Daniel Tetteroo
Iris Soute
Panos Markopoulos
ABSTRACT
As tangible and embodied systems are making the transition from the labs to everyday life, there is a growth in the applications related research and design work in this field. We argue that the potential of these technologies can be even further leveraged by enabling domain experts such as teachers, therapists and home owners to act as end-user developers in order to modify and create content for their tangible interactive systems. However, there are important issues that need to be addressed if we want to enable these end users to act as developers. In this paper we identify five key challenges for meta-designers in enabling end-users to develop for tangible and embodied interaction.
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Index Terms
- Five key challenges in end-user development for tangible and embodied interaction
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Reviews
Franz J Kurfess
Computing technology is becoming so flexible and ubiquitous that it can be incorporated into relatively mundane objects and devices. This enables tangible and embodied interaction with a large variety of artifacts, in a wide range of contexts, with a potentially large interaction space open for exploration. The availability and flexibility of these computationally enhanced objects also puts them in the hands of users who have significant domain skills and knowledge, but not necessarily the experience to fully utilize their interactive features. The authors identify five key challenges for a certain type of users of such objects, referred to as end-user developers (EUDs). These EUDs are attempting to develop interactive experiences not for themselves, but for other users they encounter in their professional capabilities. The two specific examples addressed are educators and physiotherapists. While I agree that these challenges exist, I am not entirely convinced about their relevance and uniqueness for this particular context. One challenge is that the extensive amount of time it takes EUDs to modify a device outweighs the benefits of its initial purpose. Time is a necessary and fluctuating factor in the learning process, for all kinds of devices or activities. For example, setting up an exercise machine for a specific client may require initial training for the practitioner, and involves setup time before the client can use it. This is a reflection of the complexity of the device and the actions to be performed, and will happen with computer-based or mechanical systems. The challenges the authors present largely focus on the learning curve for their defined EUDs, and how each challenge presented the EUDs with yet another demanding part of the development process. Their proposed solution is to provide the EUDs with the guidance they need to overcome these challenges-a sound, but fairly obvious proposition. On the other hand, the lack of design guidance shouldn't be surprising, since at such an early stage of adoption, it is frequently unclear what techniques will work for users in general. Online Computing Reviews Service
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