The WildTech Experience : a Playful Installation for Walking Through the Outcomes of a One-Month Backpacking Study

Abstract

Here we present a playful installation that will allow DIS attendees to (literally) walk through the data produced during a situated design research study where we explored how to design technology for joyful and caring human-nature interactions. Our study unfolded as a one-month backpacking adventure where a researcher engaged 200+ backpackers from 35+ nationalities. While hiking, the researcher co-experienced the nature with other nature-goers, facilitated discussions on the human-nature-technology interplay, and co-imagined how future innovations might make that interplay more joyful and caring. He documented those radically situated engagements in different ways, including quick drawings and short writings, a reflexive notebook, Instagram stories, or photos and videos, among others. Our installation will allow DIS attendees to navigate those data in a way that is both playful, situated, and inspirational - putting themselves into the researcher's boots and getting a more intimate sense of both how the study felt and what it yielded.