Architectural User Interfaces (AUIs)

Hanna’s post on the Dourish text Re-Spacing Place has spurred me back into making another blog post while I’m working on a paper which looks at some of the topics she raises. Madeline and I were recently at the CHI (Computer Human Interaction) conference in Vancouver. CHI is a massive yearly conference bringing together international HCI research. For an outsider to HCI research its an interesting experience and there are a massive range of papers from very formal usability studies and engineering papers to discussions of installation art.

During one of the special interest groups on design and HCI I made the comment that while many design disciplines were well represented at the conference there seemed to be a lack of architects. Within 24 hours of making that comment I met 3 people who had architectural training. So after that I revised my pitch to ‘architectural approaches to design were not well represented’…and I’m going to stand by this comment. Ubiquitous and Pervasive computing applications often involve a different scale of design to more traditional applications of HCI. Paul Dourish’s 2006 revision of his earlier paper reflects a resurgence in an interest in space and place as core concept in HCI and I’ve been writing a paper on what an HCI of AUIs (Architectural User Interfaces) might look like. I’m not going to give to much away before I finish the paper but here are some subheadings to discuss:

From Ambient Computing to Atmospheres

Context and Place

Programming Space

Night on the Breer

Another short post. Finding myself with some time to kill in Gateshead I wandered as far the Baltic, where there is currently an exhibition by American artist Robert Breer. Whilst rather less than in love with the abstract paintings and animations, I did quite like the sculptural elements on level 4.

A range masses sit on the gallery floor, varying in size, shape and colour, and moving almost imperceptibly slowly. When you initially enter its just a room full of sculpture, but as you wander round elements sneak off. One of the elements is a wall with other work displayed on it, that you end up chasing around the room, only to be pinned into a corner when you're not looking.

The movement is random, but I thought was an interesting exploration. The sheer scale of some of the elements, you just don't expect them to move, and the motion is so slow it seems sneaky. They have a personality that's quite an endearing.

“Place” vs “Space”

The ‘Re-Space-ing Place: “Place” and “Space” Ten Years On’ article took me two days to read and digest the ideas it conveyed. The main concept within it is the difference between Space and Place and the development of these situations with the emergence of ubiquitous technologies.

“space is the opportunity; place is the (understood) reality.”

This is the broad distinction as discussed in the original paper 10 years ago. From my understanding space is designed for a particular purpose and is used to manipulate behaviour of the user. Architects design spaces for particular functions. Place is where users appropriate space, inhabit it, maybe even change its function.

For example, one of my favourite places in London is the South Bank and one of the most interesting spots along the river is the skate park. It is full of great graffiti and always has a good atmosphere. This area was never designed for this use. It was described as an “architectural dead spot” which was then appropriated by the British skateboarding community turning it into a “place”.

Technology has also begun to effect how we appropriate space. For example, clusters of people in a certain place in a public square, using their computers suggests it may be a Wi-Fi hotspot.

I believe it is clear that both “space” and “place” are inextricably linked. Spatiality can effect social behaviour. In regards to my research I want to create a “place” in the high street. Somewhere people can project their personalities rather than a "space" that is just getting people to shop more.

The Problem with Education

Another quick post from me, this one relating a webcast from April by Phil Bernstein of Autodesk and Yale University. Discussing BIM and pedagogy within a school of architecture, I'm not sure quite how relevant this is to my project but its an interesting talk all the same.

Curiouser and Curiouser

The paper ‘Model extracting individual’s curiosity level in urban spaces review’

explores the idea of being able to determine someone’s level of curiosity in accordance with their speed of walking.

When I first began reading the paper this seemed obvious, because when walking anywhere people will automatically slow down when something catches their eye. Reading on, proving this turned out to be more complex. Variables such as everyone having a different speed of walking and obstacles slowing people down for different reasons can affect results.

It reminded me of ‘flâneur’ which I learnt about through my friend Raichel's architect project this year. Flâneur is French for strolling and the idea of flâneur is that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it". I wonder if a shop front can induce flâneur, ie, make someone who was not intent on experiencing the environment around them, stop, take note and engage.

Aside from the practical aspects of this article, it describes how modern technology could completely transform a person’s experience of an urban environment. The idea is that modern technology could read what a person is curious about through sensors and global satellite positions embedded in smart phones. It would then suggest other places they may find interesting using similar data collected from other people.

