Tangible progress: less is more in Somewire audio spaces

  • Authors:
  • Andrew Singer;Debby Hindus;Lisa Stifelman;Sean White

  • Affiliations:
  • Interval Research Corporation, 1801 Page Mill Road, Building C, Palo Alto, CA;Interval Research Corporation, 1801 Page Mill Road, Building C, Palo Alto, CA;AudioVelocity, Inc., 312 Steams Hill Road, Waltham, MA and Interval Research Corporation, 1801 Page Mill Road, Building C, Palo Alto, CA;WhoWhere, Inc., 1675 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA and Interval Research Corporation, 1801 Page Mill Road, Building C, Palo Alto, CA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

We developed four widely different interfaces for users ofSomewire, a prototype audio-only media space. We informally studiedusers experiences with the two screen- based interfaces. Weprototyped a non-screen-based interface as an example of a noveltangible interface for a communication system. We explored theconflict between privacy and simplicity of representation, andidentified two unresolved topics: the role of audio quality and theprospects for scsiling audio spaces beyond a single Workgroup.Finally, we formulated a set of design guidelines for control andrepresentation in audio spaces, as follows: GUIs are notwell-suited to audio spaces, users do not require control overlocalization or other audio attributes, and awareness of otherusers presence is desirable.