Mitigating mobile-based avoidance behaviour in casual social events through embedded art

Motivation

Problem: Oftentimes, people may find themselves at a social event like a cocktail party, but not really know anyone. Party-goers may then opt to use their phone as an activity to reduce anxiety and disassociate from the party. This phone usage can be characterized as problematic because it may prevent people from connecting with each other, and integrating into the social environment. Sometimes, all we need is a simple activity to elicit conversation.

Solution: We propose a piece of interactive art that demands users' phones. The art will be cooperative in nature, and entice conversation among users. It will require them to use their phones in non-problematic ways, and forge connections with other party-goers.

System Description

In accordance with our motivation, we focus on these three design goals: 1. The device is easy to use, 2. The device is aesthetically enhanced to entice users to approach it, and 3. The device automatically visualizes artworks that invokes conversation among people in the same room.

1. Phone detection We utilize AUX ports, with which most phone users are familiar, to detect if the user has put their phone at the booth. Since most users are aware of how to plug their phone into a device through the AUX port, it appears intuitive and easy to use.

2. Animation & Feedback The device sends immediate feedback once the user’s phone is connected. We developed and tested three different types of animations: a pet that reacts everytime a new phone is connected, an artwork and a sketch of the user that are gradually revealed as more phones are connected. Both the artwork and sketch are heavily degraded at first, but become more clear as more phones connect to it.

3. Aesthetic The device, without being obtrusive, should encourage people to naturally navigate around to it. It shouldn’t compel people to actually have an interaction with it, but be a checkpoint in the environment so that its presence is enjoyable and sometimes useful to stimulate social interactions.

Find our demonstration videos from these slides
Download the software from here

This project was a team effort of three people, and was implemented as part of a course project, Human-Computer Interaction, from McGill University. The author was involved in idea brainstorming, system design and user testing, and was in charge of implementing the software.