Explorations in sense-making: Interaction Design and technology through a phenomenological perspective

william ryan, school of informatics

organization

sense-making with technology

(why should we care?)

phenomenological roots of studies (briefly)

case studies:

1. breakdown in games

2. twitterspace

3. ecology of interactive artifacts

summary of themes

sense-making with technologyby sense-making

process of interpretation and negotiation with

something to generate a “working”

understanding of a situation

sense-making with technologyan example:

• A design team creates a new cell phone.• It is heralded as being the latest

must-have device.

• The phone includes all common features: • “phone”• camera• gps• even a new touch screen interface

[1]

sense-making with technologypersona 1: Jim

• Loves to play with technology and discover all the

nooks of any new device. • Already has two other previous generation cell

phones for various purposes.• Has utilized cell phones in the past to call, check email, text,

schedule appointments, connect to facebook, play mp3s, and record audio.

[2]

sense-making with technologypersona 2: Jim’s brother: Gerald

• Working on his degree in computer science.• Has an older cell phone, which he used almost entirely for making

phone calls.• Relies prominently on email to communicate with others, checks on

laptop only religiously. • Usually very busy and does not have a great deal of time to play

with settings on his cell phones.

[3]

sense-making with technologyhow does a designer resolve this situation?

• same level of technical knowledge• same demographic• even from within the same family (same upbringing).• …yet differing values• each user is unique

sense-making with technologythis notion emphasizes

• prior experience• process of interpreting a situation from experience• importance of activity, engagement, participation• emphasis on idiosyncratic ways of accomplishing tasks• designed representations, affordances, and functional

capabilities of the thing we are using• sense-making arises through interaction with the thing

lifeworld

over the course of our life, we develop a certain world of

experience that we can associate with our “self.”

background against which all things in the world

become meaningful and through which we make

sense of things.

(Dourish, 2001)

phenomenology: themes

mediation

through tools, we engage with the world in ways that

augment and amplify our physical, cognitive, and

emotional capacities as humans.

as we become coupled with these tools and

technologies, we derive a new intentionality with respect

to our engagement in the world.

(Ihde, 1990; Scaife & Rogers, 1997; Clark & Chalmers, 1998;Dourish, 2001; Mingers, 2001)

phenomenology: themes

phenomenology: themes

hermeneutic circle

an intention is embedded within a certain tool through its

design. this process inscribes a “designing-being” in the

tool where the tool is given the potential to transform

the user through its use.

Once it transforms the user, the user interprets this

transformation and applies it to a new designed artifact.

(Winograd & Flores, 1986; Willis, 1999; Gaver, Beaver, & Benford, 2003;Bertelsen & Pold, 2004; McCarthy & Wright, 2004)

phenomenology: themes

embodiment

we do not disengage with the world (most of the time)

rather we are always engaged, always participating in

both the physical and social worlds.

we are bound to this world by our body.

(Agre, 1997; Clark, 1997; Dourish, 2001; Mingers, 2001, )

my approach

Breakdown in Games

Twitterspace

Ecology of Artifacts

[4]

study of people’s response to playing games that they are unfamiliar with.

we will look for evidence of:• collections of experience• enaction upon that experience• breakdown of the “hermeneutic circle”• utilization of resources and affordances provided by the system• coping behavior

my approach

Breakdown in Games

Twitterspace

Ecology of Artifacts

[4]

study in the way a public display in a community center affects one’s awareness with what is going on around them in the community.

we will look for evidence of:• relation between I and community• change of behavior (different kind of public?)• system fades into background

my approach

Breakdown in Games

Twitterspace

Ecology of Artifacts

[4]

study of the web of technologies that people use on a daily basis to get things done and how they are related as well as how they cope in such an environment.

we will look for evidence of:• coping mechanisms• lack of awareness of bigger picture• a great deal of what an engineer might call inefficiencies.

breakdown in games

Breakdown in Games[4]

(Ryan, unpublished)

breakdown: goals

• discrepancies in video game abilities

• frustration and barriers faced when playing video games

• method for studying players’ challenges and strategies

breakdown: conceptual model

Player’s priorexperience

of this game

Breakdown Breakdown

study participants• recruited 13 participants of varying genders, ages, and levels of

prior experience

games selection criteria• obtained from interview with player using self-reported

inexperience in various types of games

study sessions• lasted approximately 3 hours each• encouraged to talk aloud and also asked questions about their

experience and strategies

breakdown: approach

how do I identify breakdown?

