Engaging with Cultural Content on Ambient
Displays
Areti GalaniICCHS, Newcastle University
Motivation
• Understanding the situation
• Calm technology..as opposed to infrastructure-driven application
• Cultural content …but not necessarily an art installation
Setting – Campus Coffee Café
Ethnographic approach
• In-situ brief questionnaires• Observations• Space usage snapshots• Focus groups
– Perceptions– Design ideas
Event recommendations
Live object interpretation
Blogboard
Spatial considerations• Ambient display• Position in the space & lighting
– Visibility – Readability– Just over 40% of the customers sit facing the
screen • Competition with other features of the
space – Blackboards
Use • Opportunistic
– Moment-long/glancing • The ‘fish tank’ effect
(moving image attraction)– Passer-bys
• In the fringes of main activity – On the way to places (e.g.
the loo) – While queuing
• A reminder/prompt– Complementary function
Sense of place
• ‘European feeling’ – ‘Relaxed but smart’
• Informal & social – A place to meet friends
• Public but also institutional – In the city and in the university – Boundary space
• Diverse & multicultural
Content & Interaction • ‘Screen=information’
– Peripheral participation • Cultural
– Current approach = good approach – No advertising– No sound
• Relevant to place– Primacy of social function – Moderation
What’s next?
• Explore the boundaries of people’s interaction with calm technology– Mobile phones
• Explore ownership of content – Issues of privacy and moderation
AcknowledgementsAll staff and customers of Campus Coffee CaféStudent Union, Newcastle University
Areti Galani [email protected]
Chris Kray [email protected] Keith Cheverest