Comments on: Observing and exploring behavior

By: Piers Fawkes

Piers Fawkes — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:32:47 +0000

Yes, being outside can broaden your mind but it only gives you so much – especially with the decline of retail and the cultural embrace of other activities. There is so much info on what people are now up to through the web that you’ll never really stumble upon with camera in hand. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do it – it’s very important. But you have to find inspiration through others to be fully rounded.

By: Joris van Gelder

Joris van Gelder — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:17:29 +0000

Thanks for the reference, Joris.
In response to the text: actually there were a couple of things going on in the test. One of them was that people got an open assignment but I feel that is not always enough to make people express their feelings or imaginations, which is my interpretation of what happened in the vid.
These are some of the things what helped to get participant’s imagination going:
- an enticing context: I asked people how they would turn on a light if they had magical powers
- the fact that something happened when they made a gesture, that made the gestures look purposeful(think of what people do in front of a Wii)
- i was standing next to light, talking to the participants. This might have made the vid less spectacular but it made the participants more comfortable.

My point is that giving people an open assignment works best if you stimulate their imagination at the same time, just like in a good brainstorm.

By: Steve Portigal

Steve Portigal — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:24:25 +0000

Nice example!

By: Joris Fabel

Joris Fabel — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:14:23 +0000

I think the video you are referring to is a study by Joris van Gelder. You can find it on his website by clicking magical interaction.
http://www.jorisvangelder.com/index2.html

Joris