Voice change by AI tools refers to the ability of software systems to modify the sound of a user’s voice in various ways using artificial intelligence techniques. These tools use machine learning algorithms and real-time audio processing to apply filters and modifications to a user’s voice, altering its pitch, timbre, tone, and other characteristics. The modifications can range from subtle changes, such as adjusting the tone of a voice to sound more professional or friendly, to more dramatic transformations, such as turning a male voice into a female voice or vice versa. Voice change by AI tools has numerous applications, including entertainment, gaming, and communication, where it can add a fun and engaging aspect to interactions or help users maintain anonymity. However, there are also concerns about the potential misuse of these tools for malicious purposes, such as impersonation or fraud.
In this article, we will take a deeper look at the system and what is currently possible with it. Generally speaking, the tool allows us to use our voice and change it to a different person’s voice. For example, in this case, I used the well-known podcaster Joe Rogan’s voice. The original sound bite from the Joe Rogan podcast is available, and my voice has been altered in real-time using the voice.ai tool. The changed voice is also available in recording mode.
The original soundbit from the Joe Rogan PodcastMy voice altered by voice.ai in real-timealtered with max. recording settings
Voice AI altering is a rapidly advancing technology that enables users to modify their voices in various ways. Although the technology is not yet perfect, it is still impressive to see how far it has come. One of the most fascinating aspects of voice AI altering is that it can be used to train any voice, including your own. This means that users can create personalized voice filters and even deepfake their own voice, making it sound like they are saying things they never actually said. However, there are limitations to the technology, and it is not yet capable of producing completely realistic and convincing voice alterations. Despite these limitations, voice AI altering technology is still incredibly exciting but also a bit frightening.
One of the concerns is that the AI that learns from voice recordings can be used for free, with payment for more voice, etc., and is open to everyone. This means that in the future, deepfakes will become an omnipresent topic, and the source will become even more critical than they already are.
For a detailed look into the app I recommend following video:
It took only about an hour to finish this video and upload it to the online video platform TikTok. Could this be the new way of publishing video content online?
Which types of AI-generated content already exist?
Natural Language Generation (NLG): NLG algorithms are used to create human-like text content by using structured data as input. NLG systems analyze the input data and generate sentences or paragraphs that convey information in a natural way.
Content Recommendation: AI algorithms are used to recommend personalized content to users based on their interests, browsing history, and other data points. These algorithms analyze user behavior and suggest content that the user is likely to find interesting or engaging.
Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots interact with customers on websites or social media platforms. Chatbots can answer questions, provide recommendations, and offer customer service support.
Content Curation: AI algorithms are used to curate content by analyzing user behavior and selecting articles, videos, and other content that is likely to be of interest to the user.
Image and Video Generation: AI algorithms are used to generate images and videos. For example, GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) are used to generate realistic images, and algorithms like Deep Dream are used to create abstract art.
Overall, AI is used to automate content creation and curation, which can save time and resources while also providing a better user experience. However, it’s important to note that while AI-generated content can be useful, it can also lack the nuance and creativity of human-generated content.
That being said, it is possible to create content within seconds using AI systems, but in the long run, it remains to be seen if the creativity and inspiration of these pieces of content can keep up with human-generated texts, videos, and images.
Microsoft is taking Bing to the next level by including the popular AI ChatGPT. Could this mean a new era for the search engine, overtaking the giant Google, or is it just a new niche?
According to Statista (2022), as of December 2022, Google held the largest global desktop market share of search engines at 86.02%, while Bing held a market share of 2.55%.
What does ChatGPT say about this affair?
It is unlikely that “Bing with ChatGPT function” will overtake Google as the dominant search engine anytime soon. While ChatGPT is a powerful language model that can provide answers and information to users, it is not a search engine itself, but rather a tool that can be used to build applications and services that interact with users through natural language.
Google’s search engine has been the dominant player in the search market for many years, and it has a vast infrastructure and resources dedicated to providing fast and accurate search results to users. In addition, Google has a wide range of products and services beyond search, such as email, productivity tools, and cloud computing, which provide a strong network effect that further entrenches its dominance.
That being said, there is always the possibility of new technologies and innovations disrupting the market, and it is possible that ChatGPT or other natural language processing tools could play a role in that. However, it is difficult to predict the future of the search market, and it is likely to remain highly competitive for the foreseeable future.
The answer from the offline trained ChatGPT is very diplomatic. With the new GPT 3.5 that is working in Bing (now in alpha state), it is possible to ask questions instead of searching. The first tests are not too promising, but since this is a relatively new technology, Microsoft is still positive about its outcomes.
Since my last post I started to deepen my topic and reflect on the different approaches I can use in my master’s thesis. However a clear outcome hasn’t been defined and will emerge after some interviews with experts to have a specific problem I want to address in my thesis.