• manifestations of breakdown:• frustration due to confusion• accidental discovery of affordances

• cues from players• player exclamations (“What?” “Ohhhh!!!”)• behavior changes from feedback in the environment • general confusion and wandering behavior • trying the same actions over and over again• trial and error behavior• responses to my questions

breakdown: approach

breakdown: example

[5,6]

breakdown: take-away

• players can accommodate pretty much any interface, but often need quite a bit of guidance and failure recovery (during times of breakdown) at the beginning.

• activities that players should be able to make sense of may be stopped prematurely if frustration starts to mount.

• players generally rely on repertoires that have worked before. If those don’t seem to work, they begin to experiment with trial and error behavior to accomplish tasks.

(Schön, 1983)

twitterspace

Twitterspace

(Ryan, Hazlewood, Makice, 2008 ; Hazlewood, Ryan, Makice, unpublished)

twitterspace: goals

mechanism to increase community awareness• sense of awareness that spanned multiple locations• to ultimately, help build a more tight-knit community

interlink various sub-groups together• publish typically back-channel information

encourage participation in the community, but:• make people aware of the opportunities for participation

they have• allow for participants to choose the level of involvement

they wish to have

twitterspace: approach

twitter• social networking platform• microblogging – “what are you doing now?”

public displays in our community centers

twitterspace: findings

• participation in the Twitter feed greatly increased after the display went public.

twitterspace: findings

• participation in the Twitter feed greatly increased after the display went public.

• those who participated most fully in the study showed the greatest sense of awareness of community activities.

• members reported feelings of connection to the community even though the device does not call their attention that much

• people taking ownership of this shared space

twitterspace: take-away

• responding to the presence of other in public community center. choosing one’s level of engagement.

• care of individuals towards community as seen through policing others in the community.

• the emergent way that this public display encourages people to share more/post more.

• device remains ambient, but affects both participant’s connection with community and awareness of community activities (even though they don’t feel that it does).

ecology of artifacts

Ecology of Artifacts

(Jung , Stolterman, Ryan, Siegel, Thompson, 2008 ; Ryan , Stolterman, Jung, Siegel, Thompson, Hazlewood, under review)

ecology: observations

1. increasing number of technological devices we engage with on a day-to-day basis

2. increasing number of connections shared between those devices

3. connections influence buying habits, maintenance policies, social relationships with others

4. designers do not really know what do to about it

4 properties of digital interactive artifacts

3 properties of valuecentered ecology model

personal inventories & ecology mapping (face-to-face)

ecology: approach

ecology: approach

personal inventories & ecology mapping (face-to-face)

digital ecology mapping

ecology: take-away

• most people think of their devices on a device-by-device basis.

• organizing such a map of ecological components requires reflecting on context of use, properties of artifacts, and how each artifact is related with all other artifacts—it is a dynamically changing “organism.”

• no two ecologies are the same.

conclusion

conclusion

emphasis on the role of sense-making in making

sense of the technological world around us.

themes:lifeworld

mediation

hermeneutic circle

embodiment

conclusion

Breakdown in Games

Twitterspace

Ecology of Artifacts

[4]

• lifeworld: repertoire of experience• hermeneutic circle: breakdown, coping • embodiment: affordance

• mediation: physical transformation of social, medium fades into background.• embodiment: abstract made physical

• lifeworld: experience is emergent• mediation: possibilities shaped by devices• hermeneutic circle: dynamical “organism” • embodiment: devices collected, not planned

conclusion

As designers, we must be prepared to deal with that which

makes our users unique.

