Supporting Subtlety with Deceptive Devices and Illusory Interactions

Abstract

Figure 1: Examples of subtle interactions achieved through the use of the presented gimmicks. From left to right: reading text messages, composing an email, and checking the time. ABSTRACTMobile devices offer constant connectivity to the world, which can negatively affect in-person interaction. Current approaches to minimizing the social disruption and improving the subtlety of interactions tend to focus on the development of inconspicuous devices that provide basic input or output. This paper presents a more general approach to subtle interaction and demonstrates how a number of principles from magic can be leveraged to improve subtlety. It also presents a framework that can be used to classify subtle interfaces along with a modular set of novel interfaces that fit within this framework. Lastly, the paper presents a new evaluation paradigm specifically designed to assess the subtlety of interactions. This paradigm is used to compare traditional approaches to our new subtle approaches. We find our new approaches are over five times more subtle than traditional interactions, even when participants are aware of the technologies being used.

The personal cockpit

“…Another important aspect is social acceptability. User interactions in many instances should be minute enough to remain subtle, thus avoiding unwanted attention in public spaces [4,11] and preventing user fatigue from substantial movements of the arm, neck or eyes [91]. Although an input device should be small and inconspicuous enough to blend into the user's typical attire, the device should, at the same time, provide cues to make others aware when the user is engaged with the interactive system [57].…”

Chameleon Devices

“…For emergent users, the use of additional devices (e.g., [42]) may be less attractive due to cost and power issues. Similarly, the availability of objects to embed devices within may be lower than for traditional users envisaged in prior work [1].…”

“…In this work, we focus on visual camouflaging in a similar manner to the optical hiding of [21], or large-scale 3D projections. 1 However, our design also employs subtle changes to the camouflaged surface in order to provide discreet notifications and updates, while endeavouring to remain hidden.…”

“…There is also a significant amount of research in this area. Anderson et al [1], for example, present several examples around deception and illusion, drawing on principles of magic to increase the subtlety of interfaces, including devices that can disguise numerical data in audio alerts. There is also work around wearable devices and visual displays.…”

Beyond “yesterday’s tomorrow”: future-focused mobile interaction design by and for emergent users

“…Our participants' designs stimulate two new ideas that go further than previously reported work (such as [3,12]). Imagine a mobile that disappears from view from everyone except the owner-the 'chameleon' mentioned by one of our Nairobi participants.…”