Debates on Immersive Experiences - PG02 Cycle 3 (21 Jan 2013)

Reading - Immersive Experiences

'Immersive experiences' - Notes from Britta

Please consider the debate whether technology necessarily engages us in a 'more' immersive experience, or is it just a different experiences. How is it different? Why? Is an immersive experience always necessary to achieve a memorable experience?

Are new technologies changing our lives for the better - or for the worst?

(FOR WORST?)

Nicholas Carr, for example, argues that technologies contributes to a decline of our imaginative mind.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/20/internet-altering-your-mind
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/11/shallows-internet-changing-way-think

Carr’s argument is that the brain is like plastic and that the use and influence of the internet changes the brain, so that the reading of a linear book is impaired and made more difficult to accomplish. He complains of constant interuptions in being connected from email, Twitter and Facebook. His claims are said though to lack scientific evidence. He argues that the internet has brought about cursory reading, hurried, distracted thinking, and superficial learning.
He fears that the phenomenon of texting and instant messaging may be affecting creativity, and that we are not able to effectively think outside of the box as we are constantly sharing our ideas with friends online. Carr talks of the Internet as if it is a drug that causes adverse side effects. His view is that it is thinking and creativity are under threat.

1. The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember
2. by Nicholas Carr

(FOR BETTER)

Clay Shirky: http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transform_government.html

Clay Shirky's work focuses on the rising usefulness of networks -- using decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer sharing, wireless, software for social creation, and open-source development. New technologies are enabling new kinds of cooperative structures to flourish as a way of getting things done in business, science, the arts and elsewhere, as an alternative to centralized and institutional structures, which he sees as self-limiting. In his writings and speeches he has argued that "a group is its own worst enemy."

Open source that can teach democracy.

School girl in Scotland. Paine – Food blog, neverseconds.
Closed blog when she wasn’t able to take photos anymore. The council said they would never censor a 9 year old. Argyle and Bute council refused acknowledgement that they would censor a school pupil.

Once more ideas are in circulation, more arguments be brought into being.
When the media space expands.

Cover of Philosophical Transactions, created by a group called the Invisible College. Wanted to improve the way that philosophers argue with each other. Wanted to provide a way to publish arguments quickly. They invested the scientific journal to be published more quickly than a book.

Internet – predictions of world peace, more arguing.

Studies social media – pick group that are arguing. Pick the open source programmers. Very easy for programmers to overwrite each others code. Problem of managing a social project, use a version control system – stores a canonical copy of the software on a server. Only people who can change it, can only change the particular version of a system. One owner, many workers – see an example org chart.

Linus Torvalds created Linux, looked at Open Source software. Everybody should have access to open source software all the time- but this can cause chaos.

His view is that when you adopt a tool, you should adopt the philosophy. Map of internal dependencies in Linux – very complicated. Torvalds ran the changes from his email box. Git was written for version control. Everyone has access to all of the system all of the time. Gits second big innovation from GitHub, create a new new file, etc, git creates a numerical signature, tied to every change.

A programmer in Edinburgh and a programmer in Antibe can take the same versions of a file, they can then merge the changes, without knowing of each other, with co-ordination. Once Git allowed for co-operation to form without co-ordination huge communities to form, very large and complex organisations can form.

Diagram of Ruby – showing connections of People (chaotic looking org chart diagram)

This tool can be applied to democracies in general and in particular to the law.

When you claim that something on the ‘internet will be good for democracy’ you will often get this reaction – in reference to singing cats meme. – are you talking about the singing cats?

Did not take long to figure that erotic novels are a good idea. – instinct versus thinking.
Look where changes are happening on the margins.
Graph of the US tax code.

Law has examples of many attitudes, but only one main canonical copy.

New York Senate – list of Senators.
Idea of publishing a tool of Utah code, with the possibility that it could be used to develop legislation.

Hollywood has more access to Canadian legislators, than Canadians do.

Github shows when an item was added or deleted, good for showing legislation changes, and authors.

Lawmakers to not use distributed version control. People who have legislative power are not experimenting with participation. Democracy does still not permit technological steering from participators.

Generation can acquire a new form of arguing. Will the programmers keep it to themselves or press it out into society at large?

‘’

Is less more, or is more, in fact more?