Principles like Eudaimonia-Centered Design contribute to the development and improvement of products for human flourishing. I’m interested in an in depth look on how design elements can support well-being and healthy behaviors in humans. First, I need to understand the human response to esthetics and sensory stimuli in HCI. For this user tests, A/B tests and interviews are necessary. The design elements that will be evaluated in the next step include UI elements, micro interactions and on the other side of the spectrum user-flows. And in combination how can they create better user experience on the outlook of human well-being.
There are multiple frameworks and methods for ethical design. They include cards with question and proposals to improve products and services for people. In the theoretical part they will be examined and verified. Relevant design principles and strategies are openly discussed that could be implemented in the design steps for designers. Interviews with experts in this field who work with ethical design in HCI could give more description on the tool and procedure that are being used to develop products. This would be also the basis for the development of the design elements.
Psychology and Technology are field that overlap in HCI, studies show effects of technology use on the psychological well-being. Personal informatics technology is a way to refelct on positive experiences and emotional well-being. Users can track habits and mood to help build skills and gain knowledge about themselves and create goals they can strive for.
References:
Towards Happiness: Possibility-Driven Design by Pieter Desmet, Marc Hassenzahl
Engagements and Articulations of Ethics in Design Practice by Christian Dindler, Peter Gall Krogh, Kasper Tikær, Peter Nørregård
User Friendly. How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play by Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant
Design for Wellbeing: An Applied Approach by Ann Petermans, Rebecca Cain
Designing for Motivation, Engagement and Wellbeing in Digital Experience by Dorian Peters, Rafael A. Calvo, Richard M. Ryan
Things We Could Design: For More than Human-Centered Worlds by Ron Wakkary
Evaluating Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives in Human-Computer Interaction by Katie Seaborn
My research was dedicated to emotional design and how to create delightful experience. The article is based on Don Norman book “Emotional Design” and “Seductive Interaction Design” by Stephen Anderson.
1. Levels of design
In “Seductive Interaction Design” by Stephen Anderson the process of product maturity forms the basis for the User Experience Hierarchy of Needs model (Figure 1). Moving from bottom to the top, you have a basic product maturity continuum:
Functional. Typically something useful
Reliable. Users need to trust the service, if they buy tickets online, they need to be sure that nothing happens with their money and they will get a ticket in return.
Usable and Convenient. Usable means being easy to use and possible to use. Convenient means to be convenient for users in their surroundings and be better than okay.
Pleasurable. These aspects focus on affect and emotions. How can we make something emotionally engaging? This can be implemented by aesthetic, language, humor and doing things like arousing curiosity.
Meaningful. Meaning is something personal and subjective. You can design for meaning by focusing on the preceding levels as well as shepherding beliefs and the communities surrounding the product or service experience (Anderson, 2011).
Figure 1. User Experience Hierarchy of Needs model (Anderson, 2011)
Designers built different theories around aesthetics. I will marshal some of them.
Designer Cennydd Bowles has identified three types of beauty on his blog: universal, sociocultural, and subjective.
Universal beauty relates to the basic aesthetic concepts of design, such as symmetry, harmony, the rules of thirds, and the golden ratio.
Sociocultural beauty is determined by what is considered attractive within a particular culture at a certain time. This can be seen through the changing standards of beauty throughout history, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Subjective beauty is what a person finds appealing based on their personal preferences.
In 1951, Raymond Loewy proposed another theory of beauty, which states that people are drawn to aesthetics that are both advanced and familiar. This balance of new and familiar stimuli creates a sense of enjoyment and security.
Don Norman divides design on 3 levels: instinctive, behavioral, reflexional
Instinctive level subordinated to our nature. Due to the evolutionary process humans developed the ability to get emotional signals from the environment which we interpret on an instinctive level. We instinctively find flowers and fruits appealing, we like symmetrical bodies and faces, humans don’t like the smell of poops or spoiled products because it is interpreted by our biological system as dangerous. The meaning of instinctive level is the same for different cultures and nations. The design that follows this level will always be attractive. On this level what is important is how the object looks, sounds and what you feel touching it. This design will be appealing and understandable to all.
Behavioural level is focused on usage. Appearance doesn’t matter much, only functionality. Here usability specialists come for work. Main components of the product on a functional level are functionality, clear purpose of the product and easy usage.
Reflexive level is about the meaning of the product, the interpretation in a culture. Sometimes it is personal memories with the product, sometimes it is about the message to others. It is when you think if the socks are matching your trousers or if your look is suitable for an event. It can be beauty standards in different cultures or how you express yourself with your possessions. Quite often people buy products on a reflexive level to show their relation to a particular social group. The design on a reflexive level is under risk of being outdated quickly since this level is sensitive to cultural differences, fashion trends and continuous changes.
2. Aesthetic, Beauty and Behaviour
Anderson (2011) speculates about how visual aspects help users to understand the interface, give hints about usage, and make the interface predictable for a human being.
The author breaks the popular opinion about enjoyable products. It is believed that something that is easy to use and efficient is enjoyable. However, the way emotions influence interactions, it’s closer to trust to say things that are enjoyable are perceived as easy to use and efficient (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Myth and reality of experience perception.
