The drift table

William Gaver; Jeffrey S. Bowers; Andy Boucher; Hans Gellerson; Sarah Pennington; Albrecht Schmidt; Anthony Steed; Nicholas Villars; Brendan Walker

doi:10.1145/985921.985947

Abstract

The Drift Table is an electronic coffee table that displays slowly moving aerial photography controlled by the distribution of weight on its surface. It was designed to investigate our ideas about how technologies for the home could support ludic activities-that is, activities motivated by curiosity, exploration, and reflection rather than externally-defined tasks. The many design choices we made, for example to block or disguise utilitarian functionality, helped to articulate our emerging understanding of ludic design. Observations of the Drift Table being used in volunteers' homes over several weeks gave greater insight into how playful exploration is practically achieved and the issues involved in designing for ludic engagement. © 2004 ACM.

Keywords

Table (database)CuriosityReflection (computer programming)Block (permutation group theory)Computer scienceHuman–computer interactionMultimediaComputer graphics (images)PsychologySocial psychologyMathematicsDatabase

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Publication Info

Year: 2004
Type: article
Pages: 885-900
Citations: 414
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                    William Gaver, 
                                
                                    Jeffrey S. Bowers, 
                                
                                    Andy Boucher
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (2004). 
                            The drift table. 
                            
                            , 885-900.
                            https://doi.org/10.1145/985921.985947

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DOI: 10.1145/985921.985947