Presentation of the paper Understanding the Dynamics of Engaging Interaction in Public Spaces at the Interact 2011 conference in Lisbon.

1. PETER DALSGAARD, CHRISTIAN DINDLER, KIM HALSKOV
UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF
ENGAGING INTERACTION IN PUBLIC SPACES

2. How does engaging interaction unfold in practice?
Which main factors influence engagement?
How does engagement evolve ?

3. AGENDA
How does engaging interaction unfold in practice? Project background
Which main factors influence engagement? Aspects of engagement
How does engagement evolve ? Dynamics of engagement

4. AGENDA
How does engaging interaction unfold in practice? Project background
Which main factors influence engagement? Aspects of engagement
How does engagement evolve ? Dynamics of engagement
LEGO TABLE HYDROSCOPES AARHUS BY LIGHT

5. UNIVERSITY OF AARHUS FACULTY OF ARTS CENTER FOR CENTER FOR
ADVANCED VISUALIZATION DIGITAL URBAN LIVING
AND INTERACTION

6. UNIVERSITY OF AARHUS FACULTY OF ARTS CENTER FOR CENTER FOR
ADVANCED VISUALIZATION DIGITAL URBAN LIVING
AND INTERACTION

7. ENGAGEMENT •
Engagement at the centre of research agendas
IN LITERATURE (Rogers 2006)
•
Specific design strategies for fostering engagement
(Gaver et al 2004, Dalsgaard & Dindler 2009)
•
Particular attributes that support engagement
(Edmonds et al 2010)
•
Assemblies of technologies
(Hindmarsh et al 2002)

8. ENGAGEMENT •
A perspective on interaction (akin to usability or affect)
OUR APPROACH
•
Dual nature:
‐ a means for analyzing of interaction
‐ insights may sensitize and influence design
•
A focus on the system that we design and the immediate
relations between user(s) and that system is too narrow
•
By comparing the three cases it seems clear that we
cannot adequately understand and explain what is going
on if we focus on the system that we design and the
immediate relations between user(s) and that system
‐> we need to adopt a more systemic perspective

9. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

10. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

11. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

12. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

13. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

14. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

15. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

16. THE LEGO TABLE
Tangible tabletop interaction lets users peek inside Lego boxes in a department store

17. THE LEGO TABLE

18. THE HYDROSCOPES
Learning about marine biology through co‐creation and co‐exploration in an aquarium

19. THE HYDROSCOPES
Learning about marine biology through co‐creation and co‐exploration in an aquarium

20. THE HYDROSCOPES
Learning about marine biology through co‐creation and co‐exploration in an aquarium

21. THE HYDROSCOPES
Learning about marine biology through co‐creation and co‐exploration in an aquarium

22. THE HYDROSCOPES
Learning about marine biology through co‐creation and co‐exploration in an aquarium

23. THE HYDROSCOPES

24. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

25. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

26. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

27. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

28. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

29. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

30. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

31. AARHUS BY LIGHT
Inviting social and playful interaction in order to transform a public space

32. AARHUS BY LIGHT

33. ASPECTS OF ENGAGEMENT

34. PHYSICAL
Physical manipulations and bodily movement
Embodiment: ‘The property of being manifest in and
part of the world’ (Dourish 2001)
Distributed and interactive cognition: sense‐making
through physical action and interaction with world
(Hutchins 1995, Gedenryd 1998)
Affective engagement: being influenced by surroundings
even before conscious sense‐making (Fritsch 2009)
ASPECTS OF ENGAGEMENT

35. PHYSICAL SOCIAL
Physical manipulations and bodily movement Social interaction (O’Hara et al 2003)
Embodiment: ‘The property of being manifest in and Co‐experience (Forlizzi & Battarbee 2004)
part of the world’ (Dourish 2001)
Self‐expression through interaction (Goffman)
Distributed and interactive cognition: sense‐making
through physical action and interaction with world Social interaction patterns (Nielsen et al 2009)
(Hutchins 1995, Gedenryd 1998)
Affective engagement: being influenced by surroundings
even before conscious sense‐making (Fritsch 2009)
ASPECTS OF ENGAGEMENT

36. PHYSICAL SOCIAL
Physical manipulations and bodily movement Social interaction (O’Hara et al 2003)
Embodiment: ‘The property of being manifest in and Co‐experience (Forlizzi & Battarbee 2004)
part of the world’ (Dourish 2001)
Self‐expression through interaction (Goffman)
Distributed and interactive cognition: sense‐making
through physical action and interaction with world Social interaction patterns (Nielsen et al 2009)
(Hutchins 1995, Gedenryd 1998)
Affective engagement: being influenced by surroundings
even before conscious sense‐making (Fritsch 2009)
ASPECTS OF ENGAGEMENT
CULTURAL
Cultural norms and conventions: situations embody
particular forms of practice
People stage their behaviour accordingly:
performing perception (Dalsgaard & Hansen 2008)
Artifacts and institutions reflect and reinforce cultural
practices (cultural‐historical activity theory)
Spatial practices: following and bending the rules
(De Certeau 1984)

