silvia lindtner - publications

During investigation and analysis we saw the importance to pay attention to the interplay between in-game values and activities and the particular social, economic, cultural, and political context for research about online worlds like WoW.

mopix: a location-based mobile photo sharing application

mopix is an application for mobile and stationary use that engages spatial and contextual annotation, media sharing and interaction with strangers and acquaintances. Set up in large public spaces (public displays) but also accessible through private (a web interface at home) and semi-private (a mobile phone in public), we wish to explore the hybrid link between a physicall perceived world and a virtual playground. Currently, we are in the middle of the implentation of the system. We are using Python for the mobile phone application and Processing for the visualization and interaction design on the public displays. Our hardware platforms are the Nokia N95 and Nokia N800. I am collaborating on mopix with Judy Chen, Paul Dourish and Julie Rico.

Venice, California: an ethnographic study about play in public

Last year, I conducted field research, based on ethnographic methods, on a street in Venice. I found many interesting examples of playful interactions as an everyday practice of dealing with social, spatial and technological infrastructures in an urban environment. Built in 1904 on Abbot Kinney's vision for an amusement park along the beach, Venice is famous for its beachfront sport facilities and its skateboard and surf culture. With its art studios, galleries, graffiti, and wall-painted advertisements, it is an internationallu-celebrated tourist spot. I chose the Ocean Front Walk in Venice as my field site because of its reputation as a place "where about anything goes" and "its playful atmosphere." My goal was to explore existing forms of playfulness to inform system design. My findings evidenced that playful interactions often emerged spontaneously in this everyday setting as a constant interplay between a variety of activities and through the application of a mix of media, digital and non-digital. Findings from this study informed the system design of mopix (described above).

Fish'n'Steps: encouraging physical acitivity with a social computing game

A year before I entered graduate school in fall 2006, I began researching and developing computing technologies to stimulate proactive behavior towards a healthier and more active lifestyle. I collaborated on this effort with an international research institute in Princeton, NJ (Siemens Corporate Research), which provided access to national and international health care providers, patient records and existing technical systems in clinics. A sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor to chronic diseases, and is often correlated with obesity. In recent decades, obesity has become a problem on the scale of a world-wide epidemic. The 1999 National Health and Nutrition survey (NHANES) estimated that 61% of US adults are either overweight or obese. These people suffer from both deleterious health consequences and the corresponding psychological stigma. The most effective approaches to treating people for being overweight or obese usually begin with lifestyle improvements, and continue to more invasive treatments such as pharmaceuticals and even surveys. Through both qualitative and quantitative research, I designed, implemented and tested a software prototype to encourage increase in physical activity and to raise awareness about unhealthy behavior displayed during daily routines and habits. The prototype, called Fish'n'Steps, was implemented as a social computing game, which linked an individual's daily foot step count to the growth and activity of an animated virtual character, a fish in a fish tank.

		\| about me \| research \| teaching \| publications \| CV
		Research World of Warcraft in China: An ethnographic study on hybrid practices between digital and urban spaces in Beijing and Shanghai During summer 2007, I spent over a period of 6 weeks in Shanghai and Beijing to study social, economic and spatial practices taking place in and beyond the online game World of Warcraft (WoW). I interviewed and observed Chinese players of game, hung out at their favorite game locations such as Internet cafes and malls, in their homes and student dormitoies. The study was conducted in collaboration with Bonnie Nardi, Intel IST Group and Peking University.
		During investigation and analysis we saw the importance to pay attention to the interplay between in-game values and activities and the particular social, economic, cultural, and political context for research about online worlds like WoW. mopix: a location-based mobile photo sharing application mopix is an application for mobile and stationary use that engages spatial and contextual annotation, media sharing and interaction with strangers and acquaintances. Set up in large public spaces (public displays) but also accessible through private (a web interface at home) and semi-private (a mobile phone in public), we wish to explore the hybrid link between a physicall perceived world and a virtual playground. Currently, we are in the middle of the implentation of the system. We are using Python for the mobile phone application and Processing for the visualization and interaction design on the public displays. Our hardware platforms are the Nokia N95 and Nokia N800. I am collaborating on mopix with Judy Chen, Paul Dourish and Julie Rico. Venice, California: an ethnographic study about play in public Last year, I conducted field research, based on ethnographic methods, on a street in Venice. I found many interesting examples of playful interactions as an everyday practice of dealing with social, spatial and technological infrastructures in an urban environment. Built in 1904 on Abbot Kinney's vision for an amusement park along the beach, Venice is famous for its beachfront sport facilities and its skateboard and surf culture. With its art studios, galleries, graffiti, and wall-painted advertisements, it is an internationallu-celebrated tourist spot. I chose the Ocean Front Walk in Venice as my field site because of its reputation as a place "where about anything goes" and "its playful atmosphere." My goal was to explore existing forms of playfulness to inform system design. My findings evidenced that playful interactions often emerged spontaneously in this everyday setting as a constant interplay between a variety of activities and through the application of a mix of media, digital and non-digital. Findings from this study informed the system design of mopix (described above). Fish'n'Steps: encouraging physical acitivity with a social computing game A year before I entered graduate school in fall 2006, I began researching and developing computing technologies to stimulate proactive behavior towards a healthier and more active lifestyle. I collaborated on this effort with an international research institute in Princeton, NJ (Siemens Corporate Research), which provided access to national and international health care providers, patient records and existing technical systems in clinics. A sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor to chronic diseases, and is often correlated with obesity. In recent decades, obesity has become a problem on the scale of a world-wide epidemic. The 1999 National Health and Nutrition survey (NHANES) estimated that 61% of US adults are either overweight or obese. These people suffer from both deleterious health consequences and the corresponding psychological stigma. The most effective approaches to treating people for being overweight or obese usually begin with lifestyle improvements, and continue to more invasive treatments such as pharmaceuticals and even surveys. Through both qualitative and quantitative research, I designed, implemented and tested a software prototype to encourage increase in physical activity and to raise awareness about unhealthy behavior displayed during daily routines and habits. The prototype, called Fish'n'Steps, was implemented as a social computing game, which linked an individual's daily foot step count to the growth and activity of an animated virtual character, a fish in a fish tank.