2.1. Attractive things work better
A well-known study is discussed in Donald Norman’s 2003 book “Emotional Design”. In this study, researchers in Japan set up two ATMs that were identical in function and button arrangement, but one machine was aesthetically more pleasing. The research was conducted in both Israel and Japan to account for cultural differences. Participants perceived the more attractive ATM to work better. One explanation is that when the brain is relaxed, it is more open and better able to find solutions to problems. On the other hand, frustration can cause tunnel vision and a focus on only the problem at hand. Norman offers an alternate interpretation, suggesting that people are more tolerant towards problems with things they find pleasing and want them to succeed.
A number of other researchers have explored connections between visual aesthetics and usability. Many of these studies have demonstrated a correlation between attractiveness and perceived ease of use. More recent studies in the field of emotions suggest that cognition and affect cannot be separated. Both economics and neuroscience have established that our thoughts and emotions are intertwined and constantly shape our evaluations and interpretations of the world around us (Frank Spillers, “Emotion as a Cognitive Artifact and the Design Implications for Products Perceived as Pleasurable,” Design and Emotion, 2004).
2.2. Perceived personality
While mature industries use for decades emotional factors to appeal to customers (think about car industries with distinctive personalities in design of cards, brands of watches, apparel), user interface development adopted this approach recently (Anderson, 2011). The personality can be referred to as a reflexive level in the model of Norman (2003). The personality of a product affects our perception of it, just like in the social world where we form opinions of people based on their appearance and presentation. In the automobile industry, companies invest significant resources in creating vehicles with specific personalities that their target customers can relate to. For instance, the Dodge Ram exudes strength and ruggedness, while the Mini Cooper is perceived as lively and playful (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Personality of cars.
Anderson (2011) marshal examples of self expression with different products and give examples of how personalisation is important for people:
Sites where you can replace actors from the music video with yourself or your friends are super sharable.
Tattoos and stickers on your laptop are variations of self expression
Online identity – groups on facebook, games, insta profile.
Online identities tend to be idealized versions of a person in reality.
Players in Farmville can be very expressive when planting their crops.
Self expression can be encourage by reactions of users (thumb, great picture, love it).
Any kind of customization, especially visible for other people enhance self expression (that could be aesthetic of the page, selected widgets).
The visual design enhances the performance features, resulting in the expression of these attributes in each vehicle’s form. To sum up, the personality of the product is important because:
Individuals associate with or steer clear of certain personalities;
trust is linked to personality;
perception and expectations are tied to personality;
consumers select products that reflect their own personalities;
advanced technology is often treated as though it were human.
2.3 Time perception
Anderson (2011) speculates about the time perception and mentioned how in Disneyland the lines are handled. Through distractions and illusions, the experience of waiting seems to be not so bad.
Figure 4. Character greeting line that tends to be long.
New Scientist magazine conducted an experiment in which they tested nine different variations of web download progress bars. They found that:
Making the pulses more frequent as the bar progressed created the illusion of faster movement.
Bars filled with ripples moving towards the left made the progress bar appear to be moving faster.
The magazine discovered that using these illusions could make a file seem to be downloading 11% quicker, as the brain tends to count cycles instead of seconds (Anderson, 2011).
“… something that takes longer but that is perceived to be efficient is superior to something that is shorter but perceived differently” Donald Norman
3. Some tricks that leads to seduction
3.1 Pattern seeking behaviour
We delight in bringing order to chaos. Author mentions that our brains get “high” from solving difficult problems. We like to solve the puzzle so including patterns and puzzles into the interface can enhance positive stimulation and overall experience of usage.
3.2 Mystery
In a pattern seeking behavior the base is curiosity. The author mentions the carton box for toy cars that makes it very mysterious what is inside for buyers and a coupon from a restaurant that does not reveal what a gift a visitor will have next time, until the guest will come. To be really curious about something unknown we should like it and expect to get some pleasure. It can be your favorite restaurant or a toy, maybe the service that you already like.
3.3 Curiosity.
There are some examples mentioned in the book “Seductive Interaction Design” by Stephen Anderson that use curiosity in their interfaces.
LinkedIn subscription business model. Pay to get more information. LinkedIn gives a personalized glimpse of what could be known.
Quantcast shows metrics related to the website. In order to show data related to your business they show a sticker that hides some information. And you can even see that something is behind the sticker. It used to be their strategy in 2011, now they are expanding and do not show data for free any more.
Netflix used to have a strategy that shows you two hidden movies that you probably will like, if you rate the movie you are watching.
Figure 4. The matrix of different dimensions of curiosity originally by D.E. Berlyne in 1950s. (Anderson, 2011).
