UIScape

As a way of enriching the way we interact with and perceive the physical spaces we live and work in, more and more information technology is being integrated in architecture. Video screens in elevators, bars that react to touch and buildings that let passers-by catch a glimpse of the activity inside are all examples of ambient displays. They provide peripheral information, are smoothly integrated into the physical environment and usually have a focus on aesthetic appeal.

A limitation of most ambient displays, and in fact of public displays in general, is that they are not personal: everyone gets to see the same information. This limits their possible applications, leaving hand-held devices as the only means of getting more personalised information.

However, there is a way around this. If a display “broadcasts” to the public by cycling through all the information people might need, individuals can tune in to the part they’re interested in by paying attention to the appropriate time slot in each cycle. Many public displays already do this kind of multiplexing. For example, train times may be shown on two alternating “pages” on a screen, or that display in the elevator may cycle through the weather forecast, news headlines and celebrity gossip. The problem here is that you need to watch constantly to pick out the parts you want. The interaction is no longer peripheral, instead becoming the main focus of your attention.

Insights from cognitive neuroscience into how our brain can integrate information from two different senses, or modalities, come to the rescue here. Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne realised that you could cue users through a modality other than vision to guide their attention towards the right time slot in a display’s cycle.

They designed a navigation system called CrossFlow, which projects arrows onto the floor, pointing in each of the possible directions in turn, in a repeating cycle. To know which set of arrows to follow, a user specifies their destination on a mobile device. The device then figures out the schedule of the relevant arrows, and vibrates and/or beeps in sync with them. This cross-modal cue allows the user to focus on a particular direction, without having to pay constant attention to either the ambient display or the mobile device.

Testing of the system against using a map showed improved performance both in navigating and in arithmetic tasks they had to do at the same time, and participants perceived their mental workload to be lower.

I find something strangely elegant and compelling about this concept of a public-private information display. To bystanders, the public, visual component of the display presents a mysterious and aesthetic phenomenon. Only those who receive the other half of the information in the form of haptic or auditory cues can make sense of it. And, as long as only vibration is used, you won’t know how the person standing next to you is perceiving it all.