Reflections on the NatureCHI Workshop Series: Unobtrusive User Experiences with Technology in Nature

Being in nature is often regarded to be calming, relaxing and purifying. While technology has the potential to support engagement with nature, developing systems that provide support in an unobtrusive manner holds many challenges for interaction design. In this article, the authors describe their reflections around the NatureCHI workshop series. The aim with the workshops has been to help foster a research community interested in the design of Unobtrusive User Experiences with Technology in Nature. The first of two workshops ran as part of CHI 2016 in San Jose, California, while the second workshop took place alongside MobileHCI 2017 in Vienna, Austria. With 25 papers presented in total, the workshops demonstrate a rising interest in the areas where nature and interactive technologies meet.

[1]  Catherine S. Johnson,et al.  Will o'the Wisp: Augmented Reality Navigation for Hikers , 2016, HCI.

[2]  Jane Turner,et al.  Wanderer beyond game worlds , 2008 .

[3]  Sven Mayer,et al.  How Drones Can Support Backcountry Activities , 2017 .

[4]  Richard Coyne,et al.  Nature vs. smartphones , 2014, Interactions.

[5]  Alice M. Agogino,et al.  Off the Paved Paths: Exploring Nature with a Mobile Augmented Reality Learning Tool , 2013, Int. J. Mob. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[6]  Antti-Jussi Yliharju,et al.  Concept Design for Capturing: Letters from the Sky , 2016, CHI 2016.

[7]  Gary Priestnall,et al.  Of Catwalk Technologies and Boundary Creatures , 2013, TCHI.

[8]  Timothy L. Stelter.  Hiking The Appalachian Trail With Technology , 2017 .

[9]  K. Krein.  Nature Sports , 2014 .

[10]  Johannes Schöning,et al.  NatureCHI: Unobtrusive User Experiences with Technology in Nature , 2016, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[11]  Mads Bødker.  Charging as a Focal Practice: Reflections on Digital ‘Focal Things and Practices’ in the Wilderness , 2017 .

[12]  Jonna Häkkilä,et al.  Designing Unobtrusive Display Technology for Cross-Country Skiing , 2016 .

[13]  Frederic Kerber.  Investigating User Preference for Mobile Auditory Notifications in Different Contexts , 2017 .

[14]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  Supporting the consumption and co-authoring of locative media experiences for a rural village community: design and field trial evaluation of the SHARC2.0 framework , 2016, Multimedia Tools and Applications.

[15]  K. Cheverst.  Experiences with the Co-design and Evaluation of Locative Media Experiences with the National Trust , 2017 .

[16]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  Encouraging Visitor Engagement and Reflection with the Landscape of the English Lake District:Exploring the potential of Locative Media , 2016 .

[17]  Gaëlle Calvary,et al.  Characterizing User Roles in HCI Technologies for Nature Exploration , 2017 .

[18]  Johannes Schöning,et al.  Unexpected journeys with the HOBBIT: the design and evaluation of an asocial hiking app , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[19]  Johannes Schöning,et al.  The Geography of Pokémon GO: Beneficial and Problematic Effects on Places and Movement , 2017, CHI.

[20]  Tanja Döring.  The Interaction Material Profile: Understanding and Inspiring How Physical Materials Shape Interaction , 2016, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[21]  Cameron Steer.  Hands On With Nature : Designing Tangible Interactions With Plants , 2016 .

[22]  Mike Chiasson,et al.  Walking off the garden path : a design journey , 2015 .

[23]  I. Alakärppä,et al.  Ephemerality as a Design Driver:: Evanescent Screen Enabled by the Arctic Weather Conditions , 2016, CHI 2016.

[24]  David B. Wilson,et al.  Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry by Albert Borgmann (review) , 1986 .

[25]  Nicola J. Bidwell,et al.  Pursuing genius loci: interaction design and natural places , 2009, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[26]  Jonna Häkkilä,et al.  Graveyards as a Design Context for Unobtrusive Interaction , 2016 .

[27]  Johannes Schöning,et al.  NatureCHI 2017: the 2nd workshop on unobtrusive user experiences with technology in nature , 2017, MobileHCI.

[28]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Ambient wood: designing new forms of digital augmentation for learning outdoors , 2004, IDC '04.

[29]  Nicola J. Bidwell,et al.  Walking and the social life of solar charging in rural africa , 2013, ACM Trans. Comput. Hum. Interact..

[30]  Johannes Schöning,et al.  "In search of light": enhancing touristic recommender services with local weather data , 2017, MobileHCI.