As mentioned already some HCI researchers have

attacked this problem already.

Users are quite smart at figuring out what works for them.

We as designers need to learn how to communicate to

users in cases where such “working” understandings might

lead them astray.

citations

[1] Agre, P. E. (1997). Computation and Human Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press.

[2] Bertelsen, O. W., & Pold, S. (2004). Criticism as an approach to interface aesthetics. Proceedings of NordiCHI ‘04. 23-32, Tampere, Finland.

[3] Clark, A. (1997). Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[4] Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58, 7-19.

[5] Dourish, P. (2001). Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[6] Gaver, W. W., Beaver, J., & Benford, S. (2003). Ambiguity as a resource for design, Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 233-240, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

[7] Harrison, S., Tatar, D., & Sengers, P. (2007). The three paradigms of HCI. Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA.

[8] Hazlewood, W. R., Ryan, W., Makice, K. Twitterspace: Evaluation of a set of community ambient displays. (Unpublished Manuscript.)

citations

[9] Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the Lifeworld: From Garden to Earth. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

[10] Jung, H., Stolterman, E., Ryan, W., Stroman, T., & Siegel, M. (2008). Toward a framework for ecologies of artifacts: How are digital artifacts interconnected within a personal life? In Proceedings of 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Lund, Sweden, 201-210.

[11] McCarthy, J., & Wright, P. (2004). Technology as Experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[12] Mingers, J. (2001). Embodying information systems: The contribution of phenomenology. Information and Organization, 11, 103-128.

[13] Ryan, W. Embodied learning in video games: Evaluating the learnability of interactive entertainment. (Unpublished manuscript.)

[14] Ryan, W., Hazlewood, W. R., & Makice, K. (2008). Twitterspace: Co-development through Twitter to enhance community awareness. In Participatory Design Conference 2008, Bloomington, IN.

[15] Ryan, W., Stolterman, E., Siegel, M., Jung, H., Stroman, T., & Hazlewood, W. R. Device ecology mapper: A tool for studying users’ ecosystems of interactive artifacts. (Under review.)

citations

[16] Scaife, M. and Rogers, Y. (1996) External cognition: how do graphical representations work? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 45, 185-213.

[17] Schön, D.(1983).The Reflective Practioner: How Professional Think in Action. New York: Basic Books.

[18] Willis, A. M. (1999). Ontological Designing. Proceedings of the Design Cultures, Conference of the European Academy of Design, Sheffield Hallam University.

[19] Winograd, T., & Flores, F. (1986). Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

image references

[1] http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00nBhETOamrPcdM/Cell-Phone.jpg

[2] http://www.studentloan.org/images/Photos/264-Young-Man-Kneeling.jpg

[3] http://www.alcoholism-information.com/young-man-pondering-his-life-as-an-alcoholic.jpg

[4] SSX On Tour

[5] NeverWinter Nights

[6]http://www.nwnwiki.org/images/c/c8/Nwn_logo_400x178.jpg

ecology: connections

  10.59 

25        10.55

20            16.64  

15       8.10               

10     10.18          4.52      7.64         

5                 4.73     

0      

Information Interaction Functionality Physical

phenomenology

what can phenomenology offer?

phenomenology is the study of consciousness,

subjectivity, and a host of other perspectives that relate

to the way we engage with the world.

typically challenge a strict information-processing

paradigm in which sense-making happens by

developing awareness, making hypotheses/inferences,

and making a decision as a result.

what questions do we ask?

• Is this system usable? learnable?• What steps are required to complete a task in

this system?• Can the user complete the core tasks of the

application?• How many errors does the user make in trying

to use the system?

what questions also need asked?• What resources do users use to complete the

task?• How do users understand the system? What

metaphors do they use to describe it?• How does a user accomplish this task now

(without this new system)?• How does this new system “fit”?

(Harrison, Tatar, Sengers, 2007)