1)http://www.fuelyourinterface.com/interface-immersion-when-is-it-necessary/
by Clifton B, Sep 2009
Clifton B looks at when Immersion is necessary within gaming by comparing ‘immersive games’ with ‘casual games’. He talks about 5 aspects of immersiveness. He looks at both the effects of immersiveness in demanding the players attention, and immersive operating systems which can cause less immersive applications in that the icons can be distractive and alert messages are apparent. He looks at Immersive websites compared with usable simplistic websites.  

- Distinguishment between Immersive Games and Casual Games.
The designers of Myst, wanted their game to be as immersive as possible, and therefore control panels or neon overhead displays are absent from the game. Only a hand cursor appears to show the point of touch or direction.
“Most popular computer and console games use this same mentality, that players want to place themselves in another world through beautiful imagery, rich sounds and even vibrating controllers.”
Casual games – are not necessarily meant to demand the player’s full attention.
Solitaire and puzzle games do not need to wow the player with graphics, fullscreen gameplay or background music, and can be paused or tucked away when something else comes up.

Aspect 1	Immersive Game/Experience	Casual Game/Experience
Immersiveness/Attention	Highly immersive, demanding the players full attention	Not meant to demand the players full attention
Visible Controls/Navigation	Controls absent, or not prominent	Controls may be shown, and can add to the gameplay
Attention span/Gameplay cruciality	Can demand that the player stays focused and attentive, perhaps being cautious to stop the gameplay	Casual games can be paused or tucked away when something else comes up, played during breaks, to kill time
Learning of features and options	Advanced	Simple
Gameplay length	Long	Short
Aspect 2	Immersive Multitasking	SingleFocus Computing
	Recent versions of Mac and PC more immersive in that you can multitask and have docking windows, making use of animated menus, customizable widgets, and integration with internet technologies
	With more immersive operating systems, comes less immersive applications – distractive icons, and alert messages	We look to the programs that we run to create our computing experience and demands the users attention
Aspect 3	Immersive Flash Websites	Simplistic Websites
Bandwidth	For higher bandwidth	For lower bandwidth
Experience vs Functionality	Real Estate companies, Car dealerships, Design agencies and Film companies want the experience on the internet to be a rich as possible	Neilsen and Norman believe that the internet is for storing and retrieving information, support of functionality
Aspect 4	Virtual Reality (VR)	Augmented Reality (AR)
Definition	Immersive the experience of the player in a virtual world, possibly using real world controls	Enhance the experience of the player within the real world, through digital overlays
Developer/User expectations	Continually aiming for a fully immersive experience, the player is connected to the device with little ability to be distracted by events in the real world	Understanding that immersion is not so crucial, players attention can pause and move away from the device, to do other things.
Popular immersive devices	Headset/Goggles/+Simulator	Mobile Phone/+Goggles/+Windscreen
Aim	Build Virtual world experience/Quest for illusion	Enhance experience of Real world with useful information
Aspect 5 – Sensing vs Information - from conclusion	Experiential Senses	Useful information
Sound/Music output	Added sound, music and touch, either from one source or surrounding sound	Sound and music off/navigation of information is more important
What users want	Some want a more immersive experience, and are happy to be entertained.	Some want to achieve a particular tasks, and will accept immersion if it supports tasks and does not detract from the task itself.
‘The experience is the message’ Marshall McLuhan	A bad experience is the message	Is the interface useful, and is the message relevant?

2)http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/11/when-is-an-immersive-digital-experience-appropriate.php
by Jordan Julien, Nov 2011
Julien in a similar way to Clifton B, also looks at when an immersive experience is appropriate. He differentiates between a Platform where the primary goal is to get the user to their destination and a Program where the primary goal is to communicate the message at every step of a user’s journey toward their destination.  It is with the Program that Julien suggests that there is scope for Immersion, as long as experiential design does not comprise the usability required to orientate a user through the interface.

Aspect	Platform/Housing content	Program/Website/Application
Goal	Primary goal is to get the user to their destination	Main goal is to communicate the message at every step of a user’s journey toward his destination
Primary intent	Primary intent to house content	Usability
Priority	Prioritize Usability over providing an Immersive experience	Can sacrifice Usability to provide an Immersive experience, when appropriate
Appropriateness		It appropriate to make it immersive when: - usability should not compromise the idea of fun and experiential campaigns.
Purpose	‘Manage’ content	‘Communicate’ a message
Pace	Key is getting straight to the destination	Key is communication at every step to the destination, emphasis on the journey

Building a platform for Destination-Focused Users

“Although platforms should focus on getting users to their destination as quickly as possible, once users have made it to their destination, creating a more immersive experience is valuable. For example, once users get to a product detail page on the IKEA Web site, they’ve essentially reached their destination. So, these platform-level pages can be more immersive than category, department, or collection pages.”

