Faster horses, or …? — 2021 MHCI Capstone Part 2
Written by the MHCI 99P Labs Capstone Team
Edited by 99P Labs
The MHCI 99P Labs Capstone Team is part of the Master of Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI) program at Carnegie Mellon University.
In Part 1 we introduced the team and dove into the project brief of social interaction in the vehicle!
Framing our research
To make sense of the various research approaches we have been conducting, we created this visual model to convey how we are thinking about the scope of our problem space. A visual concept map is not only useful for aligning thinking within the team, but it is also an effective and compelling tool for communicating our rationale with our partners at 99P Labs.
What we learned from Sprint 1
After conducting primary research with 18 total participants using methods including directed storytelling, contextual interviews, intercept interviews, and semi-structured interviews, we synthesized our findings through affinity diagramming into three statements that would help define our research directions going forward:
- People have a natural tendency to make the car feel like an extension of the home.
- The distance and duration of the car trip determine the nature of activities in the car.
- The car is an environment conducive to important conversations because it offers limited distractions, limited eye contact, perceived privacy and safety, an informal and relaxed setting, natural time constraints, and limited alternative forms of activity.
We arrived at three interesting assumptions about social interactions in the car, but in order to arrive at insights, we’ve got to dig deeper.
Our next sprint: Pretotyping!
A “pretotype” allows us to rapidly validate or invalidate our assumptions. From our previous interviews, we learned that the home is the setting of our first social interactions in life, and it is the setting for many of our most important social interactions throughout life. Often, the family car is a space where these interactions are extended beyond the four walls of the home. We also discovered during our initial primary research that users seemed to share similar types of social interactions within the car. Thus, we want to explore the extent to which the car is an emotional and mental extension of the home given the continuity of one’s social life between the home and car.
Our goal is to attempt to validate our finding/assumption that “people have a natural tendency to make the car feel like an extension of home”.
An overview of our pretotype plan.
What’s next
A screenshot of our rapid ideation sketches.
In an effort to stretch our imagination, we also challenged ourselves to rapidly sketch blue-sky ideas for interaction between cars and pedestrians. This exercise allowed us to reflect upon what we’ve learned so far and express our opinions about our research domains in a fun, visual way.
In the next week, our team will reflect on the results of our pretotypes, and we will continue to distill all of our research by asking ourselves: What does this all mean for the future of automobiles?
Follow us on Medium for future updates on the team’s project! You can also check out our website to learn more about Student Innovation at 99P Labs.
