Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument
This paper explores the design of digital musical instruments (DMIs) for exploratory play. Based on Gaver’s principles of ludic design, we examine the ways in which people come to terms with an unfamiliar musical interface. We describe two workshops with the D-Box, a DMI designed to be modified and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
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ACM
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33165/ |
| _version_ | 1848794573592068096 |
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| author | McPherson, Andrew P. Chamberlain, Alan Hazzard, Adrian McGrath, Sean Benford, Steve |
| author_facet | McPherson, Andrew P. Chamberlain, Alan Hazzard, Adrian McGrath, Sean Benford, Steve |
| author_sort | McPherson, Andrew P. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper explores the design of digital musical instruments (DMIs) for exploratory play. Based on Gaver’s principles of ludic design, we examine the ways in which people come to terms with an unfamiliar musical interface. We describe two workshops with the D-Box, a DMI designed to be modified and hacked by the user. The operation of the D-Box is de- liberately left ambiguous to encourage users to develop their own meanings and interaction techniques. During the work- shops we observed emergent patterns of exploration which re- vealed a rich process of exploratory play. We discuss our ob- servations in relation to previous literature on appropriation, ambiguity and ludic engagement, and we provide recommen- dations for the design of playful and exploratory interfaces. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:18:21Z |
| format | Conference or Workshop Item |
| id | nottingham-33165 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:18:21Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | ACM |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-331652020-05-04T17:57:47Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33165/ Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument McPherson, Andrew P. Chamberlain, Alan Hazzard, Adrian McGrath, Sean Benford, Steve This paper explores the design of digital musical instruments (DMIs) for exploratory play. Based on Gaver’s principles of ludic design, we examine the ways in which people come to terms with an unfamiliar musical interface. We describe two workshops with the D-Box, a DMI designed to be modified and hacked by the user. The operation of the D-Box is de- liberately left ambiguous to encourage users to develop their own meanings and interaction techniques. During the work- shops we observed emergent patterns of exploration which re- vealed a rich process of exploratory play. We discuss our ob- servations in relation to previous literature on appropriation, ambiguity and ludic engagement, and we provide recommen- dations for the design of playful and exploratory interfaces. ACM 2016-06-04 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed McPherson, Andrew P., Chamberlain, Alan, Hazzard, Adrian, McGrath, Sean and Benford, Steve (2016) Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument. In: ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2016), 4-8 June 2016, Brisbane, Australia. Musical Hackable Instrument HCI Design Innovation Ludic design; ambiguity; musical instruments; exploration; play; hacking http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2901790.2901831 doi:10.1145/2901790.2901831 doi:10.1145/2901790.2901831 |
| spellingShingle | Musical Hackable Instrument HCI Design Innovation Ludic design; ambiguity; musical instruments; exploration; play; hacking McPherson, Andrew P. Chamberlain, Alan Hazzard, Adrian McGrath, Sean Benford, Steve Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title | Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title_full | Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title_fullStr | Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title_short | Designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| title_sort | designing for exploratory play with a hackable digital musical instrument |
| topic | Musical Hackable Instrument HCI Design Innovation Ludic design; ambiguity; musical instruments; exploration; play; hacking |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33165/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33165/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33165/ |