Ambiguity as a Conceptual Framework for Design by Michelle Dalmau

Ambiguity as a Conceptual Framework for Design

"To attain his truth, man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it." - Simone de Beauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity

Michelle Dalmau ::: mdalmau@indiana.edu
L642: Contemporary Issues and Concepts in HCI ::: 7 November 2003

Summary

As technologically mediated experiences become increasingly common outside of the work context, designing for play, learning and awareness, to name a few, should be guided by creative principles and not necessarily by traditional human-computer interaction (HCI) measures of efficiency and effectiveness that can result as an impediment to experiential interactive designs. An alternative framework for design, ambiguity, as defined by Gaver, Beaver and Benford in their paper, "Ambiguity as a Resource for Design," will be applied to interactive designs that support awareness, learning and play. Specifically under investigation are interactive works of art that encourage awareness such as the Projected Realities system and the Influencing Machine; encompassing designs that promote learning, individually and collectively, among children and adolescents such as Full-Contact Poetry and NIMIS; and environments that support play such as The Hunting of the Snark and Bystander.

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Definitions

Certain concepts should be defined before exploring the benefits and challenges of the ambiguity framework.

First and foremost, the Oxford English Dictionary defines ambiguity as: "wavering of opinion, hesitation, doubt, uncertainty, as to one's course" or "capable of being understood in two or more ways" or "doubtful, questionable, indistinct, obscure, not clearly defined" and lastly, "admitting more than one interpretation or explanation; of double meaning or several possible meanings."

The following experiences though defined separately are not mutually exclusive. Aspects of play, learning and awareness constantly overlap in most interactive design technologies.

Awareness can be defined broadly from exhibiting recognition or realizations to having knowledge. Awareness can be experienced as an "aha!" moment or "hmm?" moment - it is not concrete, but conceptual. Someone who is aware is cognizant (have certain knowledge) or conscious (focused). To be aware is not an objective state, but one influenced by emotions (affective states) and intellect (cognitive states).

Learning is the processing of information encountered, which, in turn, contributes to an increase in knowledge and abilities. Learning is a focused activity, for not every bit of information presented will be absorbed.

Play can be defined as having two major ingredients: agon (competitiveness in that it is rule-based) and paidaia (frolic) [1]. To engage in playfulness is to engage users in a productive, creative and exploratory fashion. Play allows people to project their "inner-narratives" or even "borrow identities" (Gaver, 2002, pp. 5-6).

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Motivation

Gaver et al. acknowledge that the concept of ambiguity should not be applied when supporting specific goals which entail specific tasks. Instead they state that interactive systems designed for non-work contexts should not constrain the users in their interactions as is typical in work-related, problem-solving applications, but rather engage them: "By impelling people to interpret situations for themselves, it encourages them to start grappling conceptually with systems and their contexts, and thus to establish deeper and more personal relations with the meanings offered by those systems" (2003, p.233).

Four premises identified for incorporating ambiguity into design are as follows:

technologies are increasingly being used outside the work context
design is inherently creative therefore designers can make statements through their designs while engaging users in unexpected and undetermined ways
technical limitations can be bridged by people who are encouraged to question and explore the technology at hand
everyday world and conversations are brimming with ambiguity, so why shouldn't interactive designs?

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History and Background

Ambiguity is rooted in the arts and is driven by artists who are "explorers at the edge of our culture" and as such "function as archetypal knowledge workers: able to penetrate conventional organizations" (be them societal, political, cultural, and technological) in order to conjure questions and alternatives, or, in short, possibilities (see Influence of Art & Design).

