Contesting control: journeys through surrender, self-awareness and looseness of control in embodied interaction

Benford, Steve; Ramchurn, Richard; Marshall, Joe; Wilson, Max L.; Pike, Matthew; Martindale, Sarah; Hazzard, Adrian; Greenhalgh, Chris; Kallionp��, Maria; Tennent, Paul; Walker, Brendan

Abstract

As Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) engages with technologies that sense and actuate the body, there is a need to reconsider the human bodily experience. We present three case studies that each involve different forms of bodily experience: a breath-controlled amusement ride, a brain-controlled film, and an interactive musical duet with a physically actuated piano. We introduce a conceptual framework to describe how control becomes contested between human and computer in such experiences, using the three dimensions of: surrender of control, self-awareness of control, and looseness of control. We reveal how our experiences took users on journeys through control that traversed the space of these dimensions. We propose that our framework is not only relevant to playful cultural experiences, such as those charted in our case studies, but can also inform the design of embodied interaction more widely by emphasising the human experience of control when engaging with autonomous and bodily-focused systems, from future robots and vehicles to today’s gaze, speech and gestural interfaces.

Citation

Benford, S., Ramchurn, R., Marshall, J., Wilson, M. L., Pike, M., Martindale, S., …Walker, B. (2021). Contesting control: journeys through surrender, self-awareness and looseness of control in embodied interaction. Human-Computer Interaction, 36(5-6), 361-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2020.1754214

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 7, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 14, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: May 28, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 15, 2021
• Journal: Human–Computer Interaction
• Print ISSN: 0737-0024
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-7051
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Open
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 5-6
• Pages: 361-389
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2020.1754214
• Keywords: Applied Psychology; Human-Computer Interaction
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4523136
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07370024.2020.1754214