// Comments
Peter Peltonen, Esko Kurvinen, Antti Salovaara, Giulio Jacucci, Tommi Ilmonen,
John Evans, Antti Oulasvirta, Petri Saarikko
John Evans, Antti Oulasvirta, Petri Saarikko
The CHI 2008 paper that I read was on the topic of large multi-touch displays in public areas. The display was mounted in a window between a major train station and bus station in Helsinki, Finland. The area receives a very high amount of traffic, so the location was ideal. The study was conducted over both the usage of the display and the interaction of the people around the display with each other. They recorded data for several weeks and decided to look at the last eight days in July in detail. They used several cameras placed around the display to record details of everyone and their interactions.
The display itself was 2.5 meters wide and could be interacted with by as many different hands that could fit on the screen. The interactions were with pictures downloaded in real time from flickr of only those tagged "Helsinki." There was a time line that allowed the users to see pictures based on when they were taken. The main display area allows users to work with the photos. They can move them around, resize, rotate, throw, or any combination therein that they can come up with.
In the video and other data they recorded they noticed many different types of interactions and usage. Many people would not approach the display unless there was someone already present. When there was people using the display, onlookers would first stop and pause to see what was going on, then slowly take a step-wise approach to the display, waiting for an opening.
There were some individuals that used the display by themselves, but it was used mostly by small groups of people, either two or three in size. Only 18% were individuals. There was rarely a group larger than three that went up to the display. The largest concurrent usage they noted was ten people using both their hands, all working individually. This did not accomplish much because the display actually lended itself to be more easily used with a teamwork rather than individual usage.
Once people started working together, they started enjoying the display more. People would work together to play with the pictures, resizing them and manipulating them. Some groups started to have more fun by throwing pictures at each other. At one point, a group set up a sort of goal with two pictures on one end, while another person attempted to throw a picture through the goal.
When the display started to become crowded, the transitions between usage groups was interesting to note. One group may hand-off to another group by inviting them to take over where they were. Many groups though, just simply left after they noticed that other people were watching and waiting to use the display. Some people would leave their "fingerprints" on the display before they left. One person set up the display to be a sort of photo gallery by arranging the pictures in a neat and orderly fashion before leaving. Another took a photo and enlarged it enough to take up the entire display.
This lead to other problems between users. At one point, a lady was carefully manipulating pictures on one side of the display while a group of people was playing around on the other side. The group had then accidentally enlarged a picture so that it was overlapping the side on which the lady was working on her pictures. The group then noticed this and immediately left. The lady then left as well, more frustrated though. This in turn lead to their theory of conflict management. When one user invaded the space of another unintentionally, these conflicts would arise and have to be resolved. Already noted, one way of resolve was to avoid the conflict. Other was noticed were to apologize and help return things to how they were before.
In using the display, some people would make it out to be a stage to perform. One person set up a comedy act, while another would act as a teacher showing others how to use it. As more people started acting in different areas on the display, they noticed that, although many people tried to keep their interactions separate, more often, they started to talk to the other users and coordinate their activities with strangers.
All in all, I think that the citywall project was a good idea. Even though it was only used to gather research on the usage of large multi-touch displays in a crowded city center, I hope that this leads to more wide spread installations of these kind of displays.
Once people started working together, they started enjoying the display more. People would work together to play with the pictures, resizing them and manipulating them. Some groups started to have more fun by throwing pictures at each other. At one point, a group set up a sort of goal with two pictures on one end, while another person attempted to throw a picture through the goal.
When the display started to become crowded, the transitions between usage groups was interesting to note. One group may hand-off to another group by inviting them to take over where they were. Many groups though, just simply left after they noticed that other people were watching and waiting to use the display. Some people would leave their "fingerprints" on the display before they left. One person set up the display to be a sort of photo gallery by arranging the pictures in a neat and orderly fashion before leaving. Another took a photo and enlarged it enough to take up the entire display.
This lead to other problems between users. At one point, a lady was carefully manipulating pictures on one side of the display while a group of people was playing around on the other side. The group had then accidentally enlarged a picture so that it was overlapping the side on which the lady was working on her pictures. The group then noticed this and immediately left. The lady then left as well, more frustrated though. This in turn lead to their theory of conflict management. When one user invaded the space of another unintentionally, these conflicts would arise and have to be resolved. Already noted, one way of resolve was to avoid the conflict. Other was noticed were to apologize and help return things to how they were before.
In using the display, some people would make it out to be a stage to perform. One person set up a comedy act, while another would act as a teacher showing others how to use it. As more people started acting in different areas on the display, they noticed that, although many people tried to keep their interactions separate, more often, they started to talk to the other users and coordinate their activities with strangers.
All in all, I think that the citywall project was a good idea. Even though it was only used to gather research on the usage of large multi-touch displays in a crowded city center, I hope that this leads to more wide spread installations of these kind of displays.
This was a pretty cool concept. Coordinated activities are hard to build and hard to test, but I think the tests (observations) done for this project were valid and yielded good conclusions. I think it'd be fun to play around with something like this.
ReplyDeleteThe idea sounds pretty cool, and I can see where the additional attractiveness comes from being able to work with other people simultaneously. Just gotta hope the other people arn't jerks.
ReplyDelete