1.
Alan Dix
https://alandix.com/
https://alandix.com/academic/talks/ECCE2022-keynote/
@alanjohndix @CompFoundry
Forever Cyborgs
seeing the world with digital eyes

2.
intersecting themes
timescales virtuality
milliseconds
years
digital
mental
embodiment
imagination
memory

3.
Fitts’ Law
more than 50 years old!
– Paul Fitts’ paper 1954
– originally physical movement (mouse etc. later)
loads of research in HCI!
– mostly focused on what: numbers, counts
– rarely why – what is going on
what is going on?
– Fitts’ focus information theory – capacity of the brain
(Shannon & Weaver influential at the time)
– alternative cybernetic accounts
– take the body seriously!

4.
1
intended
direction
circle of
error
target
start position
4
finish when
circle of error
within target
actual
direction
2
3
cybernetic movement to target
Note:
• time lag
• stochastic
Fitts’ law if ...
• error prop. to distance
• practiced
• etc. ...
number of steps
~ log ( distance)

5.
accurate enough?
think about hands and arms
for mouse initial error 5-20%
initial ballistic movement accurate enough for effectors
– hand for arm, finger-tip for finger
for eye too
saccade accurate enough for effector (fovea)
only need better when artificially extended:
cursor, stylus
Fitts’ is law of cybernetic extension!

6.
the extended body

7.
the eternal cyborg

8.
paths and journeys

9.
Alan’s on the road again …
P.S.

10.
space and place – absent presence
inhabited paths – traces

11.
while walking
active
camera, recorder
passive
GPS, ECG, EDA
when stopped
iPad, blog, flickr,
social media,
uploading data
before/after
web for planning
new contacts on
Twitter, email
reporting, analysis
while walking
other walkers
occasional
friends/family
meeting
when stopped
shop keepers,
B&B proprietors,
chance meetings
talks, visits
before/after
family and friends,
readers,
researchers,
future walkers
social
sphere
technical
sphere

12.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chimp_Brain_in_a_jar.jpg
memory
scattered threads

13.
types of memory
seconds
timescale
short-term memory (STM)
long-term memory (LTM)
mezzanine memory
sensory memory
minutes
hours/days
lifetime

14.
comparison
short term long term mezzanine
capacity 7+/-2 chunks big! ?
decay ~30s lifetime ? mins–hours
needs rehearsal
laying down implicit repetition implicit
neural electrical physical chemical?
mechanism neuron firing synapse growth LTP

15.
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
walking life
universal time
April May June July
2013
more than 3 month gap

16.
universal time
April May June July
2013
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
walking life
more than 3 month gap
event in past time of
remembering
underestimate
time

17.
universal time
April May June July
2013
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
walking life
more than 3 month gap

18.
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
walking life
more than 3 month gap

19.
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
more than 3 month gap
walking life
walking life

20.
‘normal’ life ‘normal’ life
walking life
‘normal’ life

21.
many selves ???
• digital extensions into contact lists, email social
media, etc.
allow us to break Dunbar limits
• maybe possible because Dunbar operates per
thread?

22.
regret … why?
negative
painful
debilitating

23.
Tony Grist, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
dwelling
on the
past
should
be looking
to the future

24.
adaptive?
Gossipguy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
§
§
§
not necessarily for the
21st century

25.
features of regret
• past (bad) decisions brought to mind
• counter-factual “what if” reasoning
• feel bad if could have done better
• feel worse if “just missed”
• most egregious recapitulated

26.
tuning learning
to where it
makes the
most difference

27.
senses
(3) evaluation
ow! it hurts!
(4) learnt association
touching thorn
is bad
(1) touch thorn (2) thorn pricks
finger
basic reactions - learning
action
emotion

28.
NOTE
intention to touch
triggers reaction

29.
senses
action
emotion
(3) evaluation
“that hurts”
(1) touch plant
(2) some time
later your finger
is sore
why?
(4) desire to
make sense
regret – the gap

30.
senses
(7) learnt association
even though action
not obviously linked
or most salient
(4) logical deduction of
what mattered
determines what is
brought to mind
(6) causes negative
emotion
“if only I hadn’t”
… regret
regret – causal thinking
(5) imagination
causes simultaneous
activation in
relevant areas
action
(6b) counter-factual deduction
of how much it matters
influences strength of emotion
(7b) learnt association
stronger or weaker
depending on
strength of emotion
emotion

31.
living in our imagination
what might have been
what might be

32.
motivation and
behaviour
back to Rousseau

33.
the paradox
tools that
increase motivation
do not always
instil behaviour

34.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
real will
vs.
actual will

35.
from real will
to actual will
from motivation
to behaviour
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FitbitStand.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duolingo,_mem-referenco,_1.jpeg

36.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Gamification_Taxonomy.png

37.
motivation task orientation
intrinsic extrinsic
locus
of
control
internal
external

38.
real will
actual will

39.
long-term interaction
more than a moment

40.
simple interactions
• limited duration (minutes/hours)
• continuous activity (except breaks/interruptions)
e.g. Norman’s execution evaluation cycle
most design tools and principles
system
evaluation
execution
goal

41.
extended interactions
• long duration (days/weeks/years)
• discontinuous activity (multi-phase)
phases of direct interaction
gaps … but things happen

42.
examples
• Use of social media
• Shopping sites
• Online courses
• Support applications for physical courses
• ATMs and banks
links to: service design, CRM, adoption and appropriation,
activity theory

43.
long term …
• absolute time
– weeks/months/years vs second/minutes
• relative time – discontinuous engagement
– periods of use vs. length of overall activity
– expected/design to be that way (c.f interruptions)

44.
time scales
sec min hour day week year
sec
min
hour
day
week
year
absolute length
relative
length
length of overall activity
length of
periods of
engagement
interruption
intermittent

45.
long term …
• absolute time
• relative time – discontinuous engagement
• may be multi-scale
– single module vs. university degree
– using city guide in Paris vs. using same app. for tour
of Beijing next year
– activity may be fragmented
– e.g. online course vs support software for physical course

46.
Properties (1)
• may cross organizational boundaries
– e.g. hotel and taxi to airport
• dealing with re-engagement
– Triggers
– re-establishing context
• actions outside the digital domain
– e.g. tourist app and visiting site or timetabling app
and attending classes

47.
Properties (2)
• learning effects
– but may be occasional use
• activities change – phases/stages
• systems change

48.
expert evaluation
start
standard:
cognitive walkthrough
heuristics
between phases maybe finish
overall activity

49.
at start
knowledge
– How does the user know the system exists?
motivation
– What makes them want to use it?
opportunity
– What enables actual use? (installation, access etc.)

50.
between phases
motivation
– What makes them want to re-engage?
trigger
– What prompts the user to re-engage?
opportunity
– How do they do so? (e.g. find URL, locate app)

51.
at end
existence
– Is there a natural end to the overall activity
termination
– If user action is needed is this clear?
recognition
– Does the user know they have got to the end?
satisfaction
– Has the overall activity met the broad goals?

52.
Research Questions …

53.
synopsis / reminisce
context switching – social media and emotion
Fitts law – the ever extended body
walking – onion rings of experience
memory – threads of experience
regret – living in past and future
motivation – remember Rousseau
long-term interaction – intermittent episodes