Assignment 1

Assignment 1: Observation. Pick a piece of interactive technology in public, used by multiple people. Write down your assumptions as to how it's used, and describe the context in which it's being used. Watch people use it, preferably without them knowing they're being observed. Take notes on how they use it, what they do differently, what appear to be the difficulties, what appear to be the easiest parts. Record what takes the longest, what takes the least amount of time, and how long the whole transaction takes. Consider how the readings from Crawford reflect on what you see.




Object of choice: Elliptical Machines at the gym


The elliptical machines at the Palladium gym at NYU are multi-functional interactive machines, housing resistance to motion, a heart rate sensor, and an entertainment  system. People typically use them for all the functions they provide and they are intended to be easy to operate and interact with. The data from user generated motion on the machine is averaged and displayed on the screen along with a TV station or radio station of your choice. 


In my observation, it seemed like the longest interaction was the setting up of the machine to the users preferences as there are so many ways the machine can be tailored to fit one's needs: one can adjust length of workout, personal weight, entertainment preferences, height, resistance, and age. Selecting each one individually does not take that much time, however the whole process takes about 1-2 minutes before the user is exercising with limited interaction. Everything else about the machine is automated and very user friendly. 


Crawford talks about interactivity as more of a conversation than a reaction, and requires both parties to listen, consider, and respond. The elliptical does this across the board in a number of ways: it listens and adjusts to preferred settings and then responds with the realization of those settings, it understands when you stop on the machine and instantly pauses it, and it feels when your hands are not on the heart rate monitor and asks you to adjust accordingly. The level of interaction with the elliptical machines is rather sophisticated for workout equipment.