Next, Stephen Anderson information you can use to tease people:
make your tease interesting, or at least proportionate in appeal to the cost.
make info relevant to the user
establish trust through previous experiences and context clues
use visuals to suggest or create the immediate perception of mystery
don’t lure users with something that is given away freely elsewhere
3.4 Removing the pain
n an interview conducted by the book author with Giles Colbone it was discussed how the delightful experience works on opinion of Colbone: “… I think that anxiety, present or vividly remembered, is an important part of experiencing delight. The contrast makes the delight intense and memorable”. Giles Colbone suggests to see pain points of customers in their journey and give them delights. For “super pro” level he suggests even creating them artificially to give people delight.
Sometimes delightful experiences do not mean play or humour. We should ask users: tell me about the times you felt anxious. Fix the problems the users remember and fear the most.
3.5 Small first steps
Shaping the path. Help people to do action – give a map, maybe ask them when they will do it to make them think about the plan, suggest a particular call to action.
Make a small trigger that will remind people about the action
Commitment and consistency. We tend to be consistent with the commitment even if we give it to ourselves.
Once one startup were gathering photos of favourite places of people. It simply ask take a photo of your favourite place whatever it was. It was a big behavioural change, since people didn’t use to share their pictures (before instagram). So they just structured a big with some questions : what are three of your favourite places to eat. Your ideal evening would include a trip to.., what is the most interesting place to shop in your city? When you want to feel culturate, you go to..
A shop chain had an online catalog, where people placed items on hold but never picked them from stores. The solution was to add a form field that asked people “what time do you think you’ll pick this up?” The shop run AB test to check if it would work according to expectations. The outcome is unknown.
Empowered progress effect. Car washing service gave people cards with stamps. Every time you wash your car with their service you’ve got a stamp. There were two kinds of cards with stumps – one with 8 stamps. Second was with 10 stumps, where 2 stumps were already pre filled for them. The experiment showed, that in the month that followed 19% of the customers with the 8 stump card earned their free car wash. 34% with 10 stumps cards get their cars washed in the end. Someone already started the process for them. How you can create the perception of progress in your application?
Sequencing. Motivate people to do something by breaking down on small steps.
Shaping. Shaping is used to reinforce desired habit. To teach something new, you start with the simplest form of behaviour, and build on that, to reinforce increasingly accurate approximations of desired behaviour.
3.6 Fewer options
Numerous researchers have found that the more options we have, the less chances we will take any actions at all. The most famous research is about jam flavours in supermarket, that showed that people with more choices tend not to choose at all. So if you want your users to act, reduce the options. Sometimes it can be tricky in hotel booking services for instance, since the user wants to see all options with all possible times. In this cases, the recommendation is to reduce the cognitive load by making less text, illusion of less by hiding information, simplify design, and nudge a person where it is possible to make less things to think about during the journey.
References
Norman, D.A. (2004). Emotional design : why we love (or hate) everyday things. New York, Ny: Basic Books.
Unsplash (n.d.). Photo by Taha on Unsplash. [online] unsplash.com. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/eqD3yWOuHWM [Accessed 6 Feb. 2023].
Unsplash (n.d.). Photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash. [online] unsplash.com. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/5k_YVwgMi_U [Accessed 6 Feb. 2023].
Unsplash (n.d.). Photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash. [online] unsplash.com. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/ixBBY-WuFRU [Accessed 6 Feb. 2023].
| a final summary of the ideations about my first master thesis topic option.
During this third semester of my studies, I researched different aspects of the topic around Trust in In-Vehicle Driver Assistant Systems. I formulated the following first proposal, to summerize the direction:
Working Title: UI design solutions for trust in driver assistance systems Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are broadly present in today’s vehicles. Their contribution to driving could possibly increase in the future until reaching full autonomy, but only if the drivers are willing to let them take over control. Trust in such safety-critical automated systems is key to their acceptance and use. The user interface design of ADAS should be intuitive and suitable for all users to ensure comfort and prevent doubting or misinterpreting the system’s actions. With my master thesis, I am aiming to explore the communication and interaction elements of ADAS user interfaces, how can they be intuitive and individually suitable for different user needs. After a theoretical research and analysis of the existing systems, I want to carry out user tests comparing different design solutions to answer following questions:
Which properties of ADAS user interfaces are neccessary for users’ trust?
Which UI elements could and should be individualized?
How can a framework for individualizing ADAS UIs look like to maximize users’ trust in the system?
Further work was put into formulating the exposé of the thesis. Within the exposé, the following main and sub-questions were defined:
Main question: What should a framework for individualizing ADAS UIs contain to maximize users’ trust in the system?
Sub-questions:
Which properties of ADAS user interfaces are necessary for users’ trust?
Which factors influence the users’ mental models of the system?
Which UI elements could and should be individualized?
Which control possibilities are necessary in autonomous driving mode for maintaining trust?
After discussions and feedback from an expert in this field, I looked further for a more specific focus points, that could distinguish the master thesis more from the existing research.
I came up with following areas to look into and asked the help of OpenAI [1] to get more insights into the specific topics, with the aim of better understanding the backgrounds and having more foundation to choose the right topic for the thesis.