In this manner it could almost force clusters of like minded people together rather than it happen spontaneously. I wonder how that would affect the popularity of places over a short and long period of time. Hidden gems wouldn't be so hidden anymore and the normal routine could be interrupted and changed.

The main idea that started me thinking was producing a “map of curiosity”. It sounds like something straight out of Alice and Wonderland. It’s a nice idea to think about what an individual’s map of curiosity would look like and what would be at the end of the ‘rabbit hole’.

Musings on Studio Culture

I've been conducting interviews over the last week, seeking to identify how architecture students interact with one another, particularly within the school and studio environment.

One of the interesting, and slightly disturbing themes has been that of competition. I have never really been aware of this as anything more than a fringe issue, but students from across the under grad. have raised it in conversation. There seems to be a general protectionism, confining their interactions within small friendship groups for fear that someone will "steal my idea". This seems divisive, even destructive, and students did acknowledge this, but gave specific examples of what they view (rightly or wrongly) as plagiarism.

There does however appear to be a greater willingness to explore verticality, that is draw in support from higher up the school into the lower years. A "parenting" scheme that students have set up assigns a volunteer from stage 2 a small following of stage 1 students. The relationship that they form is inevitably varied, as is the type of help that individual "parents" are able to offer those shadowing them. There was no real consensus as to what students felt was "enough" in this respect, reflecting I think a general difference in how comfortable individuals are discussing or presenting their work. For instance some felt having peers in the room for a crit. was supportive, whilst others felt intimidated by the presence of students from higher up the school who they saw to be judging them.

There also seems to be a desire to attend critiques higher up the school to see how more experienced students go about structuring and delivering a presentation. I worry how much of the impression I am getting is based on the stronger, or certainly more vocal students, as they are the ones more likely to turn up to interviews or focus groups. One statement, suggesting that the individual had no concerns approaching "passers by" within the school, whilst in some ways encouraging, did not entirely ring true.

HOK and the "Phygital" Office

Flicking through a backlog of posts from blogs I follow but haven't kept up to date with, came across this. The video is from Ken Young of HOK, taking about the implementation of social media within the practice, and is well worth a watch.

i think, therefore iPad

I did my first ethnography study outside the glistening white Apple store last week and thought id blog a short summary of my experience.

After settling down, and getting used to feeling weird watching people and making notes, I began to notice past the obvious. There were many men that walked past locking eye contact with the inside of the store cranking there necks as they walk past, mimicking a white van driver ogling at girls in short skirts.

In the middle of the store front was an Apple employee with a beaming smile, looking in his mid 20’s, wearing baggy jeans, almost a poster for a typical Apple user. He pottered around occasionally playing with an iPad he clutched in his hands, nodding and engaging people with conversation as they walked in reminding me of a placid holiday rep trying to get you into their bar because it is the place to be. Apple staff are definitely not you average sales team below is a clip from the opening of the Covent Garden store.

A girl who was with her mother in a wheel chair caught my attention. They stopped outside the shop front and stared inside. They did not appear to have a lot of money dressed scruffily with one old Tesco plastic bag hanging off the chair. They waited for a while and then ended up coming over and sitting next to me. The girl positioned her mother facing the store and they both continued occasionally talking and looking in the store. 10 minutes later they walked into a clothing shop but returned to stand outside Apple empty handed. They did this twice. Something kept on bringing them back but not letting them in.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Apple as a brand. I noted that in the hour I watched the store not one person left with a bag and I know for Apple selling stuff in their store isn't what they are aiming to achieve. It’s more about a community, a feeling of belonging and an experience. There have been studies done comparing MRI scans of true Apple fans and of religious people and it’s shown that the same part of the brain is stimulated which I find a bit scary! I have never been shy with my opinion on the iPhone but recently I've been lucky enough to be given an iPad 2 so I too somehow found myself suddenly (all be it slightly reluctantly) drawn to the shiny mecca! Well if you can’t beat them....

