Sensation: Sonifying the Urban Running Experience

in Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings (2021, May)

Following the need to promote physical activity as a part of a healthy lifestyle, in this study we focus on encouraging more physical activity by improving the experience, with running as an example of a ... [more ▼]

Following the need to promote physical activity as a part of a healthy lifestyle, in this study we focus on encouraging more physical activity by improving the experience, with running as an example of a popular outdoor activity. Running in nature is often described as more pleasant and relaxing than running in the city, yet in urban environments it is difficult to integrate true nature in one's running route. To bridge this gap we designed Sensation, a sonified running track that provides sensations of nature using audio feedback. Sensation senses the footsteps of runners and produces synced sounds of footsteps in several nature environments to augment the urban landscape. This way, Sensation aims to enhance the environmental factors that contribute to the positive feelings people experience during a run. We report on insights gathered during our Research-through-Design process, as well as a preliminary user test of this sonified running track. © 2021 Owner/Author. [less ▲]

The Office Jungle: Exploring Unusual Ways of Working through Bodily Experimentations

in DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere (2021)

Modern office environments foster sitting, a major public health risk, with physical inactivity being the fourth cause of death worldwide. This provocative pictorial presents the design explorations and ... [more ▼]

Modern office environments foster sitting, a major public health risk, with physical inactivity being the fourth cause of death worldwide. This provocative pictorial presents the design explorations and bodily experimentations culminating in The Office Jungle, a critical and speculative redesign of the office environment that encourages physical activity by embracing wildness. The Office Jungle is a design exemplar of a "wild"office space presented as a suspended geodesic structure. It is built to experienc e how our office environment and our behaviour at work affect each other. We advocate that bringing wildness into office spaces will create more durable office environments that foster movement. With this pictorial, we aim to spark discussion amongst designers to think in new ways and to consider new opportunities to design for workplaces that integrate physical activity with work. © 2021 Owner/Author. [less ▲]