Abstract
Designers often address the continuity of user experiences across various media platforms. Features are the focus of media development. But the media-dependency of features means that truly preserving the essence of one feature across media platforms, in a process of cross-media translation, can result in superficially dissimilar features. We describe function mapping as an aid in this translation, in which design features are derived from theoretical assertions, and in turn an understanding of underlying functions permits the translation of features to other media platforms. We demonstrate this in a case study of translation from a VR installation, to portable VR, and then to a website. We also compare similar environments on the same media platform (i.e., two websites), one which was developed through function mapping, and the other which was not. This crystallizes the impact of function mapping, which achieves a theoretical form of equivalency across media platforms.
Keywords
conjecture mapping, multimedia design, theory-based design, virtual reality
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.500
Citation
Sekelsky, B., Peterson, M., Delgado, C.,and Chen, K.B.(2023) Preserving theoretically-grounded functions across media platforms in interaction design, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.500
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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Included in
Preserving theoretically-grounded functions across media platforms in interaction design
Designers often address the continuity of user experiences across various media platforms. Features are the focus of media development. But the media-dependency of features means that truly preserving the essence of one feature across media platforms, in a process of cross-media translation, can result in superficially dissimilar features. We describe function mapping as an aid in this translation, in which design features are derived from theoretical assertions, and in turn an understanding of underlying functions permits the translation of features to other media platforms. We demonstrate this in a case study of translation from a VR installation, to portable VR, and then to a website. We also compare similar environments on the same media platform (i.e., two websites), one which was developed through function mapping, and the other which was not. This crystallizes the impact of function mapping, which achieves a theoretical form of equivalency across media platforms.