We investigate how the interaction with tangible interactive tabletops can be seen as a material exploration of form and sound. As the theoretical foundation for our analysis we build on John Dewey’s pragmatism as well as recent efforts to appropriate pragmatism for interaction design research. As the research platform for this investigation we developed an interactive tabletop, the Radar Table, which allows users to create soundscapes by manipulating tangible objects. The Radar Table was deployed ‘in the wild’ at a major Danish music festival, and based on video recordings we examine people’s dynamic exploration of sound through the interactive tabletop. The main contribution of the paper is the development of the theoretical foundation for understanding tangible tabletops as material interfaces that can be shaped and experimented with. We build on three of the basic concepts of pragmatism: situation, inquiry, and technology, which we develop further for the study of the dynamics of material interactions with tangible tabletops as part of a research strategy of appropriating pragmatism for use in interaction design and HCI research.

1. Material Interactions with
Tangible Tabletops:
a Pragmatist Perspective
Nicolai Brodersen Hansen; nbhansen@cavi.au.dk
Kim Halskov; halskov@cavi.au.dk
CAVI & PIT

2. The Radar Table

3. Radar Table?
• Research interest in design materials
• Few detailed qualitative studies of tangible
tabletops “in the wild”
• Complex phenomena with a strong material
component
• General interest in developing pragmatism as a
foundation for interaction design and HCI.

4. Material interactions with
tangible tabletops
• Contribution: theoretical framing based on
pragmatism
• Focus on the material aspects of the interface
• Exploration of form and sound

5. Pragmatist framework
• Problematic situations
• Inquiring strategies
• Technology supporting inquiry

6. The Radar Table

7. The Radar Table
• 80 cm x 107 cm translucent table surface
• Underneath: a projector and a camera connected to a
computer
• Tangible objects with visual markers tracked by camera:
position, and rotation
• Sample objects and effect objects
• Visuals and sounds projected and played

8. The Radar Table; Design
principles
• Support walk up and use
• Encourage exploration
• Support both individual and social play
• Enable emergent use

9. Deploying the Radar Table
• Spot 2013; Music Festival for small upcoming
bands
• Filmed topdown with a GoPro camera
• Roughly 6.5 hours of video

10. Analysis
• Video material analysed and condensed
• Typical instances of use identified
• Then interpreted through the concepts of
situation, inquiry and technology, drawn from
Dewey’s pragmatism

12. Pragmatism: Situation
• Situation is the assemblage of a subject, and his/
her environment, including other people, things,
spaces, and social constructs
• ”Determinate” (or stable)
• ”Indeterminate” (or unstable)

13. Pragmatism: Inquiry
• Inquiry is the process by which we deliberately
try to improve and reshape a situation, so it
becomes increasingly desirable or stable
• Dynamic and distributed; instrumental
• Experimental
• Transformation - gradual

14. Pragmatism: technology
• Instrumental use in inquiry undertaken by
participants
• Constrains and enables certain kinds of
transformations
• Constitutes the entire situation

15. Pragmatist framework
• Problematic situations
• Inquiring strategies
• Technology supporting inquiry

18. Problematic situations
• What can I do here?
• What is the interplay between the table and sound?
• What is the relationship between the different tangibles?
• How can I manipulate individual sounds?
• What would make the current soundscape sound
better?
• What would I do if this were a "live performance"?

19. Inquiry strategies
• Turn over tangibles
• Add/remove tangibles
• Remove all tangibles
• Slowly and methodically tweak tangibles
• Observe others
• Converse with others

20. Technology supporting inquiry
• People… using
• Tangibles… to
experiment with..
• … interactive sounds

21. Conclusions
• the Radar Table “in the wild” is a diverse and situated
experience: no two experiences end and start in the
exact same way.
• Inquiry evolves through stages of experimental
learning and doing
• experimental learning and doing is distributed across
people, tangibles and sound
• Pragmatism offers a potential framework for analysing
the above points in practice.

22. Wanna try? K2 from 14-16

23. Thanks!
Nicolai Brodersen Hansen; nbhansen@cavi.au.dk
Kim Halskov; halskov@cavi.au.dk
CAVI & PIT