Locus of control / UI control systems design >> which control options are essential in autonomous driving to ensure occupant comfort?
The degree to which a person feels they have influence over how things turn out in their life is referred to as locus of control. [2] The locus of control in the context of autonomous driving refers to the control options available to the passengers and their perception of their level of control over the vehicle’s operation. It is crucial to offer a variety of control options that give passengers a sense of control over the operation of the vehicle in order to assure occupant comfort in autonomous driving. This can include controls for changing the vehicle’s speed and direction, regulating the interior environment (such as the entertainment systems and climate control), and giving feedback and information on how the vehicle is operating and the surrounding traffic conditions. Striking a balance between giving people control and preserving the safety and dependability of the vehicle is an important factor to take into account when designing control options for autonomous vehicles. For instance, having too much control over how the car operates could make it more likely to have accidents or malfunctions, while having too little control could make the occupants feel uncomfortable and powerless. It’s crucial to take into account the various preferences and expectations of various occupant groups when designing control options in order to guarantee occupant comfort and satisfaction. This can entail offering a variety of control options, letting users customize their control preferences, and giving consumers clear, understandable feedback on how the vehicle is doing.
Antropomorphism >> Individualization options when the vehicle becomes “Alexa” and has a personality
Antropomorphism is the process of giving non-human creatures, such as objects, animals, or technology, human-like traits. [3] Antropomorphism can be employed in the context of in-car driver assistance systems to make the vehicle feel more human-like and unique to the driver, which can then improve trust in the technology. The availability of personalization options can significantly contribute to the antropomorphism of in-car driver assistance systems. For instance, a car can resemble a personal assistant or friend more if its voice and personality can be customized by the driver. The implementation of AI would be the next step, where the system would learn about the drivers or occupants habits and preferences and adapt itself to their needs.
XAI – explainable AI >> UI interfaces and information about the vehicle’s AI system
Explainable AI (XAI) is a field of research that aims to make AI systems more transparent and interpretable, so that their behavior can be understood and trusted by users. If AI systems are applied in vehicles, their understanding by the user would be highly important, supported by the user interface. The UI design therefor can be a crucial challenge from this point of view as well.
After discussing these topics with other experts, questions came up about the influence of cultural differences on the perception and trust in automated systems. There can be factors like cultural norms, values, beliefs and attitudes towards technology that play a role, but also the preferences in receiving information – more shorter and straightforward or more detailed explanations. Cultural psychology would be an area to dig deeper for insights on different perceptions. Besides that, the topic of individualizing the user interfaces appear highly relevant and necessary in this respect as well again.
After these thoughts, I came up with following summarizing problem statement for the thesis:
“How to design anthropomorphic user interfaces for autonomous vehicles that are sensitive to cultural and individual differences in drivers’ preferences and expectations for anthropomorphic design, and support personalization and inclusive user experiences?”
To create a thesis work on this question statement, I applied the steps of Human-Centered Design (HCD): research, ideate, prototype, test – that could be implemented in following way:
Research to understand the cultural and individual differences in drivers’ preferences and expectations for anthropomorphic design
Generate ideas for how to design an anthropomorphic UI that is sensitive to cultural and individual differences
Build a prototype out of the ideated solutions
User testing with drivers from different cultural backgrounds
With the help of the testing results, refine the concept
Ideally, test the refined prototype again to gain insights on the refinement
Document the results
As these steps would not suffice completely as a thesis content, I searched for other methods to combine the HCD approach with. Finally I stumbled upon the Design Science Research method [4], that can complement the HCD steps with the problem definition phase.
By combining the two methods, I could define possible chapters / parts of the thesis in following order:
Introduction: Outlining the research question, discussion of importance and backgrounds.
Literature review: Review of existing literature on the topic of designing anthropomorphic UIs for autonomous vehicles, and the challenges and opportunities involved in designing UIs that are sensitive to cultural differences. Also including relevant design methodologies, such as Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Design Science Research (DSR), as well as specific challenges and considerations related to designing UIs for autonomous vehicles.
Research methods: Description of the research methods used to gather insights into drivers’ preferences and expectations for anthropomorphic design – interviews and surveys.
Results: Presentation of the results and interesting insights from the research.
Design concepts: Description of the design concepts developed based on the research and the principles of HCD and DSR.
Implementation and testing: Process of prototyping and testing the design concepts, including challenges or obstacles and how they were overcome.
Evaluation and refinement: Discussing the results of the testing and evaluation, and description of how this information was used to refine and improve the design.
Conclusions and future work: Summary of key findings, implications of the work. Outline of potential avenues for future research on this topic.
A timetable and preliminary bibliography were also put together for the exposé, but these are not relevant any more for the following reasons, so I won’t include them in this post.
