experiments

Object & screen speculations

I’m very interested in how tangible objects can be used in interesting ways to interact with information on screens. This video collects together a series of experiments on the use of a range of object prototypes. In making these, I imagined a screen in front of me (in some cases a standard size screen, in other cases a wall sized screen), and manipulated the various objects as if I was controlling and interacting with content on the screen. It was more an experiment in the affordance of the objects in relation to screens than thinking of specific applications.

This project was aided by the help of my graduate students Jonathan Jarvis, and Parker Kuncl.

View Video (95meg)

Tags | affordance, object, screen, simulation

Productive Interaction

I continue working on a series of design sketches that explore the ideas expressed in my essay, Productive Interaction. The main idea in this essay is that Interaction Designers should create interactive systems that allow users to create their own meaning space rather than designing scripted experiences. These experimental sketches are sometimes very rough, and other times more refined. They help me as I pursue new ways of interacting, driven by my writing as well as feeding new writing in an ongoing cycle of thinking and making.

Some of these ideas ended up in more complete projects, including the Acura Oracles and A+D Museum projects. For the Oracles, the idea of generating bits of information from a database (as in the Words project) plays out as the user moves their finger across the touch table. In the A+D project, the ideas of simultaneity, juxtaposition, and randomness play out as the slideshows display. We also creating a dynamically updating system, inserting live images from the event.

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Detailed explanations and videos after the break. Read more…