AC.Once they have reached the destination, you can make the experience immersive to keep them there...

Building a program for Journey-Focused Users

3 Key factors in Program Planning:

Journey > Experience
Mood > Experience
Message > Experience

A “Program Planning Framework”: (PPF)

- mood boards – map out emotional state of users along the journey, through progressive conversation.
- user journeys – show decision points, as thumbnail wireframes
- messages – focuses on the messages to convey through the journey, and whether there are overlapping messages.

So, when is an immersive digital experience appropriate?
Programs should be immersive, but balance experiential design with usable design.

3)http://www.freshandnew.org/2012/10/storyworlds-immersive-media-narrative-interview-mike-jones/

TO READ
On StoryWorlds, Immersive Media, Narrative and Museums – An interview with Mike Jones
Jones’s thoughts are that museum experiences and exhibitions are becoming more theatrical. His main view is that stories are not driven by technology, and instead that technologies should be selected to best serve the story and the role that the audience should play within a ‘storyworld’.  He gets very frustrated by the idea of the thinking that technology creates new forms of storytelling and that previous rules of telling stories do not apply. He strongly thinks that technology does not change what a story essentially is. He also guards against the use of the term stories to apply to things that are actually other things such as a brand, a collection of things or a sequence of events. He talks about immersiveness in storytelling by the use of episodic devices for stories.

--

Mike’s thoughts on how museum experiences and exhibitions are becoming more ‘theatrical’.

Became part of a newly formed company called Portal Entertainment as Head of Story.
Ensures that the projects they produce have intrinsically strong narratives – engaging, dramatic, transformative, compelling.

Stories are not driven by the technology, the technologies are selected and constructed to best serve that story and the role we want to the audience play in that storyworld.

‘Story’ – Definition/Value
What makes a good story?
How do we identify a story that is sutiable to that format and environment?

Can the story be told in the First person or Present tense?
Is there an Active, Meaning and Motivated role for the audience to play in that story?

Does story idea lend itself to them, then they are ideas we pursue further.

‘At the same time, I get very frustrated with a lot of the baby-out-with-the-bathwater thinking that goes with technology and story thinking; that somehow it’s a ‘Whole New Form of Storytelling’, or that Storytelling on new technologies is somehow ‘All Different, all New’, that the rules don’t apply.’

‘I think what we have to recognise is that technology has never actually changed what a story is.’

‘The technology changed what mechanics you had at your disposal to tell that story but it didn’t change what a story was or why people wanted them, what engaged and satisfied them.’

‘the skill-set I bring to all of them as a writer and shaper of story experiences is the same – just the canvas changes.’

Not everything is a ‘story’ – ie.brand, collection of things, sequence of events.

Distinctions between Story, Plot and Narration.

Plot – Sequence of Events
Narration – how those events are told.
Story – what the Viewer experiences through the combination of the Plot being Told in a certain way..or in other word Plot + Narration = a Story Experience in the mind of the Audience.

Wonder about Museums and Idea of Storytelling

Rhetorical questions:
‘Is story intrinsic to the museum exhibition? or is it a tool that some exhibitions might use?’

A number of us in museums have been thinking about exhibition design as ‘storytelling with physical space’

I think the idea of Spatial Narrative is a really important idea and also a vibrant one with lots of good precedents. The obvious connection is with 3D video gaming and ideas by scholar Norman Klein whose book ‘From the Vatican to Vegas: A History of Special Effects‘ deals specifically with the idea of narrative architecture.

Ideas of what a Story is:
Plot, Narration, Point of View, Dramatic questions, character transformation, catharsis, metaphor.

Spatial Narrative:
Exhibition Design, Storytelling with Physical Space (yet not truly a story without the viewer, the experience, and above constituents.)

Storyworld – like fully immersive interaction within a world / Transmedia – buzzword

‘The idea of a Storyworld is not particular to digital multi-platform and is absolutely applicable in traditional television series. It’s the idea of articulating the holistic world in which the stories are set – not just What, Where and When but also defining the Rules and Pressures of that world, the forces in conflict and opposition, the social frameworks and contexts that make that world not just unique but definitively pressurised with narrative potential.’

