"I could play here for hours.." (thinks the visitor and leaves)

Abstract

This paper examines factors that influence how long audience members actively engage with an interactive installation in public settings. The study draws on data from three field studies of an interactive multi-person installation, encompassing questionnaires,video recordings and user-system interaction data. The studies were conducted with unsolicited exhibition audiences during public exhibitions in the UK, China and Spain. In all three studies it was found that the time participants spent interacting with the installation was largely determined by social and contextual factors rather than by how they rated their playing experience. Common triggers identified for leaving were an 'obligation to leave' to accommodate other, potentially waiting audience members, and 'leaving by necessity' in order to follow companions who were moving on.

Designing for Socially Interactive Systems

“…It is also natural for participants to transition from a higher level to a lower level of interaction as they cease interacting with the installation for various reasons. Previous work has found that social factors such as an "obligation to leave" play a large role in causing disengagement with public interfaces [3].…”

Exploring Social Interaction With a Tangible Music Interface

“…Interactions in these settings tend to be casual, unstructured, walk-up-and-use, dynamic, and fastpaced, as described in an emerging corpus of studies done in real-world settings, often referred to in-the-wild studies (e.g. Bengler and Bryan-Kinns (2015); D'Angelo et al (2015); Hinrichs and Carpendale (2011); Hornecker and Stifter (2006); Marshall et al (2011a)). However, despite some discussion of tensions between strangers trying to use a tabletop application at the same time (Marshall et al, 2011a), there is a paucity of detailed analysis of how groups share access to these technologies and manage transitions of use.…”