Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: Attracting Passers-By To Public Touch Displays With User Representations

In this paper, we investigate how effectively users' representations convey interactivity and foster interaction on large information touch displays. This research is motivated by the fact that user representations have been shown to be very efficient in playful applications that support mid-air interaction. At the same time, little is known about the effects of applying this approach to settings with a different primary mode of interaction, e.g. touch. It is also unclear how the playfulness of user representations influences the interest of users in the displayed information. To close this gap, we combine a touch display with screens showing life-sized video representations of passers-by. In a deployment, we compare different spatial arrangements to understand how passers-by are attracted and enticed to interact, how they explore the application, and how they socially behave. Findings reveal that (a) opposing displays foster interaction, but (b) may also reduce interaction at the main display; (c) a large intersection between focus and nimbus helps to notice interactivity; (d) using playful elements at information displays is not counterproductive; (e) mixed interaction modalities are hard to understand.