I approached some companies with my master thesis proposal to ask for a collaboration / support / employement with this topic, yet didn’t receive any positive offer. After assessing my possibilities and the necessity of industrial support and insights on the state-of-the-art development to be able to create useful results that are not outdated already, I came to the decision not to continue with this topic as my master thesis.
I found a similarly interesting research project at the university to write my thesis on, so I am not sad about the decision. But still I won’t loose interest in the ADAS UI development and the topic of trust, individualisation, antropomorphism and cultural psychology. I hope to be able to dig into these areas later on during my career as a UX designer and automotive engineer.
Public community spaces play a crucial role in the sustainability and diversity of cities. On the one hand, they serve as gathering places where people can come together to socialize, engage in cultural activities, and participate in community events. On the other hand, these spaces also serve as important infrastructure for a city’s sustainability, providing opportunities for people to engage in healthy and sustainable behaviors, such as cycling and walking. Additionally, public community spaces can help to promote diversity and inclusivity by creating safe and welcoming environments for people from all backgrounds to come together and interact.
One of the key aspects of designing public community spaces for sustainability is to ensure that they are accessible and inclusive for all users. This can be achieved through a variety of design strategies, including the provision of accessible walking and cycling routes, the inclusion of public transportation options, and the use of sustainable materials and technologies in the construction and maintenance of the spaces. For example, the use of green roofs and rain gardens can help to reduce the amount of runoff from the site, while the use of renewable energy sources can help to reduce the carbon footprint of the space.
Another important aspect of designing public community spaces for sustainability is to ensure that they are designed to be flexible and adaptable to changing needs and uses over time. For example, a community park may be designed with multiple areas that can be used for different activities, such as an open green space for recreational activities, a community garden, and a performance stage. This flexibility helps to ensure that the space can be used and enjoyed by a variety of different groups and individuals, promoting social cohesion and community engagement.
However, while public community spaces can play an important role in promoting sustainability and diversity, they can also present challenges. For example, many public community spaces are underfunded and underutilized, which can lead to a lack of maintenance and neglect of the spaces. Additionally, some public community spaces may be designed in a way that is not inclusive or accessible to all users, such as those who are elderly or have disabilities or homeless people. For example many public park benches/seating areas have been redesigned so that there is no room for a person lying on them to prevent homeless people from spending the night there.
In conclusion, public community spaces play a crucial role in the sustainability and diversity of cities, but it is important that they are designed and maintained in a way that promotes accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability. By prioritizing these values, cities can create spaces that are both functional and enjoyable, while also promoting social cohesion and community engagement.
Sources: https://medium.com/interviews-and-articles-on-art-public-spaces/the-importance-of-public-spaces-5bb49ba6c000 https://www.pps.org/article/public-space-benefits https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494412000461 Creating sense of community: The role of public space Socio Design: Relevante Projekte: Entworfen für die Gesellschaft. Bürstmayr, Siegrid. Stocker, Karl. Designing Sustainable Cities: Manageble Approaches to make Urban Spaces better.
This Blog post is about a preliminary Exposé for my Master’s Thesis in the field game accessibility.
Problem
The state of the art of game design accessibility has improved significantly in recent years, with a growing emphasis on making games more inclusive for all players. Techniques such as colour-blindness simulation and the use of text-to-speech technology have been integrated into game design to make games more accessible to a wider range of players. Additionally, game designers have begun to focus on creating game mechanics and controls that are more intuitive and easier to use for players with physical disabilities. Overall, the field of game design accessibility is constantly evolving and improving. But there is little to no easy and compiled way for game designers to check if their game meets certain accessibility standards or where it still could be improved.
Research
The current research regarding game design accessibility is focused on identifying best practices for making games more inclusive and accessible to players with disabilities. This has included studying the specific needs and challenges faced by players with different types of challenges and developing game design techniques and technologies that address these needs and challenges. Furthermore, research in this area has involved studying the impact of accessible game design on player experience and engagement and exploring ways to measure the effectiveness of different accessibility features. Overall, the goal of this research is to improve the accessibility of games and make them more inclusive and enjoyable for players of all abilities.
Question
How can information on accessibility in game design be made more easily accessible to find and help improving game concepts?
Objective
The outcome of this thesis will be a book titled “Alphabet of Barriers – A Guide to better Game Design Accessibility” and could potentially be a reference guide for game designers looking to create more accessible games. The book will contain information on best practices for designing games that are accessible to players with a wide range of disabilities, including physical, visual, and auditory impairments. Also, include a glossary of terms related to game design accessibility, organized alphabetically for easy reference. Additionally, the book could feature case studies or examples of successful game design accessibility practices in action. A book of this nature also could help raise awareness and understanding of the importance of game design accessibility. By providing detailed information on the challenges faced by players with disabilities and the ways in which game design can address these challenges, it could help educate game designers and other stakeholders about the need for accessible game design. This could in turn lead to more games being designed with accessibility in mind, making the gaming industry more inclusive and accessible overall.
References
There are a lot of good references to this topic, but this thesis will draw upon various game studies, known design principles and on the modern insights of state-of-the-art accessibility.