Gaver et al. draw from instances of Contemporary art to support example of interactive design. However, ambiguity as a purposeful design framework clearly emerged from the Conceptual Art movement of the 60s [2], which was based on ideas, less on form, in which art was meant to engage thought, not prescribe thought (see Conceptual Art Definition). Ironically, some claim that the premise of Conceptual Art is that it moves away from the "intentional ambiguity" of traditional art, towards a more scientifically based approach in pursuit of explicit meaning (Hunter & Jacobus, 1992, p. 360). Yet, the thrust of Conceptual Art is that it relies solely on the viewer's thinking and interpretive capabilities since the "work" revealed is usually only definable by the artist or creator. Intent or meaning of the piece is seldom revealed explicitly, allowing the viewers to engage in a subjective, personal, highly interpretative exchange with the message conveyed by the piece. The fleeting nature of this art "work" should also be mentioned as often manifesting in paper, discussions, monologs, musings, philosophical discourse, existing objects appropriated, de-contextualized and re-contextualized (ready-mades) and so on. Infusing ambiguity in works of art in general is critical in order to provoke ideas, wonderment and feelings whether of pleasure or discomfort or anywhere in between.

With regards to HCI, ambiguity in design is to be avoided as seen by the emphasis on transparent design or unambiguous design. Historically, HCI has focused primarily on work contexts therefore technologies used to mediate efficient, problem-solving activities should not suffer from ambiguity. The CHI-WEB Archives contain discussion threads about ambiguity [3], and what is revealed is that most designers are constantly struggling to avoid the vague in their systems.

Practitioners of the arts and HCI traditionally maintain opposing views in their use of ambiguity; however, as people begin to adopt technologies increasingly outside of work to promote other qualities that make us human (aside from problem-solving), ambiguity as a resource for design may begin to take relevance in the field of HCI (Gaver, 2001).

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Explanation

The proponents of this framework present three types of ambiguities for informing design: ambiguity of information, ambiguity of context and ambiguity of relationship. Ambiguity of information is inherent in how information is presented. This approach contributes to various interpretations, subjective understandings, and challenges the participants to apply their existing knowledge in different ways. Ambiguity of context is manifested in different or unique situations in order to contribute/impact one's interpretation. This approach utilizes juxtaposition and dualities to elicit multiple understandings. Lastly, ambiguity of relationships draws upon one's personal or reactionary relationship to an object that is not necessarily ambiguous itself. This approach relies on self-reflection and self-projection to arrive at mostly affected meanings (Gaver et al., 2003, pp. 236-237).

In order to guide designers in their use of ambiguity in their work, a set of heuristics or "tactics" were developed (Gaver et al., 2003, pp. 237-240). For each type of ambiguity a select number of heuristics apply.

Ambiguity of Information

Use imprecise representations to emphasize uncertainty
Over interpret data to encourage speculation
Expose inconsistencies to create a space of interpretation
Cast doubt on sources to provoke independent assessment

Ambiguity of Context

Implicate incompatible contexts to disrupt preconceptions
Add incongruous functions to breach existing genres
Block expected functionality to comment on familiar products

Ambiguity of Relationship

Offer unaccustomed roles to encourage imagination
Point out things without explaining why
Introduce disturbing side effects to question responsibility

As was stated earlier, these types of ambiguities do not exist in isolation, but rather they overlap. For a design to pass as "a good, ambiguous design" it is not necessary to apply all these heuristics at once. Instead, the heuristics are meant to encourage the designer to recognize and articulate ambiguity when appropriate (Gaver et al., 2003, pp. 237).

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Case Studies in Awareness, Learning and Play

Several designs will now be assessed in light of the heuristics identified above. It should be noted that some of the design innovations covered in this section were more directly informed by the Ambiguity Heuristics whereas others adopted ambiguity as a quality of the design, but not necessarily as a framework for design.

In general, the designs to be evaluated:

enhance ambiguity of information namely because they both rely on individual interpretations for sense making
enhance ambiguity of context because of the unique circumstances in which interaction prevails
enhance ambiguity of relationship because of the critical role the individual plays when experiencing the installations

Specific heuristics that capture the three notions of ambiguity are evaluated in light of how each design, similarly or differently, utilizes the principles. Following the heuristics review, a comments section completes each evaluation by assessing the applicability of the heuristic in general as well as particular critiques or comments on the application of the heuristic to the specific designs discussed.

