Material Interactions with Tangible Tabletops:

a Pragmatist PerspectiveNicolai Brodersen Hansen; nbhansen@cavi.au.dk

Kim Halskov; halskov@cavi.au.dk CAVI & PIT

The Radar Table

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.

Material interactions with tangible tabletops

• Contribution: theoretical framing based on pragmatism

• Focus on the material aspects of the interface

• Exploration of form and sound

Pragmatist framework

• Problematic situations

• Inquiring strategies

• Technology supporting inquiry

The Radar Table

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

The Radar Table

The Radar Table; Design principles

• Support walk up and use

• Encourage exploration

• Support both individual and social play

• Enable emergent use

Deploying the Radar Table

• Spot 2013; Music Festival for small upcoming bands

• Filmed topdown with a GoPro camera

• Roughly 6.5 hours of video

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

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)

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

Pragmatism: technology

• Instrumental use in inquiry undertaken by participants

• Constrains and enables certain kinds of transformations

• Constitutes the entire situation

Pragmatist framework

• Problematic situations

• Inquiring strategies

• Technology supporting inquiry

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"?

Inquiry strategies• Turn over tangibles

• Add/remove tangibles

• Remove all tangibles

• Slowly and methodically tweak tangibles

• Observe others

• Converse with others

Technology supporting inquiry• People… using

• Tangibles… to experiment with..

• … interactive sounds

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.

Wanna try? K2 from 14-16

Thanks!

Nicolai Brodersen Hansen; nbhansen@cavi.au.dk Kim Halskov; halskov@cavi.au.dk

CAVI & PIT