Do you think that immersion in Storyworlds can be achieved in the short period of time of an average museum visit?

- long duration of single immersion
- short periods of immersion but numerous immersions for cumulative effect.

Episodic experiences

Episodic storytelling
‘immersion happens as much between sessions, viewings and visits as it does in them.!’

Dramatic questions become an episodic pattern through closure; when the question is answered, the episode is ended but a new question or extended question, drives the audience forward into the next episode.

“X had to do Y but when they did, they realised Z…
So then they had to A before B,
But when they did, they encountered C.
So…. etc etc.”

Deeper richer immersion – through episodes or long binge-experiences?

Episodic narrative – not just within a medium, but also possibly across mediums.

Gallery could represent one episode, that poses questions that are answered by exhibitions end, but trigger new dramatic questions, the answers to which I have to get on a different platform.

This is an idea I would suggests drives many good multi-platform and transmedia projects – recognising that Transmedia Storytelling is Episodic Storytelling – questions posed on one platform compel us to answers on a different platform.

*--*

4)http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/DesignOffice/cmt/resources/pdf/vom_lehnetAl.pdf

- Rethinking interactivity: design for participation in museums and galleries
(social interaction on people’s museum experience and understanding)
This paper tries to rethink interactivity and participation in museums and galleries. Though many exhibits especially standard computer interfaces prioritise a particular user, they also neglect the opportunities for collaboration and simultaneous co-participation.  Within a Museum or gallery context, he also comments on the issue of the interactive actually displacing the attention that is normally given to the object itself. Social interaction is claimed to be a pivotable and unavoidable part of people’s experience within museums. I disagree in that many people visit galleries in particular alone and appear to be unsociable, and think that these people want to mainly experience being in front of the exhibits rather than necessarily sharing their commentary and opinions with others around them. Possibly their interactions are actually more evident afterwards in that they may share photos and opinions through social media.

‘Growing interest in museums and galleries to deploy novel technologies, such as computer exhibits, information kiosks and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) .’

‘The document discusses observations and findings from video-based studies field studies.’

NOTES:Design sensitivities:
- Growing interest in creating new forms of participation in museums and galleries.
Funding, New tools and technologies

“However, it is increasingly recognised that these new

forms of interactivity, whilst enhancing the individual’s engagement with particular

exhibits, often do so at the cost of impoverishing co-participation and collaboration.

Indeed, ‘interactivity’ is not infrequently conflated with social interaction”
- Enhancing Individual Engagement
- Impoverishing co-participation and collaboration

In Science Museum and Science Centres – growing commitment to the development of conventional computer exhibites that are largely based upon standard hardware and interfaces.

Through the exhibits the user is prioritised, and largely neglects collaboration and simultaneous co-participation.
Indeed co-participation is often restricted to a friend or family member attempting to help someone understand and use the system. Not infrequently, when they do try to engage in the task, the principal user will try to resist their interference.
Queues can emerge where people are waiting in line, to experience the exhibit and use the systems operations.
People often arrive at some point during the activity, (waiting in line) so by the time its their turn, they already have a fragmented partial experience of the exhibit.

Problems not just limited to the deployment of computer exhibits in science museums and science centres. In arts and decorative arts there has been a growing interest in screen-based systems to provide visitors with enhanced information concerning the objects and artefacts within the gallery and exhibition areas.

Two developments:
Information kiosks – largely consist of a screen alongside particular exhibits.
Screen provides information. When people arrive at the exhibit they often turn to the kiosk and become an audience to the information delivered by the system, and spend more time with the system than the original object. In these cases information kiosk displaces the object.

Multi-media mobile devices – like PDAs have risen in popularity with museum managers because they promise to address some of the problems of information kiosks. – allow visitors to access digital information while examining particular exhibits. Like information kiosks, PDAs may ‘displace’ the object.

Both information kiosks and mobile devices prioritise the individual user. – both accessed via small interfaces that do not support collaborative use and enquiry.

Contingent Participation:

Studies demonstrate that social interaction forms a pivotal and a virtually unavoidable part of people’s experience of museums.

THOUGHT: Relationship between immersion and social interaction…if other people are in the same experience, does the immersive experience more powerful? Refer back to experience of the Rain Room.

Crafting Participation: Naturalistic Experiments

Social interaction and collaboration are critical for people’s understanding of the craftworks; without interacting or collaboration with others people cannot discover the functionality of these pieces due the physical distribution of their functional parts.