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On awareness . . .

Two systems that support or evoke awareness are the Projected Realities system, a network of electronic displays for elders to express their opinions and images of the Bijlmer, a notorious Dutch housing project, and the Influencing Machine, an installation that involves a participant influencing the emotions and behavior of the machine [4].

Projected Realities as experienced via Sloganbenches and Imagebanks are used to display handwritten texts and images, with little context (motivation of elders elevating their presence in the neighborhood was obscured), rely on the viewer's interpretation of the attitudes or feelings these messages reflect (Gaver & Dunne, 1999, p. 600).

The viewers' primary form of engagement is intellectual as they work through their process of understanding or emotional as they experience feelings. Since the intention of the system was to raise cultural awareness, if an individual or group happened across any of the installations, such awareness could arise in the form of an inner-dialogue, if alone, or as a discussion of, perhaps meaning, if in a group. However, the actual pieces themselves are meant to also intrigue for they are unique and often located, as is the case with the Imagebanks, in unexpected places. The designers of Projected Realities explored ways in which "technology can enter and affect everyday culture" (Gaver & Dunne, 1999, p. 601), and as a result, deliberately incorporated elements of ambiguity in order to provoke awareness.

The Influencing Machine is an experiment in ascertaining the role of emotion in human-computer interaction. The agent is revealed in a way comprehensible to the participants via projected real-time drawings meant to convey the emotional state of the machine. Participants enter a room where this mailbox-looking machine awaits along with machine-readable (barcodes) postcards that are deposited into the machine. Each postcard triggers the projected drawings and music to reflect the affective state encoded in the postcard (Höök et al., 2003, p. 242). A dialogue then begins to emerge between the machine and the person or groups influencing the emotional state of the machine as they try to figure out what makes the machine respond as it does. The artists' intentions are to establish a form of communication between person and machine as well as to raise awareness of how, depending on the postcard inserted, the person can affect and is in turn affected by the machine. This exchange may also raise questions or issues within the participant in regard to perceived control s/he has over the situation. The incorporation of ambiguity in the Influencing Machine is essential in stirring these affective states especially since emotive reactions are highly personal and subjective.

Ambiguity of Information: Use imprecise representations to emphasize uncertainty

Gaver et al. state that both the information and the physical manifestation of the Sloganfurniture information elicit uncertainty in that the information itself is composed of "short, decontextualised" phrases and the form through which the information is delivered is "ambient," low-resolution displays of the content (2003, p. 238).

Senger's Influencing Machine utilizes this notion of imprecise representation when projecting the drawings, or the representative manifestations of the machine's affective state, for the participants to ponder. Regardless of the intentions of the designer, the drawings are not clearly defined to represent a certain type of state. Recognizing these emotional states are very much influenced by the participants own sense and experiences.

Comments
The use of imprecise representations seems to be an effective and classic approach (in the fine arts, film, etc.) in engaging or at the very least intriguing the viewer. Because it seems to be a universal aspect of ambiguity, incorporating this particular heuristic in interaction design seems straightforward and effective.
Ambiguity of Context: Implicate incompatible contexts to disrupt preconceptions

The Sloganbenches are described as upholding this principle in that they serve dual purposes of public viewing and public seating. To engage in one, would mean, in theory, it would be difficult to engage in the other.

The incompatible context is inherent in the very nature of the Influencing Machine, which can generate tensions between people, who can influence the emotional state of the machine, and the agent, which is in ultimate control of its behavior. How would people reconcile the notions of influence and control? There is also the obvious incompatibility of a "feeling machine".

