Bill Gaver (UK)

Ludic design

Bill Gaver introduced the ludic design approach developed at the Computer-related design (CRD) group at Royal College of Art. He introduced the topic with an image from the SIMS game, where the simulated family is engaged in ëordinaryí home routines. Bill presented two design research projects that have used playful methods, such as ëprobesí to capture hidden aspects of everyday life. During our work, we never met the Sims, Bill concluded.

Vocabulary for ludic design
The Presence project
Probes, proposals and props

Bill Gaver's lecture at UIAH, Helsinki 28.02.2002. Notes by Minna Tarkka.

Vocabulary for ludic design

1. Home. Home life is usually conceived as a cycle of working, consuming and relaxing, and home technologies are supposed to help us to perform these activities. The Sims game is based on this assumption, and so is a lot of design and technology for the home.

2. Homo ludens. But actually home values are more subtle and not so task-oriented: people are inventing new things, endulging in curiosity. The Sims father may look into the fridge, not for getting food but in admiration of the fluorescent molds in there.. Could technology support these more ludic values?

3. Narrative. Artefacts imply narratives; imagination may be captured by objects. Commercial narratives fit simple genres ‚ advertisements depict the sitcom family, where nobody is too weird: ìthink different, but not too differentî is the message. Ludic design may suggest new stories ‚ like that of the Artificially Intelligent Bird-feederÖ

4. Commodification. There is a tendency of almost everything to become a commodity: goods, brands, bloodÖ even emotions. Objects like the Princess Diana coffee cup can be seen as genuine expressions of grief while on the other hand they also work to alienate people from their emotions.

5. (Re)appropriation. Design notions, however radical or interesting can be eaten by ëmass cultureí. It is important to fight commodification by taking things back and rearranging them, like Sophie Calle does in her phone booth installations. The Rca studio appropriates both public (Democratic advertising billboard) and private technologies (Atlantis in My Kitchen ‚ a device for close-up views from inside the akvarium)

6. Projection. Ambiguity is usually considered a bad thing ‚ for example in interface design, where icons such as the trash can may suggest ambiguous functions and outcomes. Ludic design uses ëprobesí - intentionally ambiguous questions, objects, tasks - in order to elicit richer responses and inspiration from the users.

7. Suggestion. Ludic design suggests new approaches to the everyday environment ‚ The Listening Glass is a normal drinking glass, but the suggestion is to use it for ëcapturingí interesting noises (put it up to your ear and listen, then write down what you heard). The Intimate View Camera constrains the lens to show extreme close ups of skin or the environment ‚suggesting an intimate communication between lovers.

The Presence project

The Presence project (1997-99) was realized in 3 European countries ‚ Norway, Italy and the Netherlands. Its aim was to research and develop tehcnologies to increase the presence of elderly people in their local communities.

Bill presented the project developed for the Bijlmermeer district south of Amsterdam ‚ an area with a bad reputation, high crime and drug use rates.

Establishing a conversation
The group designed a set of ëcultural probesí to establish a conversation with the elders in Bijlmermeer. The probes included postcards with questions, disposable cameras for diary-keeping, and maps on which the participants were asked to place stickers to describe the emotional topography of the area (ëfriends ‚ enemiesí). Based on the responses it was obvious that security was a real issue in the Bijlmer, but that it was a strong community too, proud of its diversity.

Developing ideas
The initial ideas responded to stereotypical views of the Bijlmer. For example, the security issue was carried to the extreme in the concept of a ìportable cageî. The ideas shifted more towards amplifying the community aspects in Bijlmermeer, focusing on a system for communicating attitudes, including the concept of interactive slogan furniture, which was taken further.

Testing the system
For the Bijlmermeer test site, the designers created a prototype environment called Projected realities ‚ a kind of a ëneural networkí for the area. ëSloganbenchesí had a scrolling display in the backrest, presenting comments, questions and observations written by the local elders; the ëImagebankí was a monitor installation showing images collected by the elders. Volunteer participants participated in assessing attitudes during the test week, and their input was reflected (via neural network modelling on the central server) in the selection of words and images in the public displays.

What was learned?
People welcomed the Projected realities system which was used extensively during the test week. In the research and development process, the design team learned that:
- Design-driven methods can inspire mutual story-telling.
Ambiguity and suggestion can be used as tools in design communications. Envisioning new realities takes time.
People are more daring than is usually assumed ‚ it is dangerous to design for such stereotypes as the ëweak eldersí.

More on the Presence project, see http://www.presenceweb.i3net.org/

Probes, proposals and props

EQUATOR, a six year r&d project between 8 universities (2000-), allows the CRD group to take the lessons from Presence further. Focusing on Domestic environments, CRD has recruited 20 volunteering households in London to focus on the more ludic activities in the home. ìHome is heaven for beginnersî ‚ a place where you do what you want to do ‚ is one of the starting points for the project.

Domestic probes
The dialogue was initiated by postcards, asking the people to tell about their views on home life ‚ what do you like/dislike at home; what couldnít you live without; what do you do at home that you donít tell other people about? Based on the cultural probes of Presence, the group designed a set of domestic probes to engage in playful conversation with the households:

- Repackaged disposable cameras, with instructions printed on them, including: ìSunday at 8 pmî, ìsomething redî, the ìspiritual centre of the homeî ìyour most private objectî; another camera for documentation of home routines
- House rules pack ‚ fill-in cards to write household rules on
- Floor plan template, Friends and family map templates for drawing sociograms
- Photogram paper for tracing objects; Pinhole camera for capturing a special moment
- Listening glass ‚ for capturing and describing interesting sounds at home
- Dream recorder ‚ for recording dreams right when they are fresh in memory
- Site-specific pads, to be placed near the entrance (for visitors) telephone and in the toilet (for jotting)

Proposals
The group received hundreds of returned probes. Instead of analyzing the gathered material, the group organized it on a CDrom to get an overall feel of the activities. Remember that the intention of the probes was more to elicit inspiring responses than information or hard facts for statistic analysis. Instead of scientifically devised and objective requirements, the group aimed at understanding particularities, which could be represented in a narrative form. In fact, the group even appointed screen writers to write fictional character profiles based on some of the probes.

Props Some scenarios were taken further towards concepts, and realized as ëpropsí to be tested on site in the homes for situated feedback. A bird activity sensing device for a lady who kept a roomful of birds; telerobot arm for aquarium viewing, and ëpositive action tví reacting to broadcasted violence. The next phase is to develop actual prototypes, among them a ëhome health monitorí system, which is not meant to be used as a control device but for sensing the home ambience in more subtle, even spiritual ways.

The work at CRD deals a lot with speculative design and speculative technology. But it also brings to light imporant aspects of everyday life and helps to take design beyond the one-size-fits-all mainstream. During our projects, we never met the Sims, Bill conlcuded.

More on the EQUATOR http://www.crd.rca.ac.uk/equator/

Why are the probes so heavily designed? was a question from the audience. One reason is to introduce the design groupís interests and aesthetics; another would be to signal the groupís commitment towards the project while making the probes more seductive to use. Instead of glossy commodities, the probes however are a medium for communication.

Chris Hales (UK)
Juha Huuskonen (FIN)
Turkka Keinonen (FIN)
Casey Reas (USA/IT)
Bill Gaver (UK)