Method
There are several methods that will be used for writing and researching this thesis. One approach will be to conduct a literature review of existing research on game design accessibility. This involves reading and summarizing relevant academic articles and other sources and identifying key themes and ideas that could potentially be included in the completed book. Another possible approach is to conduct interviews or surveys with game designers and players with disabilities to gather first-hand information and insights about the challenges and opportunities in game design accessibility. These interviews and surveys could provide valuable first-person perspectives on the issues at hand and could be used to inform the content of the book and provide real-world examples and case studies. In addition to these methods, the thesis could also incorporate information and stories from the personal experiences and expertise gathered by game designers with experience in creating accessible games, where they could share their own insights and lessons learned from their work in the field. This will provide valuable practical advice and guidance for other game designers looking to create more accessible games.
Material
There is a wide range of research material available on game design accessibility. This material includes academic articles and studies published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as books and other publications on the subject. Additionally, there may be conference papers, presentations, and other materials from workshops and events focused on game design accessibility. The research material on game design accessibility could cover a variety of topics, including best practices and techniques for designing accessible games, the impact of accessibility on player experience and engagement, and methods for measuring the effectiveness of different accessibility features. Additionally, the research material could include case studies and examples of successful game design accessibility practices in action. To access this research material, one could search for relevant articles and publications using online databases such as Google Scholar or the ACM Digital Library. Also, there is the option of conference proceedings or other materials from events focused on game design accessibility. Additionally, one could reach out to researchers and experts in the field to ask for recommendations or suggestions for further reading on the subject.
Bibliography
Cairns, Paul u.a.: Future design of accessibility in games: A design vocabulary. In: International Journal of Human-Computer, 2019, Vol.131, S. 64-71
Greogory, Sue u.a.: Learning in Virtual Worlds: Research and Applications. Edmonton/Alberta: AU Press 2016
Polzer, Mikel Elias: Designing Casual Games for Subverting (Hetero-)Normative Attitudes. Master’s Thesis, University Vienna, 2017. In: https://utheses.univie.ac.at/detail/42249 (zuletzt aufgerufen am 01.12.2022
Suter, Beat/ Kocher, Mela/Bauer, René: Games and Rules. Game Mechanics for the “Magic Circle”. Bielefeld: transcript 2018
Wikipedia. Die freie Enzyklopädie (10.10.2022), s.v. Computer accessibility, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Computer_accessibility&oldid=1115269099 (zuletzt aufgerufen am 10.11.2022)
Structure
The structure of the thesis could potentially be organized alphabetically, with each chapter or section focused on a different letter of the alphabet. For example, the first chapter having the focus on the letter “A” and discuss key concepts and terms related to game design accessibility that begin with “A”, such as “accessibility”, “assistive technology”, and “audio description”. Subsequent chapters then follow the same format, with each focusing on a different letter of the alphabet and discussing the key concepts and terms related to game design accessibility that begin with that letter. This kind of glossary would make it easy for game designers to quickly find and understand key concepts and terminology in the field.
Alternatively, the book could be organized around different themes or topics related to game design accessibility. For example, having chapters focused on specific types of disabilities and the unique challenges and opportunities they present for game design accessibility. These chapters would cover topics such as visual impairments, hearing impairments, and physical disabilities, and could provide detailed information on best practices for designing accessible games for each of these groups.
Design for behavior change or behavioral design is a sub-category in the field of design, concerning how design can shape or can be used to influence human behavior. In all of its approaches, design for behavior change recognizes how artifacts can have a strong influence and impact on human behavior as well as human behavioral decisions. This sub-category of design is strongly connected to theories of behavioral change, among which it is possible to find the division into personal, behavioral, and environmental characteristics as drivers for behavior change.
These characteristics make design for behavior chance an incredibly interesting subject. Not only does it give designers the opportunity to test themselves in the design field, but it also allows them to deal with the complexity of human beings. However, given this complexity, it is also a truly hard challenge. How can one, as a designer, expect to actually change people’s behavior without understanding first what their needs, motivations and expectations are? This is why the phases of research and discovery are extremely important in a design for behavior change project. Designers need to understand their users, grasp their needs, motivations, expectations, constraints, to be able to get to them in the right way and induce behavior change. Nevertheless, this is still not enough.
User Experience and Interaction designers must also accompany users towards that new behavior. Even if they discover what is driving their users and what their constraints are, they still need to help them achieve that change through design. This is why, despite the great importance of the research phase, the following ones are crucial as well. A designer might find helpful insights and come up with incredible hints, but if they are not able to translate them in a valuable solution, they won’t succeed in creating a change in behavior. Therefore, the research findings must be put into practice in a methodical and effective way.
At the same time, though, the attention must not be focused on the users only. To help them achieve that change, designers must go to the root of the problem. There is a need to understand how they are currently behaving, what is causing that behavior and possibly preventing a new one. Once one gets that, it will be possible to address those issues in an effective way, without leading the users towards failure and consequently towards frustration.