Comments

When dualities or unexpected juxtapositions are presented to a viewer, feelings of incompatibility could potentially encourage ways to reconcile the two. However, presenting dualities to promote ambiguity could be difficult to implement. In the case of the Sloganbenches, it seems that this "tension" is not sustaining for several reasons: 1) one can sit and view at the same time; 2) if one is simply tired and desensitized to moving advertisements, s/he will just sit; and 3) and if one becomes easily mesmerized by moving imagery, then s/he will simply view. In any of these situations, the Sloganbench upholds its utilitarian function, but not always its cultural function; thereby, diminishing the possible effect.

Ambiguity of Relationship: Introduce disturbing side effects to question responsibility

Images and phrases projected by the Sloganfurntiure are meant to potentially generate disquieting side effects in order to encourage residents of the Bijlmer to think of their neighborhood and those who inhabit it in a different manner.

What if one inserts a series of postcards that aggravated the Influencing Machine? How would the participant differentiate between the characteristics of the postcards instilling aggravation with those that do not? How would the participant feel as the instigator of these non-soothing drawings projected by the agent? Interactions with the machine could waver from pleasant to disturbing (for the participant and the machine) so it is up to the participant to understand, accept or change the machine's state.

Comments

Like the use of imprecise information to provoke thinking, the use of disturbing side effects is also a classic experience when soliciting a sense of displacement from the everyday comforts in order to incite awareness. "A provocation entails an experience that is not necessarily easy or pleasant for users . . ." (Höök et al., 2003, p. 243)

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On Learning . . .

Two systems to be explored that promote learning [5]are Full-Contact Poetry, a collaborative interface for children to create, and interpret poetry, through writing, discussion or acting, and, NIMIS, Networked Interactive Media in Schools, which integrates a range of classroom activities and media (text, images, gestures and son on) through the use of "roomware," technologically-mediated instructional tools and interactive software.

Full-Contact Poetry affords children the tools and the space to actively engage in the formation, interpretation, and performance of poetry in order to understand how language can be woven and re-woven together to make meanings: "In making text an object to play with, words and the meanings they convey suddenly take on new meaning. In taking a poem apart word-by-word in order to animate it, children must take the time to investigate phrases and their possible representations" (Basu, 2000, p. 23). Children interact with a web interface that uses Squeak, an open-source technology, where they can make recordings, store files and images, drag images and text, animate and so on as part of their poetry-making process. It is an experimental design, which was tested in a workshop setting with kids administered by the designer. The workshop was not intended to be prescriptive. Instead, the designer showed the children a few examples and let them have at it. While ambiguity was not necessarily an approach explicitly stated by the designer, aspects of ambiguity informed her work; mainly, by providing the kids with an open, malleable online environment to explore literal and visual poetry.

NIMIS, Networked Interactive Media in Schools, is a European project, which aims to re-conceive traditional physical and cognitive learning environments. The intent of NIMIS is to support "constructive and creative activities in a highly interactive classroom setting" (see NIMIS web site). The creators propose that such learning stems beyond multimedia software to incorporating "roomware," which can be described as adaptive technologies such as augmented white boards, tablets for drawing and so on. NIMIS is

"targeted to support children learning to read and write through learning to communicate effectively in a number of modalities. A range of activities is to be developed which will have components of three important aspects of learning for the age group with which we are concerned: learning to understand presentations using speech, drawing, animations and gestures; learning to develop a strong sense of narrative, and to use it in the creation of stories and performances and presentations; and learning to develop a stronger capability for seeing the other's point of view through activities designed to foster both second and third person perspectives" (see NIMIS web site).

Like the Full-Contact Poetry environment, NIMIS designers do not explicitly state that they were guided by principles of ambiguity in the design, but to support creativity requires the introduction of ambiguity as a quality of experience when engaged in learning.

Ambiguity of Information: Over-interpret data to encourage speculation

Tools for layering literal and visual language are presented to kids in order to manipulate, massage or simply make a poem: "Letters can convey emotions; words in motion depict particular interpretations of their meanings" (Basu, 2000, p. 22). The multi-layered nature of Full-Contact Poetry may inspire a sense of over-interpretation as kids collaborate, explain and try to understand their poetry and the poetry of their peers.

