Exploring the effects of space and place on engagement with an interactive installation

Abstract

Very little research has concurrently explored the influence of both physical space and social context (or place) on the way people engage with a public interactive display. We addressed this issue with a novel approach: studying how people engaged with the same interactive installation in ten situations with varying spatial and social properties. The main finding across these studies is that place trumps space: a conducive social context could overcome a poor physical space and encourage interaction; conversely, an inappropriate social context could inhibit interaction in spaces that might normally facilitate engagement. We discuss this finding in terms of the salience of the display within the space, the visibility of incidental interactions with the installation, the different understandings of place that people can have in the same location, and the role of emergent champions and comperes in encouraging interaction.

Display Blindness?

“…By using mobile eye tracking, we have been able to uncover more detail about exactly when people do look at interactive displays and have presented a more nuanced perspective than 'display blindness', which should aid designers and researchers in developing new mechanisms to attract and hold their attention (cf. [1,2,10,17,20,21,25]) and to encourage them to interact with these devices.…”

“…Location in particular, has received substantial attention, as where the display is positioned will influence how it is viewed and, if appropriate, interacted with [1]. One possibility is that longer engagement periods will be associated with areas in which people are likely to be waiting rather than quickly passing through, such as corridors [5,11].…”

“…[18]), which is sometimes difficult to achieve [10,24]. One possibility is to ensure the display is visible to the largest area possible, in particular to those entering the space rather than leaving it [1] Getting a display noticed and encouraging engagement can further influence its visibility through influencing the social dynamics of those around it. Groups of people forming around the display can create a 'honey pot' effect [4], drawing the attention of others.…”

The puppeteer display

“…To signal interactivity, Müller et al [12] compare different mirror representations and further cues such as attract loops and call-to-action, Beyer et al [5] outline the challenges of an unaware initial interaction for shaped displays, Grace et al [9] investigate a dynamic skeletal representation of users combined with visual cues, and Akpan et al [1] compare the influences of various places and spatial contexts in this regard. In this work, we explore how a successful initial interaction can be accomplished with a long display, with users approaching sideways in a typical urban sidewalk trajectory.…”

Understanding future challenges for networked public display systems in community settings

“…Most of the research nowadays investigates the impact in a single setting, and although there have been efforts to show the impact of space and context on the use [1] these studies were typically shortterm. Of course, this implies more research efforts and resources in order to determine the impact of the applications on multiple settings and their respective communities.…”