Public space as a design factor in sharable technologies

This position paper reports on some very early collaboration between an interaction design
research group at Huddersfield University (live:lab) and a not-for-profit organisation known as
Blink Media, also based in Huddersfield. Blink Media are grant funded through bodies such as
NESTA and The Arts Council. Collaboration with live:lab was formed through a common
interest in the design of creative user experiences using emerging and innovative technologies
with an appreciation that our respective approaches were very different. Blink Media create
artefacts and user experiences that are purely novel, intriguing and engaging. In contrast
live:lab’s approach is to build an empirical and theoretical understanding of interaction design
in terms of novel interactive technologies and in particular pragmatic design techniques
required to develop them.