Audience Funnel

Figure: The Audience Funnel framework
(Michelis, Müller (2011) International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction  Volume 27, Issue 6)

Paper Abstract

Data are presented from observations of Magical Mirrors, a set of four large public displays with gesture-based interaction installed in downtown Berlin, Germany. The displays show a mirror image of the environment in front of them and react with optical effects to the gestures of the audience. Observations of audience behavior revealed recurring behavioral patterns, like glancing at a first display while passing it, moving the arms to cause some effects, then directly approaching one of the following displays and positioning oneself in the center of the display. This was often followed by positioning oneself in the center of the other displays to explore the possibilities of the different effects, and sometimes by taking photographs or videos. From these observations a framework of interaction with gesture-based public display systems was deduced. It describes the phases of passing by a display, viewing & reacting, subtle interaction, direct interaction, multiple interactions, and follow-up actions. Quantitative data of these behavioral phases was collected by observing 660 passers-by on 2 weekend evenings. This article shows how many passers-by pass the thresholds between these phases. This “Audience Funnel” should provide a framework to encourage systematic investigation of public display systems and enable comparability between different studies.

Download full text on the publisher’s website.

Proceedings Pervasive 2009 Workshop

The Proceedings of the Pervasive Advertising Workshop at Pervasive 2009 are now online.

Book Preview at Google Books

I just came across my book “Interactive Displays in Public Space – A theoretical analysis of intrinsically motivating design elements” at Google Books (only in German language).

English Abstract:

“Interactive large format displays have presently found their way into many places in public space. After a long phase of experimenting with prototypes only recently have technically mature applications been observed that are used in an increasing number of potential areas. This dissertation examines the motivations behind the use of these applications.

Serving as the point of departure are four large format displays of the installation Magical Mirrors, developed as prototypes by the author of this work, and which allowed the first experiences with the use of interactive large format displays in public space to be collected even before the beginning of the investigation. These initial experiences were taken into consideration in developing the research questions and design.
At the center of the work is an analysis of theoretical motivations in which five motivational factors are determined according to previous research work and in consideration of the demands specific to interactive large format displays. In the analysis of these factors a set of tools of fundamental motivations are identified from which design elements for interactive large format displays in public space can be derived. The results of the analysis are subjected to an empirical examination. In 15 partial experiments the observed user behavior of a total of 4640 passersby is analyzed.
On the basis of this empirical investigation this dissertation presents – as one of the first scholarly works in this area – a contribution to the understanding of the fundamental motivations behind the use of interactive large format displays in public space.”

Buchveröffentlichung / Book available

 

Today, my dissertation:

“Interaktive Großbildschirme im öffentliche Raum: 
Nutzungsmotive und Gestaltungsregeln”

was published here. 

To get an overview on the content you can download the index of contents at GABLERS official website.  

As mentioned earlier it is in German only but I invited to publish english papers at Pervasive 09 (Workshop Pervasive Advertising) and EuroITV 200 (Workshop “Designing and understanding enjoyable media experiences“).

Public Displays: Research Limitations

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More and more academic research projects are starting to explore the usage of interactive displays in public space but until today there are three central limitations in this area of investigation:

Limitation 1: There are merely empirical investigations

The vast majority of research projects with interactive displays in public space is based on explorative investigation only. Most projects analyze the spread large-scale displays in public space from a very generic perspective, raise general non-systematic questions and offer only hypothetic answers. The entry of interactive applications into public space is part of a greater tendency: computer usage has seeped into public life and is no longer restricted to mere task fulfillment at the workplace. While task oriented theories simply regard the “how” of an activity but not the “why”, they leave questions concerning underlying motivations unanswered. Presently there exists a significant need for furthering the understanding of motivations behind user activities. Only very little is known about the process of interaction and particularly, about how interactive displays activate engagement of passers-by and encourage intensive user-interaction.

Limitation 2: Real-world studies are needed to fully understand public interaction processes.

Vorankündigung / Coming Soon

My dissertation will be published shortly. The title will be “Interaktive Großbildschirme im öffentlichen Raum” (english: “Interactive Displays in Public Space”) Finally!

Unfortunately it will be available in German, only. But – papers in English are on the way (e.g. we will submit some results to the 1st Workshop on Pervasive Advertising at Pervasive 2009).

You can stay updated at Gabler’s official website but of course, I will also announce the publication date here ;)

Understanding & Designing for the Voluntary Adoption of Community Displays

Following my talk at the Media Facade Festival Berlin 2008 I had a lot of interesting discussions on the interaction models I presented. One of these models was developed by Harry Brignull who sent me a link to his PhD thesis on Understanding & Designing for the Voluntary Adoption of Community Displays and kindly offered to post it here.

In his analysis of interactive displays, Harry divided the process from perception to direct interaction with the featured content into three general phases, as shown in the figure: a) peripheral awareness activities, b) focal awareness activities and c) direct interaction.

Media Facade Festival Berlin 2008

Finally, I defended my thesis at the University of St. Gallen this week :) During the next weeks I will start to publish the main findings of my dissertation.

Today at the Media Facade Festival Berlin 2008 I give the following presentation about PERCEPTION, AWARENESS, AND INTERACTION of public displays.

Poster: Playful Interaction with Public Displays

To bridge USM08 Conference and Exhibition, selected posters that show latest developments and research in the field of Urban Screens will be displayed to the conference audience. “Six selected Posters will be presented in an experimental Pecha Kucha like event on the Atrium LED Screen via a scheduled skype session.”

My own research project will be shown on a poster titled: “Playful Interaction with Public Displays”.

Abstract: “This poster describes a serious of experiments on playful interaction with public displays. The experiments were conducted using the 4 interactive displays in Berlin, Germany, that invite passers-by to playfully interact with their mirror images. In 13 experiments, a totalof almost 5000 passers-by were observed and an additional survey was conducted. The results of the investigations have recently been analysed as part of the author’s dissertation.”

Digital Signage: Investigation Of The Usage Patterns

(excepts from the original article by Florian Resatsch and me: D. Michelis, F. Resatsch. Unlocking the Interactive Capabilities of Large Outdoor Displays, Information Display Journal, March 2007, Vol. 23, No. 3, Society for Information Display, San Jose, CA, 2007)

If digital signage is to achieve maximum effect, it must first grab the attention of the viewer. It can be fun too, but not just fun. Advertisers are in the business for one purpose only; to sell more product. Here we describe an experiment in attention grabbing. It works. It’s fun. But how will it translate into business advantage?