Similarly, the notion of over-interpreting data can be applied to the NIMIS environment in that the various tools children manipulate in learning how to read or write support various manifestations of those cognitive activities. Tools, which afford play, performance, and presentations are just a few that children can utilize to absorb information in multiple levels.

Comments

The examples referenced by Gaver, et al. for this heuristic were few and limited in scope of application. The Home Health Monitor processes usage patterns via sensors of arbitrary objects in the home to measure the home's emotional, social and spiritual health, and in turn generates horoscopes to inform the dweller of the home's status (2003, p. 235). This project plays with various levels of ambiguousness in information - how it's being read and being interpreted by the system, thus the element of over-interpretation is deliberately being generated by the design.

This is unlike both learning environments described above, in which the design itself is not premised on the principle of over-interpreting data, but the outcome of the design, how the kids interact with their creations, is what generates the exploratory quality of this heuristic.

Ambiguity of Context: Add incongruous functions to breach existing genres

Both Full-Contact Poetry and NIMIS capture this spirit of breaching existing genres in that they can change, as is the case with Full-Contact Poetry, or have changed, as is the case with NIMIS, traditional classroom activities and tools with adaptive, interactive technologies that can permeate an hour or a full day of learning. A white board is no longer for the teacher to command when giving lessons in the NIMIS environment. Instead it has become a tool for the children to equally use and an augmented tool at that.

Comments

Gaver et al. illustrate this heuristic with the mobile phone-turn-baby-rattle or by enhancing common forms, like a bench into something more - the Sloganbench (2003, p. 239). The learning environments above do not represent these extremes of transformed use, but they do introduce a different orientation or application than what is typically expected.

Ambiguity of Relationship: Offer unaccustomed roles to encourage imagination

Again, both Full-Contact Poetry and the NIMIS environments support various roles pertaining to the creative process: writer, reader, performer and so on. For many children, this is the first time they encounter playing these roles in an educational context.

Comments

Voyeurism and roles defined as idiosyncratic are the examples brought forth by the proponents of the Ambiguity framework. These roles represent extremes perhaps in that they typically instill some discomfort or inner-struggle with what feels right versus wrong. However, just as compelling, are different roles a child could play while learning various skills in an imaginative way.

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On Playing . . .

Two games that rely on aspects of ambiguity will be explored: the children's exploratory, adventure game, the Hunting of the Snark, and a mixed-reality game, Bystander.

Four activity spaces encompass the Snark game: a snooper room for collecting clues, a well where the Snark is fed, a cave, where the children generate sounds in hopes that the Snark will respond, and lastly the air, as a space in which to interact with the Snark in an emotional manner (Rogers & Muller, 2003, p. 10). The purpose of the game is for the children to encourage the Snark to reveal aspects of itself by engaging in several interactivities that promote discovery. For instance, after feeding the Snark, it will come to the surface and will also emit a noise in response to the food. If the Snark likes the grub, it will reveal a positive facial expression (smile) and favorable sounds.

Bystander is a collaborative mixed-reality game played with a sedentary someone (online player) at a computer and with a mobile someone (performer) exploring the city streets for a mystery person. The online player steers the performer towards various landmarks in order to gather clues that will eventually lead to the discovery of the mystery person.

The players share an online map. The performer relies on a display that reveals both GPS data and video clips (the clues). Uncertainty is also a defining component of this game since the GPS data revealed is inherently inaccurate. The designers chose to exploit that inaccuracy to make the game more challenging: "The aim is to convey the message: 'the system thinks that the online player might be somewhere around here'. It also hides the area of the map under the representation, making it difficult for the viewer to give precise directions that refer to the area of uncertainty" (Filntham et al., 2002, p. 6).

Before exploring how the Ambiguity Heuristics fare with these two games, it should be noted that the designers of the Snark and Bystander were aware of Gaver et al.'s article. While it seems that specific heuristics were not necessarily adopted, ambiguity as a quality of interactive experience certainly was.