A Premise

In my previous post, I declared architecture students "to busy for something so frivolous" as sifting through 3000 photos a day, or rather that they would view themselves as such. Following on from this I will be referring to ""I Lie to Myself that I Have Freedom in My Own Schedule": Productivity Tools and Experiences of Busyness". This paper explores not just what people across society actually have to do, but the value they place on being seen to have a lot of work to do. Productivity tools come with a sense of pride in mapping accomplishments, and a value is placed upon these accomplishments. There is a "cultural ideal of a busy citizen". I would hypothesise that this is even more true amongst students of architecture, a discipline that comes with a sort of mythology surrounding the amount of work and stress faced by students.

This would seem an ideal point for some primary research within the school, but I would like to touch on a conclusion drawn in the article, calling for an intentional slowing of daily life, technology to "open the window for slowing down". For example, "GoSlow" is an app. that plugs "serendipitous moments of pause and reflection into a calendar on one’s mobile phone".

Reference:

Leshed, G. & Sengers, P., "I Lie to Myself that I Have Freedom in My Own Schedule”: Productivity Tools and Experiences of Busyness", (CHI 2011, May 7 -12), ACM

Reflecting on Reflection

I'd like to reflect on a few papers I've been reading to ground a study I'm conducting into ways of recording the design process within a school of architecture. "Narrative, Memory and Practice: Tensions and Choices in the Use of a Digital Artefact" (2009) and "Slow Technology - Designing for Reflection" (2001).

The first of these papers focuses on the use of a series of “SenseCams”, wearable cameras equipped with a wide angle lens, and programmed to take pictures at regular preset intervals, but that can also be used as a conventional camera to deliberately capture certain images. The unit is also equipped with several other sensors that record information such as the number of steps the wearer has taken over the course of a day.

Essentially the paper sets out the case for “reconstruction narratives”, a story told from a captured individuals point of view, to be selectively recounted at a later date.

For me the central issue here is how captured photo series are reviewed. It is interesting to note that the study group happily shared their recordings, particularly those made at group events, but for the purposes of any project I would propose, expecting a user to sit at a computer and sifting through days of recordings does not seem viable. This has essentially been the concern I have raised regarding sketch books, that notes are taken, doodles made, but never looked at again.

This moment is the fundamental interaction between the device and the user, and ultimately you’re getting handed a photo album. Its an album that contains images of events that you may not normally think about, and pushes the users to reflect on their daily lives. But, it does not prompt or suggest this reflection. I believe it would be very easy, especially in a “professional” context, to declare yourself to busy for something so frivolous.

This observation is in no way a criticism of the study. The other paper (“Slow Technology – Designing for Reflection”) states that it is this willingness to sit, take time, and think back over past events that is so important if people are to reflect on their lives or learning. An absence of productivity may be required in order to precipitate reflection.

“However, slow technology differs in that it is not supposed to reduce cognitive load or make digital information and computational resources more readily available. Slow technology is not about making technology invisible, but about exposing technology in a way that encourages people to reflect and think about it.”

What I see a need for is a sort of conversation stater, in a friendly non pressured environment to promote reflection and informal learning. The idea would be to essentially put up a flag next to an individual, and draw others to them initiating a sharing of opinions and knowledge that would otherwise go untapped.

References;

Lindey, S. E. et al, "Narrative, Memory and Practice: Tensions and Choices in the Use of a Digital Artefact" (2009), British Computer Society

Hallnas, L. & Redstrom J., "Slow Technology - Designing for Reflection" (2001), Personal & Ubiquitous Computing

Tinkerkit

I came across a link to Tinkerkit Modules on the Umeå Institute of Design Blog and it may have just opened my eyes to how I can realise my research project.

They are relatively easy to use kits of Arduino modules which include many of the sensors that would be needed in an interactive physics environment. They even market them as devices to be used in school environments, so I'd like to look into this further as a viable hardware option for my project.

Qualcomm's ultrasonic pen

This article is something Paul might be interested in. It uses ultrasonic waves and microphones to triangulate the position of a pen so that it can be recorded on a mobile device.

This could be a good way of capturing the sketch book giving you both a 'digital' and 'analogue' version simultaneously with zero effort from the user. Also, using this technology would mean that people do not forget to record their sketchbook digitally.

Ooh, Wine

Just a quick link in this post, HCI related entry on the BBC website that caught my eye. I definitely need a wired wine rack.