Interaction in the Public: Aesthetics, Social Acceptability, and Social Context

Abstract

Even in moments considered private, others often witness how we interact with technology. A typical example is smartphone use at home, in the presence of family members. This of course becomes even more likely in public - on streets, in libraries, or in the supermarket, places full of other people. The social context brings challenges and opportunities. When designing interaction, we often primarily focus on what users experience, like, and accept. Less do we explicitly consider what present others may think or feel about this interaction, and how it relates to their own current activities. This requires a deeper understanding of social context and frugal but sufficiently rich context descriptions. In turn, considering present others allows us to learn about what types of interaction are acceptable or even aesthetic in what types of context. In this workshop, we collaboratively explored the largely untouched questions of positive interaction from the perspective of others, and worked out ways in which these could improve the design process.