Ambiguity of Information: Expose inconsistencies to create a space for interpretation

Gaver et al. claim that this heuristic is useful for "crafting the inherent limitations of technology into the user experience," and they go on to cite how Bystander is a good example of this (2003, p. 238). The authors claim that the inaccurate GPS data summons the performer's knowledge of the city and of their general navigation sense in order to resolve the inconsistency in order to successfully uncover the clues.

With regard to the Hunting of the Snark, the heuristic can be slightly modified to expose unexpectedness to create a space for interpretation. It is possible that inconsistencies arose when interacting with the Snark, but some of those, like the PDA sensor that was blocked as children bent over to snoop for clues, were probably unintentional and unproductive. However, the game is dependent on how the Snark responds to the child - after feeding, calling, flying and so on. Most responses were at least initially unexpected.

Comments

The goal of both games is to invite players into the arena of interpretation. Questioning significance, whether it surfaces as inconsistencies or unexpectedness, is one of the primary goals of the player. Understanding current states help determine where to go and what to do next.

Ambiguity of Context: Implicate incompatible contexts to disrupt preconceptions

The Snark introduces children to various environments which are contrived, yet masked well enough to encourage the suspension of disbelief in order to attain full engagement (Rogers & Muller, 2003, p.13). The children reconcile these representations of spaces with their actual counterparts- the well, the cave and so on, in order to participant in a natural manner. For example, when two girls placed the food token onto the surface, which was really a monitor masked as water, the girls were acting on their experience of feeding fish or ducks at the pond. The designers referred to this activity as ubiquitous (Rogers & Muller, 2003, p.13). In a way, this heuristics was turned inside out in that the incompatible contexts rather than disrupting preconceptions, affirmed them.

Bystander fuses virtual representation of geography with actual geography, and constantly the performer is reconciling the incompatibility of the two in order to reach a destination. Again, aspects of incompatibility affect the players of this game, but they do not necessarily lead to disturbed perceptions. For the performer, this thwarted perception could manifest in his or her inability to navigate using the online map or his/her limited sense of the city.

Comments

Examples cited by the authors that represent this heuristic are more awareness-inspiring (conceptual) in nature like Duchamp's Fountain or the Desert Rain game which is as much a game as it is an anti-war statement.

Ambiguity of Relationship: Point out things without explaining why

The Snark reveals itself to the children by expressing noise, facial expressions, digital movement and so on; these are the "pointers". These indicators are not necessarily accompanied by a specific or explicit explanation. The children provoke unanticipated responses when interacting with the Snark; it is up to each child to infer or interpret meaning.

Clues received by the performer in Bystander can be seen as "pointers" as well. The performer has a vague notion of this mystery person s/he is tracking, and these clues help clarify the situation, but only slightly. The video clues are sometimes ambiguous in order to make the game challenging.

Comments

This heuristic seems fundamental when playing games. Often objects, clues, narratives, and visuals are revealed without explanation. It is the collection of all those parts while playing the game that may help the player formulate possibilities or even arrive at an answer, if solving is the goal of the game as it is for Bystander.

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Pros and Cons

The fact that the heuristics are in themselves ambiguous can make them either easy or difficult to apply. Certainly for a reviewer assessing whether these principles have been integrated, as has been done for this paper, their almost-deliberate ambiguity makes this an easy and creative task. Frankly, 9 out of 10 heuristics were applied without overlap simply as an exercise to see how malleable they are. And they are.

The authors made a great effort to place the heuristics into one of the three types of ambiguities: information, context and relationship. The heuristics do not neatly fall into each one exclusively; there is often overlap. However, this is not necessarily a weakness in the framework. The ambiguity framework is after all intended to encourage designers to think about how these notions can play out in their design. The "tactics" are meant to inspire more than prescribe design approaches.