37. PHYSICAL SOCIAL
Physical manipulations and bodily movement Social interaction (O’Hara et al 2003)
Embodiment: ‘The property of being manifest in and Co‐experience (Forlizzi & Battarbee 2004)
part of the world’ (Dourish 2001)
Self‐expression through interaction (Goffman)
Distributed and interactive cognition: sense‐making
through physical action and interaction with world Social interaction patterns (Nielsen et al 2009)
(Hutchins 1995, Gedenryd 1998)
Affective engagement: being influenced by surroundings
even before conscious sense‐making (Fritsch 2009)
ASPECTS OF ENGAGEMENT
CULTURAL CONTENT‐ORIENTED
Cultural norms and conventions: situations embody Parts vs composition
particular forms of practice
Investing attention and effort into content
People stage their behaviour accordingly: (Dewey, Borgman)
performing perception (Dalsgaard & Hansen 2008)
Recognizable structures and/or elements of
Artifacts and institutions reflect and reinforce cultural conflict (Genette 1983)
practices (cultural‐historical activity theory)
Static and linear vs dynamic and non‐linear
Spatial practices: following and bending the rules (Aarseth 1994, Manovich 2001)
(De Certeau 1984)

38. DYNAMICS OF ENGAGEMENT

39. EMERGENCE
What are the first traces of
engagement?
What causes it to occur?
DYNAMICS OF ENGAGEMENT

40. EMERGENCE RELATIONS
What are the first traces of How are the different aspects of
engagement? engagement related?
What causes it to occur? How do they influence one
another?
DYNAMICS OF ENGAGEMENT

41. EMERGENCE RELATIONS TRANSFORMATIONS
What are the first traces of How are the different aspects of How does engagement change
engagement? engagement related? over the course of time?
What causes it to occur? How do they influence one How do changes occur within
another? one aspect of engagement?
How do the relations between
different aspects shift?
DYNAMICS OF ENGAGEMENT

42. SIX VIGNETTES OF ENGAGING INTERACTION

43. A FEW FINDINGS

44. A FEW FINDINGS
The aspects are intertwined
‐ some may be more influential at given points in time

45. A FEW FINDINGS
The aspects are intertwined
‐ some may be more influential at given points in time
Social dynamics were very prominent in all cases
‐ people generally moved fluidly between different social configurations

46. A FEW FINDINGS
The aspects are intertwined
‐ some may be more influential at given points in time
Social dynamics were very prominent in all cases
‐ people generally moved fluidly between different social configurations
Physical framing plays a larger role than expected
‐ the assembly in which an installation is placed must be carefully considered

47. A FEW FINDINGS
The aspects are intertwined
‐ some may be more influential at given points in time
Social dynamics were very prominent in all cases
‐ people generally moved fluidly between different social configurations
Physical framing plays a larger role than expected
‐ the assembly in which an installation is placed must be carefully considered
Cultural aspects can hinder or promote interaction (especially for grown‐ups)
‐ they can seemingly change over the course of time as new practices are formed

48. A FEW FINDINGS
The aspects are intertwined
‐ some may be more influential at given points in time
Social dynamics were very prominent in all cases
‐ people generally moved fluidly between different social configurations
Physical framing plays a larger role than expected
‐ the assembly in which an installation is placed must be carefully considered
Cultural aspects can hinder or promote interaction (especially for grown‐ups)
‐ they can seemingly change over the course of time as new practices are formed
Content‐oriented aspects are hard to determine through observation
‐ we can infer elements from observation, but need richer empirical methods

49. FUTURE WORK •
Developing the framework and making it more operational
‐ perhaps through development of annotation techniques
•
Utilizing or developing better methods for understanding
engagement with content
•
Using the framework pro‐actively in design experiments

50. SUMMARY

51. SOCIAL CULTURAL
ENGAGEMENT
PHYSICAL CONTENT
SUMMARY

52. SOCIAL CULTURAL
ENGAGEMENT
PHYSICAL CONTENT
SUMMARY

53. SOCIAL CULTURAL EMERGENCE
ENGAGEMENT RELATIONS
PHYSICAL CONTENT TRANSFORMATIONS
SUMMARY

54. SOCIAL CULTURAL EMERGENCE
ENGAGEMENT RELATIONS
PHYSICAL CONTENT TRANSFORMATIONS
LEGO TABLE HYDROSCOPES AARHUS BY LIGHT
SUMMARY

55. UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF
ENGAGING INTERACTION IN PUBLIC SPACES
WWW.CAVI.DK PETER DALSGAARD
WWW.DIGITALURBANLIVING.DK WWW.PETERDALSGAARD.COM

56. THANK YOU
UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF
ENGAGING INTERACTION IN PUBLIC SPACES
WWW.CAVI.DK PETER DALSGAARD
WWW.DIGITALURBANLIVING.DK WWW.PETERDALSGAARD.COM