The interaction space of a multi-device, multi-user music experience

Abstract

The increasing interoperability between electronic devices in our everyday life offers great opportunities for ubiquitous computing in non-work settings. There are however aspects of the interaction space of interconnected devices, that we do not yet fully understand. This prohibits us from utilizing the full potential of the devices and the digital ecosystems emerging around them. We have explored the interaction space created around multi-device systems in a non-work setting, by developing a functional prototype of a multi-device music player and evaluating it in three different real-life contexts. The evaluations had a total running time of 12 hours and involved approximately 60 testpersons. Qualitative results collected throughout the evaluations provide insight into issues regarding interaction design of multi-device systems with multiple simultaneous users. Through a discussion of the results we point out areas of interest and design issues, revealed during the evaluations.