As for the individual heuristics, the least useful one is block expected functionality to comment on familiar products. Interestingly part of its ineffectiveness is that it is one of the more specific heuristics, and its purpose is dependent on a very specific application. The authors reference a telephone designed to not receive calls or send calls when illustrating this heuristic (Gaver et al., 2003, p. 239). Any opportunity for designers to remind people that day-to-day objects or tools are often taken for granted is a worthy statement to make, but it has short-term value it seems. It is, if not the least useful tactic, the least universal in application or manifestation.

The other heuristics; however, possess a certain universality, arguably partly due to their ambiguous language, but mostly because it was fairly easy to think of non-work examples that represented the remaining ideas concerning ambiguity proposed by the authors.

Lastly, it goes without saying that for the nature of the works described in "Ambiguity as a Resource for Design," the tactics were appropriate and even helpful in informing design. Ambiguity integrated to non-work, technologically mediated contexts, clearly functions as a quality of user-experience, even if does not as a full-fledged framework.

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Comments

Ambiguity is not a persistent quality. Once an understanding of the object or situation before you is reached, the experience ceases to be ambiguous. However, people are not always so decisive-- a fixed interpretation one day can become another the next day. It all depends on the nature of the design.

Designing for awareness seems to affect participants in a momentary manner. Many of the designs raise issues that are either resolved or only contended with at the very moment the awareness is experienced. Since such designs, like the Projected Realities systems, do not tend to permeate most people's everyday life, when they are encountered, it can leave an impression. But it could be fleeting as the day-to-day, pragmatic preoccupations of living once again take hold. However, because the emphasis of most if not all the design tactics are meant to confront, provoke or engage the viewer, all aspects of the ambiguity framework probably best serve designs meant to provoke awareness.

Designing for learning experiences lies on the other end of the continuum as learning is often associated with a permanence; a commitment to the mind. Sometimes the information learned is buried, but regardless, it exists within and without. Learning is also seen, or at least should be, as a creative activity; thus, the introduction of ambiguity in learning environments can foster experimentation and exploration. Several of the design tactics seem to lend themselves well when designing for learning.

Designing for play is in the middle - it lies between the fleeting and the permanent. It is suspended time. Play can last a few minutes like Bystander which is said to take 45 minutes to play or it can take months or even years depending on the role-playing game. In either case, introducing ambiguity in play generates the challenges necessary to make the game interesting and continually-evolving.

Whether designing for awareness, learning or play, aspects of ambiguity as described by Gaver et al. enhance these experiences. In most cases, the ambiguity may become irrelevant or resolved by the one experiencing the design, but ambiguity's impermanence is of no consequence, for what makes the experience worthwhile, what attracts one, is the very presence of ambiguity.

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Links

Notes

[1] Johan Huizinga notes in Homo Ludens (humans as playful creatures) that the Greeks differentiated play into two forms: agon and paidaia.

[2] Dadaism serves as source of inspiration for Conceptual artists of the 60's. Marcel Duchamp, referenced by Gaver et al., is sometimes known as the grandfather of Conceptual Art.

[3] See CHI-WEB Search for Ambiguity: http://listserv.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?S2=chi-web&q=ambiguity

[4] Arguably, the Ambiguity Heuristics were first unveiled after the conception of Projected Realities and the Influencing Machine. In the case of the latter, Gaver, the proponent of the ambiguity framework was also a co-designer so these notions could very well have been in his head at the time of design. In the case of the former, the design was presented at the very same time that "Ambiguity as a Resource for Design" was presented. It could be assumed, since the principle designer of the Influencing Machine, cites Gaver's work in her paper, that she may have been exposed to these notions beforehand. For the sake of this paper, the heuristics will be applied in an analytical fashion thereby eliminating assumptions of explicit use on behalf of the designers covered in this section.

[5] Interactive and immersive learning environments for kids are increasingly more common: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kafai/kids/KIDSthemes.html; http://collide.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/Projects/nimis/nimis_whatis.html (NIMIS is part of the i3 Partnership Program).

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References

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