GangKlang - Sonic Interaction Design for Walking Experiences in Everyday Life

Abstract

Interactive systems that track the user’s physical activity and respond with sonic feedback in real time open a wide range of possibilities to design for the experience of daily activities such as walking. This thesis argues that most often the outcome of the activity is at the center of design considerations which leads to interactions that support goal-oriented experiences. Psychological studies suggest that drawing attention to output might diminish the enjoyment of an activity, and that positive experiences arise when a person is doing an activity for its own sake. Considering this divergence, this thesis explores an alternative design approach and presents GangKlang. GangKlang is a concept for designing interactive sound with the purpose to enhance the walker’s experience of the unfolding process; independent from motives and goals. The thesis highlights the specific challenges posed by this objective and uses the design and development of prototypes of interactive sound for walking to generate design solutions. A walking model Walking Phrases and a translation framework GangKlang- Translations are presented as key contributions. Walking Phrases is a process model of everyday walking that builds on the change of the walker’s movements to derive contextual information. GangKlang-Translations includes constructs to translate walking information into sonic events that organize in an overall sonic expression. The framework further contains a strategy named Sonic Seduction for gradually influencing the walker’s experience in order to foreground the walking process itself. Finally, the GangKlang concept is evaluated in a qualitative study that explores how the interactive sonic expression bear’s on the walker’s experience in everyday life. Focusing on a design which strengthens the experience of the activity process, this thesis establishes an alternative approach to design interactive sound for walking experiences in everyday life.