Designing for public interaction: extending, applying and reflecting on the principles of 'assembly'

This thesis explores a practical approach to the design and development of interactive technologies in public spaces derived from the concept of “Assembly”. Current research is lacking frameworks that can not only evaluate, but guide and structure design practice in developing interactive technologies that can enhance people’s experiences in public spaces. In the thesis, after a review of the literature in Interaction Design relating to the design of interactive systems in public spaces. I propose the re-working of an existing approach – that of “Assembly”- as a basis for such a framework. To achieve this, I utilise examples from my experience of designing installations for two cultural heritage sites: I outline the significance of the Assembly design concerns by using them to reflect over a first case study, “The Recipe Station”, and I suggest how the framework could be extended to structure and support design for public interaction. Subsequently, I demonstrate the application of this extended Assembly approach to the full design process of a second installation, “Reminisce”. I describe in detail the phases of this design process showing how they were structured and guided by the extended Assembly framework. Finally, I carry out an analysis of the resulting design intervention and its use by participants on-site, illustrating those of its qualities that particularly enhanced people’s situated activities and how the Assembly framework underpinned these positive design qualities