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Interaction design is about finding better ways for people to interact with each other through communication technologies. Interaction design involves understanding how people learn, work and play so that we can engineer better, more valuable technologies that are more appropriate to the contexts of their lives. As an academic discipline, interaction design is about the people-research that underpins these technologies. As a comparative tool for business it is about creating innovations that have market pull rather than a technology push. Many examples can be found which demonstrate the value of interaction design within both industry and academia, however finding the common ground between this spectrum of activity is often difficult. Differences in language, approach and outcomes often lead to researchers from either side of the spectrum complaining of an uncommon ground, which often results in a lack of collaboration within such projects. However, as demonstrated through this case study, rather than focussing on finding a common ground to assist in better collaboration between industry and academia, celebrating the uniqueness of each approach whilst bridging them with a common language can lead to new knowledge and commercial innovation. This case study will focus on the research and development phase of a Diversionary Therapy Platform, a collaboration between the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design and The Royal Children's Hospital (Brisbane, Australia). This collaborative effort has led to the formation of a new commercial venture, Diversionary Therapy Pty Ltd, which aims to bring to the market the research outcomes from the project. The case study will outline the collaborative research and development process undertaken between the many stakeholders and reflect on the challenges identified within this process. A key finding from this collaboration was allowing for the co-existence of the common and uncommon ground throughout the project. This concept will

This thesis aims at developing a better understanding of the design process and the tools required to support it. Specifically it focuses on the early or conceptual stages of the industrial design process and the role of emerging technology based artifacts in supporting this activity. The starting point for this thesis is that industrial design focuses on discovery of new knowledge and that this process of discovery is reflective in nature. Further designers make use of artifacts throughout the design process to support them in this discovery and their reflection. To reveal the role of artifacts in this process, a study of the interaction between designers and their artifacts has been undertaken. To intensify these relationships this thesis has focused on design review activity undertaken in the early stages of industrial design process. Two ethnographic case studies were conducted which allowed for teams of final year industrial design students to be observed during a conceptual design review. The first case study focused on the student designers interacting with traditional artifacts such as sketches, form studies and illustrations as part of the design review session. In the second case study, the student designers made use of low fidelity digital models which were displayed in a highly immersive virtual reality environment to support the design review. Both case studies captured a time slice of a larger design project which the students were undertaking as part of their university studies. The design project focused on the redesign of a consumer product where the students were required to innovate on an existing design based on a number of technology and market constraints. The design review session which formed the basis of the case study was part of a weekly design critique which required the students to bring to the class all of their design development progress. Students were offered an additional review session which was held in a virtual reality facility t

The paper focuses on the emotional aspect of the driving experience. An experiment studying emotions during interaction between driver and vehicle interface in a natural driving situation was conducted. The aim was to identify aspects that affected the driving experience in a positive or negative manner. A triangulation method comprising interviews, observations and think-aloud protocols were used. Participants were required to drive around a specified route while interacting with the vehicle interface. They were interviewed before and after driving to identify their emotional state. During the drive they were asked to perform particular tasks with the interface as well as conduct a think-aloud protocol about their emotions while performing the tasks. Findings showed that emotions during interaction in low-traffic contexts did not impact the overall experience, while emotions elicited in high-traffic context influenced the overall emotional experience perceived. In addition, drivers in a positive emotional state before driving that experienced challenging interactions in high-traffic context perceived the overall experience as negative. Surprisingly, drivers in a negative emotional state prior to driving that experienced and overcame challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts perceived the overall experience as positive. An additional finding revealed that extended visual interaction with the vehicle interface in high-traffic situations led to negative emotions. The paper concludes by outlining future directions and suggestions as to how current and upcoming technology such as context aware interfaces, digital interfaces, and interfaces utilising smart materials may be applied to vehicle interiors to help support positive (and avoid negative) emotional experiences in a variety of contexts.

Among the many new opportunities that digital technologies are enabling are an increased capacity for viewers to interact not only with the program content, but with an increasingly wide array of other digital applications. Within this context this project has developed a new interaction device (incorporating gestural platform technology) and user interfaces to facilitate interactive access to digital media in a lounge room setting. This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary design process applied by Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) researchers—in order to develop the device and present in detail its unique features.

This short paper presents a means of capturing non spatial information (specifically understanding of places) for use in a Virtual Heritage application. This research is part of the Digital Songlines Project which is developing protocols, methodologies and a toolkit to facilitate the collection and sharing of Indigenous cultural heritage knowledge, using virtual reality. Within the context of this project most of the cultural activities relate to celebrating life and to the Australian Aboriginal people, land is the heart of life. Australian Indigenous art, stories, dances, songs and rituals celebrate country as its focus or basis. To the Aboriginal people the term “Country” means a lot more than a place or a nation, rather “Country” is a living entity with a past a present and a future; they talk about it in the same way as they talk about their mother. The landscape is seen to have a spiritual connection in a view seldom understood by non-indigenous persons; this paper introduces an attempt to understand such empathy and relationship and to reproduce it in a virtual environment.

Per capita, Australia has the highest rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the industrialised world (Turton & Hamilton, 2002). As such, it is increasingly recognised that engaging Australians in environmentally sustainable practices and behaviours is central to reducing greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable future. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for engaging people in environmentally sustainable everyday behaviours using interactive Virtual Reality (VR). First, it provides a framework through which to understand the elements necessary for the long-term uptake of environmentally sustainable behaviours. It then considers how an active participatory engagement model is suited to addressing these issues. Finally, it articulates the approach required by facilitators as well as the role of VR in facilitating communication about environmentally sustainable behaviour change between people in small group settings.

This paper focuses on exploring the emotional experience of driving and aims to identify some of the aspects that may influence this experience. The paper presents an exploratory study focusing on the driver’s experience during interaction with the vehicle interface while driving. The study is based on a data triangulation approach including interviews, observation, and think-aloud protocol. Preliminary analysis of the study provided encouraging indicative findings, identifying aspects of design that enhance and/or detract from the driving experience. Previous analysis suggests that context and situation have a dominant impact on the driving experience. Further analysis has shown that challenges with the interface under particular conditions, within high traffic contexts, can bring about positive emotional experiences for drivers. The paper concludes with implications of the findings to future design of driving interfaces and outlines further study directions.

This paper focuses on the experience design approach in respect to automotive design. The literature review indicates that eliciting appropriate positive emotions during interaction is central to experience design.To investigate this, an exploratory study was conducted focusing on the driver’s experience during interaction with the vehicle interface in a real driving situation. The study is based on a data triangulation approach including interviews, observations, and think-aloud protocol. Participants were asked to perform specific tasks while driving. During the drive they were video and audio taped. Also, they were interviewed before and after driving. The aim was to identify aspects of the driving experience that affected their emotions in a positive or negative manner.The outcome of this study provides encouraging findings, identifying aspects of design that enhance and/or detract from the driving experience. Results suggest that context and situation have a dominant impact on the driving experience. It appears that any negative feelings are magnified if usability problems occur in high traffic situations. If this occurs driver perceives the entire experience as negative. However, if negative feelings arise when problems occur in low traffic situations, the overall experience is not affected. If no usability problems occur during the drive the overall experience appears to stay neutral. The paper concludes with implications of the findings to future design of driving interfaces and outlines further study directions.

PC based software (Virtual Reality Simulation Program). Project description and video demonstration attached to this record.