design studio for context-aware products

Design Studio For Context-Aware Products

Thomas WendtSurrounding Signifiers@thomas_wendtthomas@srsg.cosrsg.co

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Thomas Wendt

UX Strategist and Researcher

Founder of Surrounding Signifiers, a strategy and design consultancy

Background in continental philosophy, psychology, and literary theory

Schedule

2:00-2:30 Context2:30-2:35 Intro to Design Studio2:35-2:45 Persona and Problem2:45-3:15 Storyboard3:15-3:30 Break3:30-4:00 Individual Sketch4:00-4:45 Group Sketch4:50-5:00 Post Mortem

Context

http://img103.fansshare.com/pic12/w/non-celebrity/800/8520_jean_baudrillard.jpg

“We live in a world where there is more and more

information, and less and less meaning.”

Jean Baudrillard

Context ≠ Sensors

So what does “context” mean?

1. The parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning

2. The interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs.

Webster says

“The notion of “context” has been adapted to computing from its original use referring to

language, which is reflected in the structure of the word itself: con (with) text. In using language we

produce a text, either written or oral, intended to be interpreted by one or more other people. That text is not an encapsulated representation of an intended

meaning, but rather is a cue that allows the anticipated audience to construct an appropriate

meaning.”

Winograd says

Terry Winograd

“Context is an operational term: Something is context because of the way it is used in

interpretation, not due to its inherent properties.”

Winograd says

Terry Winograd

Context Layers

situation

environment

cognition

emotion

language

http://beautifultrouble.org/wp-content/http://fanart.tv/fanart/music/382f1005-e9ab-4684-afd4-0bdae4ee37f2/albumcover/all-eyez-on-

Context creates meaning

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt http://www.deviantart.com/download/281824001/reading_book_by_srnnrgz-

d4nsgsh.jpg

Context shapes experience

Context is always of something

http://www.movpins.com/big/MV5BMTg4NDY3MDc1N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzIzNDMzNQ/still-of-tom-cruise-

Context is never static

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=qpWnd3U5dLkNYM&t

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.cbsoutdoor.com/PhotoGallery/Subway%20Corridor_New

%20York_Retail.JPG

Architecture for everyday life

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt http://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/

blue_velvet_frank_booth_jeffrey_beaumont_dennis_hopper_kyle_maclachlan.png

Context is all we know

The body presents a problem.

1) We’re thrown into the world.

2) We interact with objects.

3) We cope.

Smooth Coping

User is in the midst of a seamless experience, acting-through, without distinction between self and object.

Theoretical knowledge, disconnected from here and now. World presents itself

as an obstacle.

Intentionality

Smooth Coping

Intentionality

Smooth Coping

Intentionality

Coping

Intentionality

Coping

Section Title

http://img.tjskl.org.cn/nimg/44/9f/5592a0632b61a239fbc95349e778-0x0-1/

Surrounding Signifiers srsg.co | @thomas_wendt | thomas@srsg.co

http://cdn.dottech.org/media/2013/02/nexus4.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxrYOHd_MKA/T9d3EJi8LXI/AAAAAAAAAB8/TzmCg7Htk9k/s1600/andyclark.jpg

“Intelligence and understanding are rooted not in the presence and manipulation of explicit,

language-like data structures, but in something more earthy: the

tuning of basic responses to a real world that enables an embodied

organism to sense, act, and survive.” Andy Clark

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxrYOHd_MKA/T9d3EJi8LXI/AAAAAAAAAB8/TzmCg7Htk9k/s1600/andyclark.jpg

“Embodiment is the property of our engagement with the world

that allows us to make it meaningful.” Paul Dourish

WORLDUnfocused Existence

Decision-orientedInfluenced by Microworlds

MICROWORLDFocused Existence

Task-orientedInfluenced by World

Smooth Coping

Intentionality

FragmentsSense of self is focused on many

concerns at once.

ConnectionsContext is found in the

interconnections between self, world, and microworlds.

DifferencesMeaning emerges out of the

differences between self, world, and microworld.

Intentionality

Coping

Context Layers

situation

environment

cognition

emotion

language

LayersMany experiences are layered upon

each other.

emotion

cognition situation

Schedule

Design Studio Methodology

Generative Ideation

Schedule

Persona

Rob: Weary Traveler“I spend more time in airports, planes, and hotels than I do in my apartment.” - Rob

Rob works at a global technology consultancy. He lives in NYC but works on location with clients, often flying to their location on Monday and back on Friday. Most of his travel activities—booking, packing, getting to the airport, navigating, flying, transportation—are habitual. He doesn’t really think about them. But there are certain times when something goes not as planned or feels like it could be easier, and Rob can’t help but think technology can help make his experience better.

Goals• Feel like travel time is not necessarily

different from any other time• Be prepared if things go wrong (delays,

cancellations, traffic, etc.)• Make his technology work harder for him

Pain Points• Digging for the right information at the right

time (boarding passes, meeting info, directions, traffic, weather, etc.)

• Feeling lost when something unexpected happens

• Interacting with disconnected systems

Problem Statement

Problem StatementRob is often subject to the whims of the travel industry. His schedule is often dictated by plane schedules and traffic. Given that he cannot control many of the nuances that affect of these variables, he needs to be fully prepared for a variety of situations.

Our challenge is to design a system that accounts for his current context to deliver the right information at the right time.

Schedule

1st Iteration

Critique

Schedule

2nd Iteration

Critique

Schedule

Group Sketch

Critique

Schedule

THANKS!

Thomas WendtSurrounding Signifiers@thomas_wendtthomas@srsg.cosrsg.co

design studio for context-aware products

thomas wendt ux strategist

thomas wendtcontext

notion of context

intended meaning

appropriate meaning

design studio persona

design consultancy background

problem storyboard

Technology

context-aware computing minimizing user interaction ·...

context aware active learning of activity recognition...

context-aware software

context-aware applications with distributed ontologies ·...

context-aware computing: basic concepts. pervasive...

sensor data fusion for context-aware computing using ... ·...

context-aware recommendations through context and activity

context-aware user authentication — supporting proximity...

context-aware sensors

context aware resource allocation in distributed sensor...

context-aware handover based on active network...

context aware applications

context-aware semantic middleware solutions for pervasive...

cassowary: middleware platform for context-aware smart...

context-aware computing (chapter 4) - wordpress.com ·...

context-aware captions from context-agnostic...

context aware computing

capim: a contextcapim: a context-aware platformaware ... ·...

caredroid: adaptation framework for android context-aware...

context-aware authentication framework