Furthermore, despite the undeniable fascination that this field of design might hold, one can’t ignore the possible problematic aspects that might be there. While it is true that design for behavior change is not a weapon, and it doesn’t provide a 100% rate of success in whatever context it is applied to, it is still worth addressing them. Is it really ethical to try and change people’s behavior? One of the biggest fields in which design for behavior change plays a part is design for social innovation, and in most of the cases it is related to the topic of sustainability, which projects that aim at improving people’s behavior in relation to energy, food and goods consumption, as well as transportation. All of these are without any doubt valuable and respectable causes, which resort to design as a way to involve people in the chance, making them aware of their damaging behaviors and pushing them to do better.
However, it is also possible to mention examples in which users were not made aware of the efforts made towards changing their behavior. Instead, they were, in some way, “tricked” in doing so, thanks to the use of some (undoubtedly clever) design solutions. It is possible to cite an experiment made in Amsterdam at the Schiphol Airport. With the goal of reducing total cleaning costs, the airport introduced urinal flies: by etching an image of a fly inside every urinal, they hoped to nudge men to aim at the fly thus improving overall aim. Implementing this physical design solution reduced spillage by 80%, and the budget for cleaning public toilets by 8%. Examples like this one are, of course, harmless. Schiphol Airport was able to create a behavior change in a fast, clever, and inexpensive way. If one were to stop and think about it, it is also quite funny how easy it is to exploit human habits to produce a change.
Nevertheless, this could also be observed from a less optimistic perspective, thus leading to the following question: could design for behavior change be used for less honorable or harmless causes? It may sound like a dystopian and unrealistic concern, and it is not something people and designers should be overly worried about. Yet, it could still be considered an interesting topic of discussion.
During the last semesters I have changed my research topics a lot of times, so I am really glad that I have finally found a topic which is absolutely interesting for me. The topic is interactive science communication. I got in first contact with it during the international week that took place last year in the FH. I visited a workshop with Carla Molins Pitarch which focussed on prototyping phygical experience in order to communicate scientific topics. I have not looked at interaction design in this way before and was really inspired by the workshop, so I have chosen to write my master thesis in this area as well.
(Interactive) Science Communication
Science communication aims to bring scientific topics and research findings to a broader audience in an accessible and understandable manner. To achieve this goal, various methods are used, including making scientific articles and journals freely available online, using interactive exhibits in museums and science centers, or creating online tools and resources. Despite the ongoing efforts, however, many scientific articles can still be difficult for non-scientists to understand. Interactive science communication could be one possible solution to this problem. By using interactive tools and techniques, complex scientific concepts can be made more accessible and understandable to the general public. This has numerous benefits, including promoting science literacy, enabling effective public engagement in scientific discussions and decision-making processes, and fostering a deeper understanding of science among the general public.
Interactive learning
As already mentioned before, scientific topics are often very complex and hard to understand for non-scientists. Providing an interactive experience could be beneficial for the understanding of the topic in my opinion. The benefits of interactive learning is that the users are becoming the center of the learning experience. They get to discover the topic in their one pace and through interactive storytelling are getting immersed into the topic. It is also proven that it is easier to learn for people when they are actively engaging with the topic. Therefore, providing gamified interactive elements with an overlaying story can really help the user to understand and memorize the topic. But the creation of such interactive experiences is also connected to a lot of expensed, which need to also be taken into account. Therefore, the thesis will also evaluate the benefits of interactive science communication with those expenses in mind.
The practical work piece
As a work piece, I would like to create an interactive science poster. Interactive science posters are an innovative approach to science communication, designed to make scientific information more engaging and accessible to a wider audience. These posters can include interactive data visualization, interactive storytelling, and gamification elements to help make complex scientific concepts more accessible and understandable. I got the inspiration for the work piece through the website of Ars Electronica, where I have found great examples for interactive science posters. You can look at them yourself here: https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/scicomlab/
The topic I would like to communicate is not decided yet. At first, I wanted to explain a new and very controversial method to save coral reefs. This method uses a cocktail of bacteria to strengthen the corals and make them more resistent. It is proven that this method is successful, but the downside is that it has not been tested how it will affect the ecosystem in general. But the disadvantage of this topic is that I may not find experts here in Graz, so it could be quite challenging doing research on this topic. But in a feedback round with Orhan Kipcak he mentioned the idea that I could approach different institutes at the FH or another university in Graz and directly ask them if there would be a need for such a poster. Through this, I would have direct contact to the scientists and actively work on a real project.
Next steps
This already brings me to my next steps I would like to make. Obviously I have to do a lot more research about the topic of interactive science communication. I would also like to consult with different science institutes to find out if there would be a possibility somewhere to base the interactive science poster on one of their research projects. What I also would like to do is get in contact with the institute of science communication on the Karl Franzens Universität and ask them if they could help me with my research.
