[IxDA Discuss] Scale of time perception

[Marc Rettig]

Hi,
I was going to stay out of this, but David pulled me in <smile>.

> Now, I know you do think about the linguistic or dialog attributes of
> interaction design, but I'm curious as to what other areas do you feel the
> IxD manipulate in order to provide their end of the user experience
> solution.

Well, if "interaction" is an exchange of signals or signs between people and
a system, or between people through a system...
and if "interaction design" is about creating the appropriate means or
conditions for that exchange...
what are all the ingredients involved in doing a good job of interaction
design? Here's an off-the-cuff start of a list, a partial answer to your
question:

o  semantics: embodying the "right" meanings in the system and the interface

o  symbols: mapping the meanings to elements that map "naturally" to those
meanings -- visual elements, audio elements, gestures, textures, relative
locations, movements and changes, etc. 

o  relationships: sequences, branching structures, conditional
relationships, state-transition structures, entity-relationship
structures,... we could go on and on. Some of these relationships exist
inside the system, some of them exist out in the world. This is partly
subsumed by the "semantics," but deserves separate mention because it is so
much a part of the tangled set of concerns in interaction design. 

o  constructs: [I really don't know what words to use here -- in practice I
can talk about things specific to the project: an interface, a page, a
transaction, a sequence, etc. But this conversation about the nature of
interaction design forces me to be abstract.] We create organized groupings
of symbols (organized in space, time, or both) which themselves have
meaning.

o  behaviors: communication typically happens through some change, and we
all use many categories of these things in our work. Action-response pairs.
Feedback. Attention-getting or attention-directing behaviors. 

o  sensing: inputs of all stripes

o  processing: computational transformations, retrievals, generative
behaviors, simulation behaviors, and much cetera

I'll stop there, not because this list is complete, but because it contains
the basics that come to mind as I write and because it's long enough to
illustrate my reaction against the generalization that "interaction design
is the design of time." 

Of course time is a factor. Interactions happen over time. And yes, we
should indeed think about things like pacing, perceived meanings of pauses,
the effect of response time, and so on. But when I do that I think about
"pace," not "time." 

And if I'm teaching interaction design, it might be a useful exercise to
have time be a core concern of an assignment. As one example, it is useful
to think about the "dramatic arc" of a transaction -- the rise of
expectation and uncertainty, how much is tolerable, how soon it comes to
resolution and how that makes people feel (tip of the hat to Brenda Laurel
and her book, "Computers as Theater"). 

But would I teach interaction design as the design of time? What would that
mean? What would it involve? How would it not create a class of
big-thinking, ill-equipped students?

I did like the thread in this conversation about attention. I frequently
deal with issues having to do with whether/when something takes initiative,
and how. How and when to guide someone's attention. Whether the interaction
is taking place at the center of someone's attention, at the periphery, or
as part of a confusing set of demands for attention. Attention is a limited
resource, and many designs suffer from the assumption that people have more
of it to give than they really do. 

I hope this doesn't come across as cranky. This discussion is interesting,
and another tip of the hat to Oleh for offering his thoughts to the group.
It's a risk to put ideas, big statements like this out into the public, and
this is a good discussion. 

But again, for me "time" is so general and ambiguous as a concept and so
partial in its coverage of the real work of interaction design that I can't,
you know, harness my ox to it. Can't hang my hat on it. I lit it, but it
doesn't smoke. 

Sorry so lengthy. Who has time to read this stuff? <grin>

Cheers,
Marc

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Marc Rettig
Fit Associates, LLC
www.fitassociates.com
www.marcrettig.com