Demonstrating Interaction: The Case of Assistive Technology

Reyes-Cruz, Gisela; Fischer, Joel E; Reeves, Stuart

Abstract

Technology "demos"have become a staple in technology design practice, especially for showcasing prototypes or systems. However, demonstrations are also commonplace and multifaceted phenomena in everyday life, and thus have found their way into empirical research of technology use. In spite of their presence in HCI, their methodical character as a research tool has so far received little attention in our community. We analysed 102 video-recorded demonstrations performed by visually impaired people, captured in the context of a larger ethnographic study investigating their technology use. In doing so, we exhibit core features of demonstrational work and discuss the relevance of the meta-activities occurring around and within demonstrations. We reflect on their value as an approach to doing HCI research on assistive technologies (AT), for enabling shared understanding and letting us identify opportunities for design. Lastly, we discuss their implications as a research instrument for accessibility and HCI research more broadly.

Citation

Reyes-Cruz, G., Fischer, J. E., & Reeves, S. (2022). Demonstrating Interaction: The Case of Assistive Technology. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 29(5), 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1145/3514236

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 14, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-10
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 14, 2022
• Journal: ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
• Print ISSN: 1073-0516
• Electronic ISSN: 1557-7325
• Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1-37
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3514236
• Keywords: demonstration, methods, visual impairments, EMCA
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7565642
• Publisher URL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3514236
• Additional Information: © Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. 2022. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3514236