Comments
http://stuartjchi.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-reading-10-jogging-over-distance.html
Reference Information
http://stuartjchi.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-reading-10-jogging-over-distance.html
http://shennessy11.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-reading-9.html
Reference Information
Title: Jogging over a Distance Between Europe and Australia
Author: Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Publisher: UIST' 10, October 3-6, 2010 New York
Summary
The authors of this paper look to study the marriage of physical interaction and social exchange. Traditional technology-augmented workouts focus on social feedback at the end of the workout, such as when you upload your Nike+ data to a website as part of an online challenge. The work that the authors are presenting focus on integrating the social aspect with the physical real-time. There are many studies that suggest participating in physical exercise with others facilitate social relationships. This in turn positively affects the exertion outcome. Such social benefits can even emerge in mediated environments.
Mueller looks at a particular activity--"jogging". The demographic they look is "social" joggers; that is joggers who use jogging to "catch up" and talk with others. They reported on 14 runs. Each jogger was equipped with a headset, heart rate monitor and mobile phone. Essentially they used psychoacoustics to relatively position the joggers in front of or behind the remote jogger. This allowed the two joggers to talk to each other while jogging. Users were happy that they could "keep up" with joggers that were more physically fit than they. They did not get discouraged and still enjoyed the social benefits of social jogging.
Discussion
The problem I have with this article is the demographic they looked at. They only looked at "social joggers". I feel like systems such as this would be more useful for more competitive athletes. I like how the authors make the distinction between post-socializing and socializing during the exercise--that seems useful to me. Real-time competitive data would be more interesting, at least to me, than socializing with someone on the other end.
The social aspect of this study is also interesting. People may be more excited/willing to go for a run if someone else "goes with them". That would actually be pretty neat. I think one of the reasons that the authors only considered "social joggers" was that social joggers talk; they don't huff and puff because they're out of breath.
image: http://exertioninterfaces.com/jogging_over_a_distance/images/connecting_runners.png
Summary
Mueller looks at a particular activity--"jogging". The demographic they look is "social" joggers; that is joggers who use jogging to "catch up" and talk with others. They reported on 14 runs. Each jogger was equipped with a headset, heart rate monitor and mobile phone. Essentially they used psychoacoustics to relatively position the joggers in front of or behind the remote jogger. This allowed the two joggers to talk to each other while jogging. Users were happy that they could "keep up" with joggers that were more physically fit than they. They did not get discouraged and still enjoyed the social benefits of social jogging.
Discussion
The problem I have with this article is the demographic they looked at. They only looked at "social joggers". I feel like systems such as this would be more useful for more competitive athletes. I like how the authors make the distinction between post-socializing and socializing during the exercise--that seems useful to me. Real-time competitive data would be more interesting, at least to me, than socializing with someone on the other end.
The social aspect of this study is also interesting. People may be more excited/willing to go for a run if someone else "goes with them". That would actually be pretty neat. I think one of the reasons that the authors only considered "social joggers" was that social joggers talk; they don't huff and puff because they're out of breath.
image: http://exertioninterfaces.com/jogging_over_a_distance/images/connecting_runners.png
Another reason they might have gone after social joggers is that they go at a slower pace, so the sound positioning is an adequate way of showing who's "in the lead". More competitive joggers would probably switch positions regularly, and so they'd need a more responsive form of feedback.
ReplyDeleteOk, yes this is a problem that I have had numerous times. Even if one person is closely behind someone, it is sometimes impossible to hear and have a flowing conversation. This is an interesting idea, but I agree that more demographics should have been studied.
ReplyDelete