From snark to park: lessons learnt moving pervasive experiences from indoors to outdoors

Abstract

Pervasive technologies are increasingly being developed and used outdoors in different and innovative ways. However, designing user experiences for outdoor environments presents many different and unforeseen challenges compared with indoor settings. We report on two different projects, one held indoors and one held outdoors, that were created to explore the use of various tangible technologies and pervasive environments for extending current forms of interaction, play and learning for children. In so doing the technologies had to be designed and adapted for the different settings. Using these projects as illustrations, this paper presents a contrasting analysis between indoor and outdoor pervasive environments, by identifying particular dimensions that change according to the location.