Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument

Andrew P. McPherson, Alan Chamberlain, Adrian Hazzard, Sean McGrath, Steve Benford

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Proceeding (Non-Journal item)

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper explores the design of digital musical instruments (DMIs) for exploratory play. Based on Gaver's principles of ludic design, we examine the ways in which people come to terms with an unfamiliar musical interface. We describe two workshops with the D-Box, a DMI designed to be modified and hacked by the user. The operation of the D-Box is deliberately left ambiguous to encourage users to develop their own meanings and interaction techniques. During the workshops we observed emergent patterns of exploration which revealed a rich process of exploratory play. We discuss our observations in relation to previous literature on appropriation, ambiguity and ludic engagement, and we provide recommendations for the design of playful and exploratory interfaces.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDIS 2016 - Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
Subtitle of host publicationFuse
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages1233-1245
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781450340311
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04 Jun 2016
Event11th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2016 - Brisbane, Australia
Duration: 04 Jun 201608 Jun 2016

Publication series

NameDIS 2016 - Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Fuse

Conference

Conference11th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2016
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityBrisbane
Period04 Jun 201608 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • Ambiguity
  • Exploration
  • Hacking
  • Ludic design
  • Musical instruments
  • Play

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