges\—how do we understand such hybridization, and then respond to it as designers\? Here we synthesize earlier work in human-computer interaction, sociology and architecture in order to deliberately influence the design of digital systems with an understanding of their built and social context of use. We propose, illustrate, and evaluate a multidisciplinary approach combining rapid ethnography, architectural analysis, design sketching, and paper prototyping. Following the approach we are able to provide empirically grounded representations of the socio-physical context of use, in this case people socializing in urban spaces. We then use this understanding to influence the design of a context aware system to be used while out on the town. We believe that the approach is of value more generally, particularly when achieving powerfully situated interactions is the design ambition.}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, author = {Paay, Jeni and Kjeldskov, Jesper and Howard, Steve and Dave, Bharat}, citeulike-article-id = {5719103}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1534903.1534904}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1534903.1534904}, comment = {http://www.reviews.com/review/review\_review.cfm?review\_id=137265\&listname=todaysissuearticle Suppose you have a handheld device to guide and help you in finding and using locations when you are socializing and ” out on the town.” The device knows your location and the locations around you, making it context aware. It guides you with maps, pictures, diagrams, instructions, and personalized suggestions. It prompts you with memories of places where you have been before and information on new places that you might like to visit. This paper describes the concepts guiding the design, building, and testing of a prototype of such a context-aware urban guide. The requirements and design approach recognizes both the physical context of the urban space presented by the guide and the social context of use--hence, a socio-physical approach. Concepts from human-computer interaction (HCI), sociology, and architecture are incorporated, and the researchers use the notion of layered space: physical space, social space, and digital space. Paay et al. ” propose, illustrate, and evaluate” a design approach by using rapid ethnography for clues to social interactions, architectural analysis of spaces, design sketching, and paper prototyping. The case study described demonstrates the concept. The study uses Federation Square, an urban space in the city center of Melbourne, Australia. The physical space of the square was investigated with photographs and the subjects' perceptions of physical elements--termed physical interaction abstraction (PIA). Social and physical interaction analysis (SOPHIA) investigates how aspects of social environment represent social context. In this case, it was ” situated social context in the urban environment.” The method includes identification of the social affordances of spaces. Seven design ideas for the urban guide device were derived from the SOPHIA: location by district, augmented photos, rich description, use of history, wayfinding, people and activities, and meeting and waiting. From the PIA and SOPHIA methods and representations, ” a pervasive computing prototype was designed for the intangible goal of 'enriching people's experience of Federation Square.'” This is proof of concept research. The evaluation involved 20 participant pairs. Findings show that the people were able to use it, found it to be trustworthy, and liked it. The prototype study shows, for example, that landmarks work well as anchor points; that users expect the system to know their orientation in a space (for example, which way they are facing); and that people navigate using physical familiarity, but often do not know the formal names of familiar places. Some results related to social use of spaces indicate the importance of cues or social affordances and what people do in order to decide ” where to go and what to do.” This 34-page paper describes the process of using multiple concepts from different disciplines to inform the design of a context-aware device for users in an urban setting. The paper is complete in the sense that it describes the entire process: concepts, design process, and prototype testing. I like the completeness and integration of the description--it is neither just theory nor the building and using of a device, devoid of theory. The results include good suggestions for builders of context-aware devices for an urban environment. Reviewer: Gordon B. Davis}, doi = {10.1145/1534903.1534904}, issn = {1073-0516}, journal = {ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.}, keywords = {context}, number = {2}, pages = {1--34}, posted-at = {2009-09-03 18:08:46}, priority = {3}, publisher = {ACM}, title = {Out on the town: A socio-physical approach to the design of a context-aware urban guide}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1534903.1534904}, volume = {16}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5719103 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5719103 N2 - As urban environments become increasingly hybridized, mixing the social, built, and digital in interesting ways, designing for computing in the city presents new challenges—how do we understand such hybridization, and then respond to it as designers? Here we synthesize earlier work in human-computer interaction, sociology and architecture in order to deliberately influence the design of digital systems with an understanding of their built and social context of use. We propose, illustrate, and evaluate a multidisciplinary approach combining rapid ethnography, architectural analysis, design sketching, and paper prototyping. Following the approach we are able to provide empirically grounded representations of the socio-physical context of use, in this case people socializing in urban spaces. We then use this understanding to influence the design of a context aware system to be used while out on the town. We believe that the approach is of value more generally, particularly when achieving powerfully situated interactions is the design ambition. IS - 2 JF - ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. SN - 1073-0516 AD - New York, NY, USA EP - 34 TI - Out on the town: A socio-physical approach to the design of a context-aware urban guide PB - ACM VL - 16 SP - 1 KW - context N1 - http://www.reviews.com/review/review_review.cfm?review_id=137265&listname=todaysissuearticle Suppose you have a handheld device to guide and help you in finding and using locations when you are socializing and “out on the town.” The device knows your location and the locations around you, making it context aware. It guides you with maps, pictures, diagrams, instructions, and personalized suggestions. It prompts you with memories of places where you have been before and information on new places that you might like to visit. This paper describes the concepts guiding the design, building, and testing of a prototype of such a context-aware urban guide. The requirements and design approach recognizes both the physical context of the urban space presented by the guide and the social context of use--hence, a socio-physical approach. Concepts from human-computer interaction (HCI), sociology, and architecture are incorporated, and the researchers use the notion of layered space: physical space, social space, and digital space. Paay et al. “propose, illustrate, and evaluate” a design approach by using rapid ethnography for clues to social interactions, architectural analysis of spaces, design sketching, and paper prototyping. The case study described demonstrates the concept. The study uses Federation Square, an urban space in the city center of Melbourne, Australia. The physical space of the square was investigated with photographs and the subjects’ perceptions of physical elements--termed physical interaction abstraction (PIA). Social and physical interaction analysis (SOPHIA) investigates how aspects of social environment represent social context. In this case, it was “situated social context in the urban environment.” The method includes identification of the social affordances of spaces. Seven design ideas for the urban guide device were derived from the SOPHIA: location by district, augmented photos, rich description, use of history, wayfinding, people and activities, and meeting and waiting. From the PIA and SOPHIA methods and representations, “a pervasive computing prototype was designed for the intangible goal of ‘enriching people’s experience of Federation Square.’” This is proof of concept research. The evaluation involved 20 participant pairs. Findings show that the people were able to use it, found it to be trustworthy, and liked it. The prototype study shows, for example, that landmarks work well as anchor points; that users expect the system to know their orientation in a space (for example, which way they are facing); and that people navigate using physical familiarity, but often do not know the formal names of familiar places. Some results related to social use of spaces indicate the importance of cues or social affordances and what people do in order to decide “where to go and what to do.” This 34-page paper describes the process of using multiple concepts from different disciplines to inform the design of a context-aware device for users in an urban setting. The paper is complete in the sense that it describes the entire process: concepts, design process, and prototype testing. I like the completeness and integration of the description--it is neither just theory nor the building and using of a device, devoid of theory. The results include good suggestions for builders of context-aware devices for an urban environment. Reviewer: Gordon B. Davis AU - Paay, Jeni AU - Kjeldskov, Jesper AU - Howard, Steve AU - Dave, Bharat PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1534903.1534904 ER -