“Recognising that social interaction is critical to people’s experience of exhibits

and exhibitions. They come with companions and meet others who happen to

be there at the same time.” – don’t agree, but it can be relevant in social situations.

Collaborate closely with exhibit designers and curators to experiment with novel techniques and technologies to create exhibitions that facilitate and support a social and collaborative museum

experience.


5)http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/conference-proceedings-interactive-learning-in-museums-of-art/

There are numerous papers here, however I was particularly interested by a study by Moussouri where UK museum visitors were asked to compare their experience in interactive museums or exhibitions with traditional museums. Again as is ‘rethinking interactivity’ there is an inherent tension in art museums between the object and the interactivity This paper also states that the interactive space should be an extension of the Museum’s mission without becoming an unnecessary add-on.

Conference proceedings: interactive learning in Museums of Art

British Galleries – at V&A
Throughout the gallery there are computer interactives, videos and audio programmes, including music and commentaries on selected objects, also facsimile books and things to touch and handle.

- Should museums of art and design be interactive?

-What is the nature of interactive learning in an art and design context?

-Is there a difference between art interactivity and design interactivity?

-Are aesthetic experiences interactive?

-Does interactivity work equally well for fine and decorative art, contemporary and historic collections?

-Should interactives be in separate spaces or integrated with the exhibits to which they relate?

-What are the current examples of best practice in the UK and internationally?

Nature of interactive experiences:
PAPER ‘The Interactive Experience: Linking Research and Practice’

Interactive Experience
Hands on/Minds on
Participatory
Immersive

‘INTERACTIVE’ – Referring to interactions that visitor play in the process./ or restricted to the computer based experiences in the museum.

‘PARTICIPATORY’ – refers to engaging visitors in a ‘conversation’ with the exhibit and with other visitors.

‘PARTICIPATORY/IMMERSIVE’ - can be used to describe the experience that interactive works of art set up for viewers – that is, the opportunity to

participate, in collaboration with the artist, in creating or changing the artwork.

Visitors value interactive museum experiences
In a study by Moussouri conducted in interactive exhibitions in museums in the UK, visitors were asked to describe their experience in interactive museums or exhibitions as compared with their experience in traditional museums. Main aim of the study was in examining family groups.

A number of perceptions were identified:

inherent tension in art museums between the ‘object’ and ‘interactivity’

Interactive spaces should be an extension of the

museum’s mission; otherwise, they run the risk of becoming insignificant add-ons

Virtual Reality Headsets can be a solitary immersive experience. The CAVE from the University of Chicago creates a world that can be inhabited by a group of people.

Repeatedly research reveals similar findings about what visitors perceive as successful interactive experiences.

Five themes emerge in planning and assessing the effectiveness of an interactive space:
1.Multi-sensory dialogue, exploration and discovery.
2.Cultural connections.
3.Empowerment.
4.Uniqueness.
5.Construction of meaning.
Multi-sensory – must draw visitors in visually and be conceptually compelling.
Engage visitor in real problem-solving and foster stimulate creativity.
Avoid pinball effect, where children run around pushing buttons and moving levels without focusing on the concepts.

Table – showing balance between quality of the media in an interactive experience, and the quality of the attention that the visitor brings to the experience. – work of Roger Miles and Cynthia Moreno.
Varied levels of interactivity in different areas

WHEN IS AN INTERACTIVE NOT AN INTERACTIVE?
…

TO READ

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Please address this debate when presenting your project to the NMM.

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Technology

Does it engage us in a 'more' immersive experience, (technology enhances experience)

or is it just a different experience (technology creates a different experience, compared to what? Traditional forms of immersion???)

Example of how it engages us in a more immersive experience.


What is immersion??

How is it different?
(how is the experience different? Compared to what?)

Why?
(why is the experience different? Because…)

Is an immersive experience always necessary to achieve a memorable experience?
(does the immersive experience achieve a memorable experience, look at memory and whether immersion has been proven as necessary according to academic research.)

Are new technologies changing our lives for the better - or for the worst?

(evidence/research that shows that technology changes for the better)
Technology changes for the better?
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transform_government.html
(More media means more argument)

(evidence/research that shows that technology changes for the worst)
Nicholas Carr, for example, argues that technologies contributes to a decline of our imaginative mind.

(read Nicholas Carr)

is the answer both?

Is less more, or is more, in fact more?
(who said this?)