Paper Abstracts and Author Information
Who actually wants to use 'the killer app'? Perceptions of Location Based Services in the Young and Old
Lisa Thomas, Pam Briggs & Linda Little - Northumbria University
Abstract: This paper describes the results of two qualitative studies which assessed the perceptions of Location Based Services (LBS) with two UK user groups: a family with a behavior-disordered teenager, and a selection of older adults. Whilst both groups had the opportunity to use, adapt to and experience the LBS technology fully, perceptions of 'cool' and 'trendiness' affected judgments of it, and subsequent usage intentions.
Designing Cool Health Technology for a Diverse American Population
Jennifer Perchonok - University of Wisconsin
Abstract: In this position paper, I suggest that designing health technology to match the culture of the end user results in cool health technology. A person's customs, beliefs, and values are influenced by their culture. Furthermore, one's customs, beliefs, and values influence the way they perceive cool. Therefore, it is my position that designing health technology towards the end user's culture will result in cool health technology. I briefly describe previous studies that have successfully created cool health technologies and discuss two broader design concepts for the creation of future cool health technology. First, the narrator of the health message should be a celebrity or someone who commands respect in the community. Secondly, the latest 'it' technology should be used as a base for the health message.
Who is the coolest of them all?
Julie Schiller - Autodesk
Abstract: Cultural differences in cool vary by geographical location but also virtual contexts. This position paper argues for differences between continental versions of cool through the use of a text analysis and interviews. Additionally, cool can vary through communities of interest, but often retain elements of Universally Cool elements.
Informing Cool Design: Exploring and Confirming Teenage Attitudes and Behaviours
Nicola Toth & Linda Little - Northumbria University
Abstract: This paper describes a two stage process to inform the design of cool technologies for teenagers to reduce energy use. The first stage used multiple data collection methods as a cool way to help teenagers engage with this project. The second stage confirmed the themes generated from the first stage. Findings will inform the design of cool technologies for teenagers.
"Cool" Card Sort: Adapting Desirability Studies to assess "Cool"-ness
Edward S. De Guzman - Autodesk
Abstract: Desirability studies have been used by usability practitioners to collect feedback on the affective response to interactive systems, but none focus on assessing how "cool" the system is to the participant. In this position paper, we propose "Cool" Card Sorting, a desirability research method for assessing the "cool"- ness of an interactive system. Additionally, we propose a set of questions about "cool" that, when answered, would lay the framework for developing research methods for evaluating a system's "cool"-ness. Future research in the form of pilot studies using the "Cool" Card Sort are needed to validate some of the assumptions made in designing the method and to understand how findings from this method compare to other desirability research methods and traditional evaluation techniques.
Hipsters, Trendies and Rebels: If Fun is Cool, is Game Design Cool Design?
Ben Kirman - University of Lincoln
Abstract: Recent discussions within the HCI community around
designing software and devices for "coolness" have
identified the importance of playfulness as an aspect of
cool products.
Game studies, as a field of inquiry, has long been
occupied with understanding playfulness, so it stands to
reason that findings from this field might also support
playfulness and therefore coolness outside the context
of games. In this paper, we briefly explore potential
overlaps between the research into designing for
coolness and that of designing for playfulness. An
example of an overlap in terms of motivation is
presented and potential future directions are discussed.
Hip to be Square: Designing Serious Apps for Coolness
Derek Foster, Shaun Lawson, Conor Lineham & Ben Kirman - University of Lincoln
Abstract: This paper discusses previous work in developing intervention apps for sustainability that are designed to be cool and improve user engagement. While much work has been carried out by the HCI community in sustainability, particularly energy consumption; little has been done to improve interaction with this relatively mundane but serious topic to engender a compelling and cooler experience. Using the theme of 'it's cool to be uncool' for sustainability, we discuss the design of an eco-feedback Facebook application for deployment in a trial study. The Power Ballads Facebook app mashed mainstream 'pop' chart music with domestic energy data using aversive stimuli. Presented here are the pilot findings that suggest participants found the app cool.
iPad - the space between the cool and the useful
Alma Leora Culén, Andrea Gasparini - University of Oslo
Roni Hercz - Nordea Mobile Banking
Abstract: It is generally agreed that the iPhone and the iPad were Apple's truly cool products that have permanently changed some things about mobile phones and finally made a tablet into a marketing success. In this paper we discuss the space between iPad's coolness and its value and usefulness to users in two quite different settings: education and banking. In the first example, we consider the product ecology of an iPad in the classroom setting and try to capture something about how the coolness of the product affects individuals and groups as they take it into action. Our reflections are based on several studies that we have conducted related to the introduction of the iPad as an educational tool in elementary and high schools as well as the university. In the classroom setting, students, both individually and as a group, have quite a large degree of autonomy in defining the use (including production and consumption of information, communications, gaming etc) of the iPad. In the banking example, iPads are used individually and privately. It is the bank that decides which services are made available and what constitutes the best way of interacting with their services. Cool service design is still not a goal in itself. Rather, solid interaction design should make users perceive the service as really good and subsequently, cool. The boundaries between cool design, hype and trend-following are still blurry in the race for competitive advantage.
Build A User-adaptive Interface for Online Encyclopedia
Li Lui, Xun Jia - Shandong University
Yafang Wang - Max Planck Institute for
Informatics
Abstract: Using online encyclopedia is becoming the dominate modality that people use to meet their intellectual curiosities. At the same time, online encyclopedia is used as a quick reference book in the regime of the Internet. Many works have been done to emphasis both content generation and information extraction. Although structured information helps organizing knowledge base, we see opportunity to improve the interaction between user and tons of accumulated information by employing user's interest. The novel modality enhances user's engagement in those contents matching his or her profile by developing and refining the interface when browsing an online encyclopedia.
Understanding Cool in Computing for African-American Youth
D. Scott McCrickard, Jeremy Barksdale - Virginia Tech
Felicia Doswell, Dominique Piggott - Norfolk State University
Abstract: This paper examines challenges and opportunities in designing for "cool" as a goal for user interface design for African American youth. The categories of cool as a design metric were adopted from the definition from Read et al. (2011), including categories highlighted by terms like rebellious, anti-social, retro, authentic, rich, and innovative. We present initial results from discussions with designers who created interfaces for African-American youth, highlighting the cool categories but also exploring terms unique to the target population. We speculate on how "cool" could be used as a critical parameter in user interface design processes.