Requirements for communication technology to support interaction of older adults.

Published on ISG 2010.

Eliciting casual activity through playful exploration, communication, personalisation and expression.

Published in Proceedings of Chi-Sparks 2011.

In the PlayFit project, we aim to persuade teenagers to be physically active through playful actions with inherent physical activity. We envision small moments of casual active play throughout the day, matching the target group’s interests and activities, and fitting into their daily life.

Our research shows four core interest and activity areas for the target group: exploring, communicating, personalising and expressing. We have created three design explorations that connect to these areas and persuade teenagers to explore, communicate, personalise and express in a playful way.

The first prototype, Speakers-of-Oz, consists of a series of interactive speakers that respond to passers-by with sound output. Whisper Balls, the second prototype, are interactive balls that allow a person to record and play a spoken message. The Magic Mirror prototype is an interactive video wall that mirrors and repeats the actions of passers-by.

The results of informal evaluations are promising; all three prototypes elicit playful behaviour, incorporating exploration, communication, personalisation and expression.

Meeting Duet; Challenging People Into a Body Language of Meeting

Published in Proceedings of DeSForM 2006

With the introduction and incorporation of novel interactive technology in product design, products are increasingly designed as facilitators or mediators of interaction.This perspective opens the way to a specification of this focus, namely designing products as a motor of socio-cultural activities and events. Here the product’s form and behavior should, more than ever, be designed with the intention to engage people in a form of contact with each other. In this paper we present an educational project that aims at designing a meeting event on the festival ‘a camping flight to Lowlands paradise’.The project is based on the Design Movement approach, where products are designed for, and as part
of, a Choreography of Interaction; in this case as part of a meeting event at Lowlands. In this paper we show how a product design originates from the creation of a social cultural event. Moreover, we show the effect of designing products from a choreographic perspective and with focus on people’s body language and dynamic interplay.

Contact Through Canvas: An Entertaining Encounter

Published in Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Volume 13 Issue 8, November 2009.

When meeting someone new, the first impression is often influenced by someone's physical appearance and other types of prejudice. In this paper, we present TouchMeDare, an interactive canvas, which aims to provide an experience when meeting new people, while preventing visual prejudice and lowering potential thresholds. The focus of the designed experience was to stimulate people to get acquainted through the interactive canvas. TouchMeDare consists of a flexible, opaque canvas, which plays music when touched simultaneously from both sides. Dynamic variation of this bodily contact is reflected through real-time adaptations of the musical compositions. Two redesigns were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated and a final version was placed in the Lowlands Festival as a case study. Evaluation results showed that some explanation was needed for the initial interaction with the installation. On the other hand, after this initial unfamiliarity passed, results showed that making bodily contact through the installation did help people to get acquainted with each other and increased their social interaction.

The Look, the Feel and the Action: Making Sets of ActDresses for Robotic Movement

Published in Proceedings of DIS'10 2010

We present a series of design explorations for controlling autonomous robotic movement based on a metaphor of clothing and accessorising. From working with various sketches, scenarios and prototypes we identify a number of particular features of this form of interaction, as well potential challenges for designers of other systems based on this design concept. Finally we conclude with a few general implications, especially concerning the inert properties of visibility, physicality and modularity with respect to the particular case of interaction and robotic movement.

Flirting With the Future: Prototyped Visions by the Next Generation: SIDeR'09: Proceedings of the 5th Student Interaction Design Research Conference, 15-17 …

Proceedings of the Student Interaction Design REsearch (SIDER) '09 conference, chaired by Rob Tieben.

ActDresses—: Interacting With Robotic Devices— - Fashion and Comics

Published on HRI'10 2010.

Robotic devices, such as the Roomba vacuum cleaner, are customised and personalised by their users, using for example signs, stickers and clothes.

The actDresses project explores how these metaphors from fashion and comics can be used in novel interactions with robotic devices. This movie shows one explorative prototype, where clothes and accessories are used to program the Roomba's behaviour.

The clothes influence personality characteristics of the Roomba; the accessories, iconic flags, determine movement characteristics. Combined, the clothes and flags allow the user to create different types of behaviour.

Meeting by Moving, Mediated Through Music

Published in Journal of Urban Computing and Mobile Devices 2007.

Each year, the Dutch Lowlands Festi- val creates a unique, relaxed atmosphere where 55,000 visitors come to appreci- ate live music, movies, stand-up comedy, and street performances. Building on this experimental environment, we designed a flexible, opaque screen that facilitates meeting between strangers, who can cre- ate music together through bodily con- tact. Dynamic variation of bodily contact through the screen determines the music’s composition and helps people feel connected.