The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement

William W. Gaver; Albrecht Schmidt; John Bowers; Anthony Steed; Andrew Boucher; Nicholas Villars; Hans Gellerson; Brendan Walker; Sarah Pennington

doi:10.1145/985921.985947

The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement

William W. Gaver^*, Albrecht Schmidt, John Bowers, Anthony Steed, Andrew Boucher, Nicholas Villars, Hans Gellerson, Brendan Walker, Sarah Pennington

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

276 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004
Publisher	ACM
Pages	885-900
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Print)	9781581137033, 1581137036
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/985921.985947
Publication status	Published - 24 Apr 2004
Externally published	Yes
Event	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004 - Vienna, Austria Duration: 24 Apr 2004 → 29 Apr 2004

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004
Country/Territory	Austria
City	Vienna
Period	24/04/04 → 29/04/04

Keywords

Ethnography/ethnographic studies
Industrial design
Interaction design
Multidisciplinary design / interdisciplinary design
Product design

Research Group keywords

Interaction Research Studio

Access to Document

10.1145/985921.985947

Cite this

Gaver, W. W., Schmidt, A., Bowers, J., Steed, A., Boucher, A., Villars, N., Gellerson, H., Walker, B., & Pennington, S. (2004). The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement. In Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004 (pp. 885-900). (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/985921.985947

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title = "The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement",

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.",

keywords = "Ethnography/ethnographic studies, Industrial design, Interaction design, Multidisciplinary design / interdisciplinary design, Product design",

author = "Gaver, {William W.} and Albrecht Schmidt and John Bowers and Anthony Steed and Andrew Boucher and Nicholas Villars and Hans Gellerson and Brendan Walker and Sarah Pennington",

year = "2004",

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language = "English",

isbn = "9781581137033",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",

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pages = "885--900",

booktitle = "Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004",

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note = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004 ; Conference date: 24-04-2004 Through 29-04-2004",

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Gaver, WW, Schmidt, A, Bowers, J, Steed, A, Boucher, A, Villars, N, Gellerson, H, Walker, B & Pennington, S 2004, The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement. in Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, ACM, pp. 885-900, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004, Vienna, Austria, 24/04/04. https://doi.org/10.1145/985921.985947

The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement. / Gaver, William W.; Schmidt, Albrecht; Bowers, John et al.
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2004. ACM, 2004. p. 885-900 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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KW - Ethnography/ethnographic studies

KW - Industrial design

KW - Interaction design

KW - Multidisciplinary design / interdisciplinary design

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The Drift Table: Designing for ludic engagement

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Keywords

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