Difference and Perception as a Design Strategy

From the previous discussion, we can say that, from the related work, the health and the learning groups started from the differences and went to deal with perception, while the memory game and the adaptation from visual information groups went from perception constraints to dealing with differences.

We argue that this relationship can be cyclic. For instance, a game from the health group that is mostly rehabilitation for patients (differences), is not interesting for people who do not need those exercises. However, if the design also went back the other way around, i.e., considering how this game could be interesting, for instance, for the visually impaired, adaptations would be necessary (perception). These adaptations would prob- ably involve providing more forms of input and translating visual information to other senses. This completes a cycle, going from a differences to a perception point-of-view. Now we argue that this cycle could go on, e.g., from the adaptation arises an issue of teaching the visually impaired a skill necessary to play the game (differences). This is important to our goal of natural interaction because it points to a design strategy that depends on both differences and perception; in fact, it lies in-between them.

For this reason, in our case study, from the very beginning, our design went back and forth. We started with a Universal Design perspective, and chose an existing popular game to apply it. Our rationale behind every design decision for the memory game adaptation was based on how it could accommodate more differences, and what these differences would require in terms of perception. As we presented in 6.3, there is still room for improvement for making the game more accessible. Therefore, we propose that the strategy for designing a game that provides both accessibility and natural interaction should strive to find a balance between accommodating differences between users, and providing multiple channels for the perception of information. Furthermore, such balance

is dynamic, i.e., it requires constant transition between the two elements, differences and perception. As we saw from our related work analysis, staying in one extreme leads to a solution that is either too exclusive for one audience, or uninteresting for other people.

6.5

Conclusion

In this paper we found and analyzed papers that addressed accessibility in games using NUI. Such analysis suggested a focus on disabilities, and sensory substitution as a common strategy to deal with them. From this, we presented our case study, involving visually impaired people and our adaptation of the memory game. Our case study allowed us to put to test a design strategy, where the idea is not to focus on specific differences, as the literature we found did with disabilities. Instead, differences have to be incorporated into the design, as many of them as possible. Therefore, we argue that the design of natural interaction should provide the common ground for differences. But how to do that?

The answer lies in the element of perception, the relationship between person and environment, which is unique to each person. In our case study, we saw how our memory game had distinct affordances for each player. Some devised strategies and tried to beat the game fast, while others just wanted to finish it. Hence, the game was inclusive, not just because it allowed visually impaired people to play it autonomously, but also because it became a common ground for different people.

This two-way relationship brings us to a design strategy, which is actually the coupling between the elements of differences and perception. In our case study, we designed a game that was meant to be played by as many people as possible, and to do so, instead of sensory substitution, we strived for sensory redundancy. We succeeded in terms of translating specific visual information to other senses, but we overlooked the fact that, forcing players to have only one free hand, could hide underlying tactile information. For visually impaired players in particular, this became an issue that did not harm the gameplay, but it did push our design a bit away from the naturalness we were hoping for. Therefore, we saw that to design natural interaction is not just about technology, and it is not just about the person using the technology. It is about what lies in-between, that only exists when the differences and the perception intertwine.

Chapter 7

An Enactive Perspective on Emotion: a

Case Study on Monitoring Brainwaves

7.1

Introduction

Instead of making humans adapt to the computer world, ubiquitous computing, in essence, is about technology becoming invisible and blending into the human world [134]. The concept of Tangible User Interface (TUI) [58] extended this idea by proposing to transform digital information into concrete objects, which could be done with architectural elements (e.g. walls or doors), everyday objects (e.g. books or cards), or ambient conditions (e.g. sound, light or airflow). With the same intent but with a different approach is the concept of enactive systems [60], which rejects the idea of a goal-oriented and conscious interaction. Instead, in an enactive system, the person’s body and spatial presence is the conduit that allows a non-conscious interaction with the system. The authors drew the enactive part from the concept of enaction proposed by Bruner [22], in the sense of “learning by doing”, but it also resonates with what Varela et al. [132] called enaction. In particular, considering what are the frontiers of the body is important when talking about the design of enactive systems, and we take on the view of the Embodied Cognition (EC) theory, as it considers the cognitive system to be a network composed of the environment, the body and the brain [128].

Hence, in this paper we explore the possibilities brought by Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), in terms of non-conscious interaction in an enactive system, and analyzed through a lens based on phenomenology, such as that of enaction [22, 132] and of Embodied Cognition [128]. As the name implies, BCI is the interaction between a person and a computer system using signals from the brain [69]. One way of providing BCI is to capture and record the electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to the surface of the head, a process called Electroencephalography (EEG). Until recently, EEG systems were restricted to hospital and laboratories, but now they are available to the general public through consumer-grade EEG devices [87]. Two examples of such technology are the Emotiv EPOC [37] and the Neurosky MindWave [96]. Both devices are capable of providing metrics on two emotional states: attention and meditation, i.e., how much a person is focused and how much she is relaxed. We can relate these metrics to the “arousal”

and “pleasure” dimensions of the circumplex model of affect [108]. The values provided by the devices come from interpretations that their proprietary algorithms make of the person’s brain waves. The availability of EEG devices, as well as the simple measures they can provide on a person’s emotional state, make them an interesting option for using BCI in ubiquitous scenarios, or in enactive systems.

One major challenge that needs to be overcome by BCI technology is personalization [69]. This entails, for instance, adapting the system’s algorithms to each person’s indi- vidual brain waves, considering external factors such as possible distractions, or adapting to the person’s mood on different occasions. Personalization might also be a desirable quality for Universal Design (UD), the approach to design that aims to make interactive products suitable for the widest possible range of users without requiring adaptations [36]. In a context that potentially tends to a variety of user characteristics and requirements – such as pervasive computing – it is crucial to provide usability and accessibility to all of them.

Such is the challenging scenario in which this work is situated. Therefore, in this paper, we will investigate if and how a consumer-grade EEG device, the Neurosky MindWave, can contribute to the design of an enactive system. Moreover, we wish such design to be informed by an enactive perspective, the theoretical basis from which the concept of enactive systems came. So, the paper is organized as follows: in Section 7.2 we present a literature review on BCI, in Section 7.3 we explain what is the enactive perspective, in Section 7.4 we present our case study with the MindWave, in Section 7.5 we discuss the results of the case study and its implications for the design of enactive systems; and in Section 7.6 we give our concluding remarks.