Designing "interacting places" for a student community using a communicative ecology approach

In the age of online social networks, local communities still play an essential role in supporting social cohesion. In this paper we present a study that explores the design of "interacting places" -- networked public multimedia services that foster community awareness between local members -- in the context of a student community. In order to have interacting places "fit in" with the existing communication practices of the students, we performed and analyzed a set of semi-structured interviews with n=17 students regarding their use of email, social networking services, and instant messaging to stay in touch with others. A follow-up online survey (n=76) then explored how networked public multimedia services could complement these practices. Following a "communicative ecology" approach -- a conceptual model that represents the technical, social, and discursive contexts of communication -- we draw up guidelines to support the design of both content and channels (applications) for interacting places in student communities.

[1]  Nemanja Memarovic,et al.  FunSquare: first experiences with autopoiesic content , 2011, MUM.

[2]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  Supporting Community Awareness with Interactive Displays , 2012, Computer.

[3]  Simo Hosio,et al.  Using public displays to stimulate passive engagement, active engagement, and discovery in public spaces , 2012, MAB '12.

[4]  Florian Alt,et al.  The interacting places framework: conceptualizing public display applications that promote community interaction and place awareness , 2012, PerDis '12.

[5]  Stephanie M. Reich,et al.  Online and Offline Social Networks: Use of Social Networking Sites by Emerging Adults , 2008 .

[6]  Caroline Holland,et al.  Social interactions in urban public places , 2007 .

[7]  Nemanja Memarovic,et al.  “Your place or mine?” – Connecting communities and public places through networked public displays , 2010 .

[8]  G. Hearn,et al.  Networked Individualism of Urban Residents: Discovering the communicative ecology in inner-city apartment buildings , 2007 .

[9]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  Affordances and Signifiers of Community Noticeboards , 2009 .

[10]  Antonietta Grasso,et al.  Diffusing information in organizational settings: learning from experience , 2002, CHI.

[11]  Jo A. Tacchi,et al.  Studying Communicative Ecologies: An Ethnographic Approach to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) , 2006 .

[12]  Shelly Farnham,et al.  Supporting community in third places with situated social software , 2009, C&T.

[13]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  Display Blindness: The Effect of Expectations on Attention towards Digital Signage , 2009, Pervasive.

[14]  Kathy Schulz,et al.  Your Place or Mine? , 2001 .

[15]  Margot Brereton,et al.  Designing Interaction for Local Communications: An Urban Screen Study , 2009, INTERACT.

[16]  Margot Brereton,et al.  Cross-channel mobile social software: an empirical study , 2008, CHI.

[17]  Alireza Sahami Shirazi,et al.  Digifieds: insights into deploying digital public notice areas in the wild , 2011, MUM.

[18]  Danny Miller.  The unpredictable mobile phone , 2006 .

[19]  Maroussia Lévesque,et al.  p2P: Cityspeak's Reconfiguration of Public Media Space , 2006 .

[20]  J. Tacchi.  Supporting the Democratic Voice through Community Media Centres in South Asia , 2005 .

[21]  Nemanja Memarovic,et al.  Talking to Strangers: Using Large Public Displays to Facilitate Social Interaction , 2011, HCI.

[22]  Florian Alt,et al.  Connecting People through Content - Promoting Community Identity Cognition through People and Places , 2011 .

[23]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  Designing Shared Public Display Networks - Implications from Today's Paper-Based Notice Areas , 2011, Pervasive.

[24]  David L. Altheide.  An Ecology of Communication , 1995 .

[25]  Pernilla Qvarfordt,et al.  Exploring the workplace communication ecology , 2010, CHI.

[26]  Michael James Biddulph,et al.  Carr, Stephen, Francis, Mark, Rivlin, Leanne G and Stone, Andrew M., "Public Space" (Book Review) , 1994 .

[27]  Michael Rohs,et al.  The smart phone: a ubiquitous input device , 2006, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

[28]  Marko Jurmu,et al.  Multipurpose Interactive Public Displays in the Wild: Three Years Later , 2012, Computer.

[29]  Margaret Hamilton,et al.  Mobile computing, visual diaries, learning and communication: changes to the communicative ecology of design students through mobile computing , 2006 .

[30]  Jennifer G. Sheridan,et al.  Public Ubiquitous Computing Systems: Lessons from the e-Campus Display Deployments , 2006, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

[31]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  Open Display Networks: A Communications Medium for the 21st Century , 2012, Computer.

[32]  Craig Bellamy,et al.  The material ecologies of domestic ICTs/Les écologies matérielles des ICT domestiques , 2007 .

[33]  Elizabeth F. Churchill,et al.  Multimedia fliers: information sharing with digital community bulletin boards , 2003 .

[34]  Jo A. Tacchi,et al.  Ethnographic monitoring and evaluation of community multimedia centres: A study of Kothmale community radio internet project, Sri Lanka , 2002 .

[35]  Louise Barkhuus,et al.  Student socialization in the age of facebook , 2010, CHI.

[36]  Antti Oulasvirta,et al.  It's Mine, Don't Touch!: interactions at a large multi-touch display in a city centre , 2008, CHI.

[37]  Rui José,et al.  Instant Places: Using Bluetooth for Situated Interaction in Public Displays , 2008, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

[38]  Ronald Schroeter,et al.  People, content, location: sweet spotting urban screens for situated engagement , 2012, DIS '12.

[39]  Nigel Davies,et al.  Reflections on the long-term use of an experimental digital signage system , 2011, UbiComp '11.

[40]  David L. Altheide.  An Ecology of Communication: Toward a Mapping of the Effective Environment , 2008 .

[41]  George Buchanan,et al.  "Narrowcast yourself": designing for community storytelling in a rural Indian context , 2008, DIS '08.

[42]  John M. Carroll,et al.  The Blacksburg Electronic Village: A Study in Community Computing , 2003, Digital Cities.

[43]  William G. Griswold,et al.  Challenge: ubiquitous location-aware computing and the "place lab" initiative , 2003, WMASH '03.

[44]  John M. Can-Oil.  The blacksburg electronic village : A study in community computing , 2005 .